Contents

All Work and No Play?

• Heeding the Voices of Consumers by M. Christine DeVita
• Executive Summary
• Finding One: What Kids Do When They’re Not in School
• Finding Two: No Particular Place to Go
• Finding Three: The Haves and the Have-Nots
• Finding Four: More Time on Task?
• Finding Five: Where Parents and Kids Differ
• Afterword
• Endnotes
• Methodology
• Complete Survey Results for Students
• Complete Survey Results for Parents
• About The Wallace Foundation and Public Agenda
• Related Public Agenda Publications

Click here to download the full report:
 All Work and No Play?

The findings in All Work and No Play? Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time are based on two national random sample telephone surveys conducted in June 2004: one with 609 6th through 12th grade students and one with 1,003 parents of K-12th grade students. The surveys were preceded by ten focus groups.

The Surveys

 

Telephone interviews with 609 students in grades 6 through 12 were conducted between June 18 and June 28, 2004; interviews averaged 15 minutes in length. Similarly, telephone interviews with 1,003 parents or guardians of students in grades K through 12 were conducted between June 3 and June 13, 2004; interviews averaged 19 minutes in length.

Respondents were selected through a standard, random-digit-dialing technology whereby every household in the 48 contiguous states had an equal chance of being contacted, including those with unlisted numbers. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points for the sample of parents; it is plus or minus four percentage points for the sample of students. The margin of error is higher when comparing percentages across subgroups.

The surveys were fielded by Robinson & Muenster Associates, Inc., and sample was provided by Survey Sampling, Inc

 

The Questionnaires

Both questionnaires were designed by Public Agenda, and all interpretation of the data reflected in this report was done by Public Agenda. As in all surveys, question order and other non-sampling sources of error can sometimes affect results. Steps were taken to minimize these, including extensively protesting the survey instruments and randomizing the order in which some questions and answer categories were read..

The Focus Groups

Focus groups allow for an in-depth, qualitative exploration of the dynamics underlying the public's attitudes toward complex issues. Insights from the students and parents who participated in these focus groups were important to the survey design, and actual quotes were drawn from the focus groups to give voice to attitudes captured statistically through the surveys. Ten focus groups were conducted with parents and students in February 2004:

• In Bristol, CT: parents of elementary and middle school students; mostly lower income.
• In Frisco, TX: one with middle and high school students and one with parents of K-12^th graders; mostly middle income
• In Cave Creek, AZ: one with middle and high school students and one with parents of middle and high school students; mostly middle income
• In Portland, OR: one with middle and high school students and one with parents of K-12^th graders; lower and middle income
• In Denver, CO: one with middle school students, one with high school students and one with parents of K-12^th grade students; middle to upper income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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