Channel:  Office of Public Affairs (TEC)

A newly named Strategic Planning Committee has already set to work, announcing that its first step will be to solicit opinions from throughout The Episcopal Church.

The Strategic Planning Committee was established by Executive Council in January 2009 to develop a strategic plan for The Episcopal Church Center and the Executive Council which addresses mission and ministry, growth, finance, challenges and opportunities, issues and concerns, and to map a way to address all these topics.

Committee members were appointed by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson.

Gathering for a recent three-day retreat and meeting, the committee outlined goals, identified issues to be addressed in the strategic plan, and detailed steps in their process.

Survey

Clearly apparent throughout the three-day discussion was the desire and need to tap into the resources and knowledge of the church and to seek comments from all people and areas.

To do so, the Strategic Planning Committee developed survey and encourages all Episcopalians to complete it. The survey is currently in English; Spanish and French will be available shortly.

... To access the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Wu5I75KPqOhmGku87xaL6A_3d_3d

The survey will also be available to be completed at the Episcopal Church Center booth at General Convention in Anaheim, California July 8-17.

The deadline to complete the survey is July 28, 2009.
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The announced goal is “to tap into the resources and knowledge of the church and to seek comments from all people and areas.” But the inclusion of “surveymonkey” in the survey’s URL does not suggest a high view of such resources and knowledge. Is the “monkey” to grind out opinions rather than music?

Strategic plans come and go. A systematic Bible study effort would, in my view, be more productive.

Here is the second question on the survey:

. Imagine the year as 2019, and the Episcopal Church is even more vital and thriving than it is today. As the Church begins to create a plan to move us toward that future, how important will each of the following be in reaching that vision?

Even more vital and thriving?

Survey Monkey is actually a well-known and widely-used online survey tool. Both of the companies I have worked for most recently have used it for both formal and informal polls of employees, customers and clients.

The biggest drawback here is self-selection. In TEC’s case, the survey will only be completed by 1)those who know about the survey; 2) those who are motivated to find it and fill it out.  My experience has always been that with surveys that are ‘pushed’ to the targeted population, which tend to get a more representative response.

Scott, I supposed that there was probably a technical use of the term “monkey” in relation to a survey. I can’t help wondering, however, whether the coiner of this terminology (surveymonkey) was not harboring a bit of humor.

It’s similar to non-Anglicans hearing the Anglican use of “primate” for the first time (as I did in the late 80s). To an outsider it seems a strange way to describe the top echelon of the Communion’s leadership. So if there is a SurveyMonkey.com (as I found out by googling the term), perhaps some ecclesiastical entrepreneur will develop a SurveyPrimate.com to furnish us with weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports on the views of the Communion’s top leadership.

I agree that the factors you mention will skew the results of the survey. My experience with surveys as inputs to strategic plans is that those developing the plan will influence the outcome first by the wording of the survey questions and later by the emphasis placed in interpreting the results.

Dick