Sociology

In John F. Kennedys  one and only inaugural speech, he empowered a nation to give
of themselves. Specifically he said   ask not what your country can do for you, but what you
can do for your country . Those words inspired a nation then, and continue to inspire today.
Since that time many organizations are available for students to volunteer both locally and
globally. Americorps, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Way are just a few organizations
that students can volunteer their time. Most organizations will offer college credit for
volunteering. However, the goal is to have students continue volunteering even after
graduation. An internet article titled The Benefits of Volunteering states the importance of
young students volunteering for community service. When students especially young ones
volunteer, it sets in motion a lifetime of helping others(Halperin 2007). Additionally, by
volunteering students can try out possible career choices, while providing a service to the
community(ibid). Throughout this semester we have surveyed college students as to why
they started volunteering. The surveys were based on the concepts discussed in our class
this semester. Students who volunteer in community service will be better prepared for the
work-place, and will most likely continue to do so after graduation.

Although the benefits of volunteering are obvious, the reasons why students volunteer
are not. As stated before some students volunteer because they are not sure what career
they want to pursue. Some students may utilize volunteering with college credits. For some
students it may be as simple as helping others, while traveling the world. For our class our
goal was to better understand why students volunteer. We began by separating into smaller
groups, and then discuss the best approach to collect data. Surveys are a very effective way
to obtain information from a large group, like college students. There are many different
resources available to write effective surveys. A good survey should begin with question. The
question should be straight forward, not too long, and easy to answer(InfoPoll,1997). This
supports what was discussed in our focus group.

Another important facet to consider is the validity of the survey, and the information
obtained from the survey. As long as the questions are clear and concise, then the responses
are valid. Validity in data collection means that your findings truly represent the pheonomen
you are claiming to measure (Seliger and Shohamy 1989,95). Once our group had a better
understanding of the importance of validity in a survey, we were ready to start writing our
questions. We studied different models of surveys, and ultimately came up with the following
questions

When did begin volunteering
What type of community service have you done
What is your major
What year are you
Are you a transfer student
Do you plan on volunteering after graduation

Each member of our group discussed our own personal experiences with community service.
These discussions proved to be useful when trying to understand the many different reasons
why students participate in community service. Since 2005 the number of college has grown
to 3.3 million, and by next year that number is anticipated to grow to 5 million(national
service.gov. 2006). This report further states the reason that students are volunteering more
than ever is because of the attacks on September 11, 2001(ibid). Most of the college students
were in high school when the attacks happened. Because they started volunteering prior to
college, they are likely to make volunteering a life-long habit (ibid). This supports the thesis
statement.

Collecting data with surveys is a great way to get the opinions of a large groups of people. However it is important to make sure that when creating the survey that your questions are
clear and concise. If the questions are unclear then the responses will be ambiguous. The
goal is to validate the responses. Drawing on personal experiences is also helpful when
creating a survey questions. Discussing your personal responses within a group setting helps
understand different opinions as to why college students participate in community service.

With the number of college students performing community service on the rise, the signs are
good that students will continue community service after graduation.