One way to make contact with a lot of people during Freshers’ week is by using ‘30 Second Questionnaires’. Unsurprisingly you’ll discover they are questionnaires that take 30 seconds to fill out.

The advantage of using these (over longer surveys) is that they are very easy (so require little training), you’ll probably get more people willing to fill them out and therefore you’ll be able to make contact with a good proportion of freshers.

You can download a sample 30-second questionnaire by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.

Using a questionnaire like this will make contact with lots of Christians (some of whom would not have made the effort to find the CU themselves) as well as others who aren’t yet Christians but have some interest.

Having a team of people around campus doing these surveys could, over the course of the week, give you several hundred people to follow up. This is an example of where graduates recruited from local churches can be a great help.

While the questionnaires only take 30 seconds it is good to be prepared to make the most of the opportunity if people want to talk more. It may lead to a good conversation and an opportunity to give away a Gospel.

Top Tips for Questionnaires

1. Take the initiative – don’t wait for people to come up to you – make the first move and approach them.
2. Be friendly – have a smile on your face and ask them if they’ve got 30 seconds to complete a really quick questionnaire. If they look doubtful you can assure them that is really does take no more than 30 seconds.
3. Even if people are negative then still remain friendly. They will know you are from the CU so your attitude will still make an impression.
4. Be willing to chat more if the opportunity opens up. It may be that the question about the different articles gets them chatting about those issues. When they hear you are from the CU they may want to know more information there and then.
5. Always have a Gospel to give out to those who show interest.