Think of a time you were serving your community. Perhaps you sent out a survey to town residents at a community gathering, and you received 35 out of 60 answers, making you confident that you had responses to apply to the entire town. However, what if the 25 people who chose not to respond to the survey were people who varied strongly from the rest of the group? Maybe they lived in a different neighborhood than the other 35 people. Without knowing it, you may have gathered responses that are not actually representative of an entire community. And without those 25 responses, it might be more difficult to make decisions that truly benefit the whole community.

Youth substance use is a complex and evolving issue that presents significant challenges for communities across the United States. In Charlotte, NC, the Center for Prevention Services (CPS) has been at the forefront of addressing this issue through data-driven approaches. 

One of their most powerful tools has been the Youth Drug Survey (YDS), a survey tool for understanding substance use patterns among youth and shaping prevention strategies. This blog post shares CPS’s experience in designing and refining the YDS offers valuable lessons for creating effective youth substance use surveys.