| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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The remaining nine open-ended questions required both short answers listing information (questions 7 and 8), as well as lengthier, thoughtful responses (questions 9 to 15). Adapting Rokeach’s value survey ranking methodology (1969, 1973), we gave the respondents in question 8, the opportunity to identify and rank human or Jewish values that were important both to their students and themselves. In line with our theoretical stance, we wanted them to indicate (in question 9) their level of self-satisfaction in following these human or Jewish values. Questions 11, 13, and 14 focused on their assessment of the Internet’s positive or negative influence on their students, requested examples of popular-culture messages from the Internet they and their students thought would conflict with their values, and asked respondents to describe the manner in which these messages are evaluated and managed. These questions were crucial to determine and evaluate Rokeach’s comprehensive theory of change (1973). Finally, questions 7, 10, 12, and 15 offered the coordinators the opportunity to compare their educational stream with other Israeli Jewish educational streams. We believed it would be important and of interest to this study to understand how each sector’s coordinators perceived the position of the other sector’s coordinators in answering the same questions.
Because of our concern for maintaining the respondents’ anonymity, a coding method was utilized rather than the respondents’ names. We felt strongly that it was essential to limit contacts between coordinators and anyone other than ourselves. Those surveyed were asked not to include their name on their response sheet and return the completed or “not participating” survey directly to Sherlick. Respondents were given the opportunity to elect not to participate by checking the appropriate box and returning the blank survey in the enclosed postage-paid return envelope.