Tis’ the season of going back to school. For parents and kids alike, there’s a genuine mixed bag of emotions that go along with that big day in September.

Based on a recent survey our team at RMS conducted, parents across the states shared what it takes to become back to school-ready (view the full report in our blog post, complete with a school-themed infographic, here). Out of 598 responses, with 73% representative of New York State, we learned the ins and outs of what parents really thought about when it comes to their children going back to school after three months of a summer filled with fun, heat, and hot dogs.

Take a look at the word cloud we put together for our back to school survey! Click here to download the PDF.

One of the last questions in our survey, we asked respondents what the most common words and phrases are that come to mind when parents think about going back to school. With the results we received, our Research Associate, Sara Cruz—who put together this great survey— compiled the list of these words and phrases, and was able to create a word cloud in order to visualize the data collected.

Now, for those of you who don’t know what a word cloud is, let’s break it down. A word cloud is defined as a popular visualization of words typically associated with text data. They are most commonly used to highlight popular or most-used terms with the frequency of use and prominence. A word cloud is an informative image that communicates quite a bit in a single glance.

There are two subtle points to notice when examining this particular word cloud. The four words in the larger font are the most-used words to describe going back to school that came up time after time. They are: Exciting, Stressful, Expensive, and Hectic. Some other notable words used to describe this big day include: Busy, Overwhelming, Happy, Crazy, Sad, Fun, Anxious, Awesome, Relief, and Chaos.

What’d we say? A mixed bag, for sure!

In summary, this word cloud we have put together represents—in an organized and visually stimulating way—the many attributes that parents typically think about when it comes to the topic of their children going back to school.

What words or phrases do you think of when it comes to the hustle and bustle that comes with the experience of your kids going back to school? Let us know in the comments section of this post!

Take a look at the official release of the survey results here, that includes an entire visualization of the data gathered from respondents in a fun infographic about all things back to school!

If you are looking to find out what your customers have to say, RMS can work with your team directly to create a perception survey that includes a word cloud in order to find out exactly what they’re thinking. Get in touch with us today!


 

RMS is a full-service market research firm located near Syracuse, New York. If you are interested in learning more about our research capabilities, please contact Sandy Baker, our Vice President of Corporate Development at SandyB@RMSresults.com or by calling 315.635.9802.