NursingReportCommunity health assessment

BSN-FP 4010 windshield survey report: planning guide

The windshield survey is only half this assessment: after observing a 2-3 square mile neighborhood, you must pick one vulnerable population you actually saw and chase it through Census demographics, health-risk statistics, and social determinants — because the whole course builds a wellness program on what you find here.

Aug 11, 2026

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 11, 2026

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

What links the windshield survey to the research half?

The structure hides a handoff most reports fumble: the assessment starts as fieldwork and ends as desk research, and the bridge between them is the population you choose. The brief's sequence is deliberate — observe the neighborhood, describe a vulnerable or diverse population you observed living there, and then research that population's demographic change over five to ten years, its most prevalent health risks with statistics, and its health disparities and social determinants. Choose the population with the research half in mind: it must be one you genuinely observed (the report says so), but also one whose data exists at a findable grain — the brief even names your sources, the Census Bureau, state sites, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A population you can see but cannot source strands the second half of the paper.

The fieldwork half has its own stated discipline. Boundaries first: 2-3 square miles, one to two hours, car, foot or bike, with the route mapped ahead and — the brief's own practical advice — ideally a second person driving while you observe. Use the provided template as your note-taking instrument, stop frequently, and if possible survey at more than one time of day, because the brief flags timing as an observational variable. Objectivity is graded here: the description of housing conditions, open spaces, businesses, services and transportation should read as evidence a teammate could verify, not as impressions. The template also standardises what counts as an observation, which quietly protects the report's objectivity when a teammate compares notes. Field notes that name streets and counts beat adjectives every time. Timing notes belong in the report too.

Two requirements sit outside the content and catch people. The report is written for your interdisciplinary team, and the brief asks you to mirror your organization's own document formats where possible while keeping APA for citations — an unusual instruction worth following visibly. And the statistics requirement on health risks is explicit: frequency of occurrence and deaths per year in the population, not adjectives like 'common'. The closing question — what will you need to overcome to build a successful health promotion program — is the course's thesis statement: everything you report here becomes the needs assessment for the wellness program assessments that follow. Write the closing paragraph as though Assessment 2 already exists, because in this course it does. Everything else in the report is evidence collected for that sentence. Name the obstacle plainly and the next assessment starts itself.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

01
Plan and execute a bounded windshield survey — route, timing, template, safety — per the brief's stated method.
02
Describe a neighborhood objectively enough that observations read as verifiable evidence.
03
Select an observed vulnerable population whose demographic and health data are findable in Census, state and BLS sources.
04
Report health risks with the required statistics: frequency in the population and deaths per year.
05
Frame disparities and social determinants as the obstacles a future wellness program must overcome.

Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Preparation Over the past few years, leadership for the health care organization for which you work has noticed a distinct change in the population served by the organization. Leadership wants to make sure they are addressing the needs of this population. You have been asked to participate on an interdisciplinary team that is charged with learning how the population has changed and what needs to be done within the organization to develop a wellness education program that will target the needs and concerns of the population. Your first step in this process is to conduct a windshield survey and report your findings back to your team. A windshield survey is an inexpensive, time-efficient way to assess and better understand a community and the people who live within that community. Understanding the demographics of a community will help you determine the health-related issues that are likely to exist so you can plan the most appropriate types of wellness programs, health education, and disease prevention programs. Windshield surveys are done by making visual observations of a neighborhood or community while driving; hence the name. This type of survey lets you observe the housing conditions, use of open spaces, shopping, schools, types of transportation, human services, protective services, and other aspects of the overall daily life of a community. Before you start, you need to identify the boundaries of the neighborhood or community you plan to observe. For the purposes of this course, you should keep the size of the area to no more than 2–3 square miles. The area should be large enough for you to gather relevant information, but small enough that your observation does not take you more than 1–2 hours. With this size, it is not necessary to use a car to complete the survey; you can also walk or bike. Whichever method you use, be mindful of your personal safety. It may be helpful to map out the route you will take ahead of time. It can also be helpful (and safer) to have another person do the driving while you observe and make notes. Once you are on the route, start making observations right away. Stop frequently to write down notes. A template is provided in the Required Resources to help you document your observations. The timing of your observation can be important in helping you focus on specific items. If possible, consider conducting your survey more than once at different times of the day. For example, if you make your observations too early in the morning, you may miss things that take place later in the day that provide a different perspective of the neighborhood. It is also important to be as objective as possible when making your observations. Requirements Conduct the windshield survey, using the template located in the Required Resources for this assessment. Use the template as a guide to write a report for your team. If possible, look at other written documents used within your organization. How are they formatted? Follow that format as closely as possible, making sure you still use APA guidelines for your in-text references, citations, and reference page. Based on your observations and notes from your survey experience, write a report that includes the following: Describe, briefly, the neighborhood or community you observed (overall condition, types of spaces and businesses, evidence of services, and so forth). Describe a vulnerable or diverse population you observed living within the neighborhood or community. Now you will need to do some research on the population you described: Explain how the demographics for the population have changed over the past 5–10 years. Note: This information should be readily available through the United States Census Bureau, similar state Web sites, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or other professional sites. Be sure your information is current. Describe the most prevalent health risks for the population. For example, if your population is senior citizens, then the health risks might be diabetes and loss of mobility. Include statistics on the health risks, such as frequency of occurrence in the population and number of deaths per year in the population. Identify the health disparities and social determinants of health that can affect the population. In other words, what will you need to overcome to develop a successful health promotion and disease prevention program for the population? Your completed assessment should be 3–5 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page. Support your information with references to at least three professional, scholarly, or government resources, and follow current APA guidelines for your in-text citations and references.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01
A completed windshield survey of a neighborhood no larger than 2-3 square miles, documented on the provided template.
02
A 3-5 page report (excluding title and reference pages) for the interdisciplinary team, mirroring organizational document formats where possible with APA citations.
03
The brief's required content: neighborhood description, an observed vulnerable or diverse population, its 5-10 year demographic change, prevalent health risks with statistics, and the health disparities and social determinants affecting it.
04
At least three professional, scholarly, or government resources in current APA.

How should the observation-to-research report flow?

The survey as designed fieldwork

Report the method briefly — boundaries, route, timing, template — then describe the neighborhood's condition, spaces, businesses, services and transportation as observed evidence.

The population you saw

Identify the vulnerable or diverse population observed in the neighborhood and the observational evidence for their presence — the bridge sentence between fieldwork and research.

The demographic arc

Document how the population's demographics have shifted over 5-10 years using Census, state, or BLS data — the change leadership noticed is the scenario's premise, and this section proves or shapes it.

Health risks, with numbers

Present the population's most prevalent health risks with the mandated statistics — frequency in the population, deaths per year — from government health data.

Disparities, determinants, and the program to come

Identify the health disparities and social determinants affecting the population, framed as the brief frames them: the obstacles a successful health promotion and disease prevention program will have to overcome.

Where do the demographic and health-risk numbers come from?

Recommended databases

U.S. Census Bureau
Bureau of Labor Statistics
State health department data
Community Tool Box

Search sequence

1.
Read the Community Tool Box windshield survey guide before the fieldwork for observation technique and note discipline.
2.
Pull the neighborhood's demographic trend from Census QuickFacts or American Community Survey data at the closest available geography.
3.
Find the population's health-risk statistics — prevalence and mortality — from CDC, state health department, or county data.
4.
Read the Healthy People 2030 social determinants framework to organise the disparities section in its standard domains.

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

01
Windshield and Walking Surveys
Community Tool Box, University of Kansas · 2023
The methodology reference for the fieldwork half — what to observe, how to record it, and how to stay objective — matching the brief's own description of the technique.
02
QuickFacts
U.S. Census Bureau · 2024
The entry point for the 5-10 year demographic change section the brief requires, at county and place level — the source the brief itself names first.
03
Social Determinants of Health
Healthy People 2030, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · 2020
The standard five-domain framework for the disparities and determinants section, and the vocabulary that connects them to the health promotion program the course is building toward.

Review before submission

Common mistakes

Choosing a vulnerable population for its visibility rather than its data trail, then discovering the Census cannot resolve it at neighborhood grain — the research half needs sourceable numbers.
Writing the neighborhood description as impressions ('run-down', 'friendly') instead of observations a teammate could verify — objectivity is stated in the brief.
Reporting health risks without the required statistics; the brief explicitly asks for frequency and deaths per year, and 'diabetes is common among seniors' satisfies neither.
Surveying without the template or at a single time of day when the brief recommends both the instrument and repeated timing.
Ignoring the format instruction — the report is for your team and should echo organizational document conventions, an instruction unusual enough that following it is visible.
Treating the disparities section as a list instead of answering the brief's own framing: what must be overcome for the future wellness program to succeed.

Submission checklist

Survey area within 2-3 square miles; route and timing noted in the report.
Template used and observations dated.
The chosen population is explicitly one observed during the survey.
Demographic change covers 5-10 years with a named source (Census, state, BLS).
Each health risk carries frequency and mortality statistics.
Disparities/SDOH section ends by naming what the wellness program must overcome.
3-5 pages plus title and reference pages; three or more professional/scholarly/government sources in APA.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.