Jump to Footer

University Survey Policy

Expresses how the University Survey Council will provide general guidelines and advice in the development and administration of surveys.

Policy Information

Policy Number Policy Owner
4006.1 Institutional Effectiveness

 

  • 4.0 Policy

    Survey Overview & Support

    The University Survey Support group recommends that you review and follow the principles and general guidelines listed below to assist you in the development of your survey or questionnaire.

    Importance:

    • Does it provide useful information for planning purposes? 
    • Does it provide useful feedback to those providing services to students, staff, faculty and/or alumni? 
    • Does it provide the college with useful information on the experience of students? 
    • Does it provide information not addressed in existing surveys (e.g. NSSE)?

    Content & Design of Survey:

    • Is the survey well designed? 
    • Is the content appropriate? 
    • Are the questions easily understood? 
    • Is the survey too short or long?

    Format/Process:

    • Does the survey follow an appropriate format? (e.g., multiple-choice questions, rankings, rating scales, open-ended questions. etc). 
    • Has the survey data collection process been well considered?  
    • Has a strategy been adopted to attain an acceptable participant response rate?
    • Have you followed the procedures for protecting subject confidentiality for COPHS review?

    Sample/Population: 

    • What is the target population? 
    • Will the entire population be surveyed, or a sample? 
    • Is the sampling methodology appropriate?   

    Timing: 

    • When will the survey be conducted? 
    • Is it conducted at a time during the academic year when students are likely to respond? 
    • Does the survey overlap with other surveys?   

    Overall Impact: 

    • What is the intended impact of the study?
    • What research questions are you attempting to answer? 

    Resources:

    • What resources will be needed in order to conduct the survey? (e.g., creation of mailing databases, designing the survey instrument, designing a Web application for the survey, conducting a survey, data entry, etc.)

For additional information about this policy, please contact the policy owner listed above.

Back to top