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University Survey Guidelines

Background

Surveys of campus constituents (i.e., students, faculty, staff, and alumni) are recognized as an important means for collecting information to support and improve educational quality, institutional effectiveness, and student and employee experience.

The Office of Institutional Planning & Analysis (IP&A) regularly conducts surveys of campus constituents, including students, faculty, and staff. These surveys are used for campus-wide strategic planning, organizational assessment and development, and external reporting purposes.

University Survey Guidelines aim to reduce survey fatigue and promote healthy response rates through improved planning, coordination, and administration of university surveys.

University Survey Guidelines

±¬ÁÏÉçÇø divisions, units, or individuals should endeavor to minimize the frequency and duration of surveys to campus constituents (students, faculty, and staff) to the extent possible. Surveys should be limited in length and ask only for information that is essential to educational and operational effectiveness, in alignment with the university’s mission, values, and strategic plan. Survey invitations should clearly communicate the purpose and benefit to constituents. Survey instruments and communications must adhere to campus inclusive language guidelines.

Regardless of survey size, survey administrators are encouraged to consult the Survey Calendar and work proactively with IP&A and University Communications to coordinate survey scheduling so that it does not compete with other campus initiatives. Additionally, any external contract or sponsored project involving a survey of ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø students, faculty, or staff will require consultation with the Director of IP&A prior to institutional commitment.

Survey administrators are cautioned to familiarize themselves with applicable information security, privacy, and mandated reporting policies and carefully consider the type of information that may be elicited before proceeding with a survey. Personally identifiable student survey responses collected by the university are considered student records, and as such are protected by FERPA. Survey responses may additionally be subject to mandated reporting if a reportable incident is disclosed (e.g., Title IX/DHR, child abuse). Surveys must be administered using university-supported software platforms (e.g., Qualtrics, Microsoft Forms) that conform to information security and accessibility standards. Inappropriate collection or handling of survey responses may expose the campus to risk and liability.

Survey Coordination Request

Individuals may not distribute large-scale surveys* without approval by a President’s Administrative Team (PAT) member and internal review by IP&A and University Communications. Large-scale surveys are defined as surveys of more than 5,000 students or more than 500 employees.

Individuals wishing to coordinate a survey through IP&A or University Communications (e.g., distribution through campus-wide communication, contact list generation for a target population) should submit a survey coordination request as early as possible, but no later than 30 days prior to the target launch date. Before approving a survey to move forward, IP&A will confirm PAT member approval and may also consult with relevant campus subject matter experts, including but not limited to:

IP&A and University Communications will conduct an internal quality assurance review of all proposed surveys, which may include recommendations for survey design and functionality, clarity of survey items, use of inclusive language, and protection of participant data.

*Surveys conducted directly by a representative organization to their constituents (e.g., a CSU bargaining unit to their represented staff, Faculty Academic Senate to faculty, Associated Students, Inc. to students) are exempt from this requirement.

Support for Survey Development & Administration

IP&A considers new survey projects as resources and workload permit. Typically, IP&A supports larger scale surveys conducted to inform campus strategic initiatives or spanning multiple divisions, programs or operational areas. IP&A also consults on effective survey practices, for example providing input on questionnaire design. To connect with IP&A regarding a proposed survey project, please submit a through the campus Data Request Process.

Technical support for Qualtrics survey software is available through Instructional & Information Technology Services. IITS maintains a Qualtrics webpage with links to various support resources.

Surveys Conducted for Research Purposes

These guidelines do not supersede the policies and procedures of ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Individuals wishing to conduct surveys for research purposes are responsible for obtaining the required IRB exemptions or approvals before implementing any survey.

The IRB assures ethical conduct and the protection of human subjects in research according to federal regulations and university policy. The IRB does not authorize the use of university resources nor access to campus constituents for survey research. Research surveys involving campus constituents must adhere to IRB policies and procedures, as well as university survey guidelines.

IP&A and University Communications do not release student or employee contact information for faculty or student research purposes. Researchers are encouraged to partner with appropriate campus departments for promotion or distribution to target populations, or to leverage convenience sampling techniques (e.g., distributing flyers, posting on social media, tabling during

U-Hour, recruitment from specific classes or human participant pools). In some cases, contact information may be provided to researchers who are conducting surveys on behalf of the university with PAT member sponsorship.

External Researchers

While we value research endeavors by non-±¬ÁÏÉçÇø-affiliated researchers, we are committed to limit messaging that competes with official campus communications and university business.