Institutional Improvement Student Survey Projects
In 2023, the Institutional Student Survey Committee identified a need for campus units to conduct assessment/evaluation projects regarding student needs, satisfaction, and evaluation of programs to a samples larger than currently allowed through the DMI/Student Affairs Research Approval (SARA) process (5,000 students, or 60% of a population).
However, the committee also acknowledged that students are receiving an increasing number of survey solicitations from various levels of campus (department, college, university). This process was created to (1) create a pathway for units to distribute student surveys for institutional improvement efforts to more than 5,000 students, (2) encourage collaborative survey projects across units, and (3) provide consultation for units on survey practices and existing campus data to minimize duplication. It will be launched in Summer 2024 and considered a pilot program for 2 years and then evaluated for continuation.
Applications will be submitted prior to the start of each semester. Representatives from the Institutional Student Survey Committee will review all applications and select one project for each semester based on the below criteria. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application within two months after the submission deadline. Applications not approved for a semester will be considered for the subsequent semester if the requester desires.
Successful applicants will receive feedback from the committee regarding best practices and data privacy and be assigned a committee contact to assist in distribution. All internal surveys must be designed on a university approved survey platform (Webtools, Qualtrics, or RedCap). Third party surveys sponsored by a campus unit may be approved after university cyberssecurity, privacy, purchasing, legal, and accessibility conditions have been met. Distribution to students can be via Webtools Email+ or via Qualtrics. If Qualtrics is chosen the survey itself will be housed with the Institutional Survey committee and data will be de-identified prior to being shared with the unit. Surveys will be allowed no more than 3 solicitation emails and cannot be distributed during the last two weeks of a semester or during the first week of any institutional survey.
If selected, the requesting unit(s) will be expected to pay for DMI sampling services to obtain the sample, have the ability to analyze the data, and fund/award any incentives. A final data set and copy of reports should be submitted to the Institutional Student Survey Committee upon completion.
Deadline: August 1st for a fall semester, December 1st for spring semester
The application is now open
Criteria
- The purpose of the project is for institutional or program improvement projects only (this process is not for generalizable research).
- Applications will be assessed on the potential impact for improvement.
- All projects must be sponsored by at least one campus unit. Preference is given to projects that involve multiple units.
- All projects must develop a plan to communicate the results of the project to campus stakeholders including students.
- Demonstrated alignment with the Boldly Illinois Strategic Plan.
Application Questions
- Submitters First Name:
- Submitters Last Name:
- Submitters Email:
- Unit(s) Sponsoring Project:
- Please describe the purpose of this survey project?
- Proposed Survey Administration Dates:
- How do you foresee using the data to improve your unit’s practices?
- How could the results of this project be useful to larger university initiatives or units not sponsoring this project?
- What are your plans for sharing the results? Please specifically describe how you will share results with students.
- How does your project align with the Boldly Illinois Strategic Plan?
- Who is the survey population for this survey? Include inclusion/exclusion criteria (e.g. undergrads, first-year students, international students)
- Why do you feel this survey should be delivered to more than 5,000 students?
- Will you be offering an incentive for student participation? (Note: all incentives must follow university policies and incentive sign up must be separate from survey data).
- Is there anything else you would like to share?
- Attach a draft of your proposed survey instrument
- Attach a draft of your recruitment email
- If a project is selected, sponsoring units must have support from their department/unit head and dean/vice chancellor. Do you have support from these individuals for this application? Yes, Pending, No
- Attach supporting documentation