Administrative Survey Policy

Policy Overview

Administrative Survey Policy (.PDF)

1. Policy Statement

The university will be coordinating the administrative survey research on campus in order to ensure meaningful and reliable results.

Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of surveys administered across campus. Given the increasing profile and importance of survey results, it is imperative that results be meaningful and reliable and that actions are coordinated in order to maximize response rates. With the increasing number of surveys administered, survey fatigue has become a serious concern, thus survey coordination is critical.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to maximize the benefits of the administrative surveys on campus by:

• Avoiding the collection of duplicate information;
• Reducing possible survey fatigue by limiting the number and timing of surveys to any one specific group;
• Maximizing the participation rates for critical university administrative surveys;
• Encouraging the communication and sharing of survey results with the campus community.

3. Scope

This policy applies to all administrative surveys which involve a broad sampling or census of a population at the University (including applicants and alumni). Faculty-wide administrative surveys are covered by this policy; however, surveys involving small samples are not covered by this policy. If there is any uncertainty as to whether or not the survey falls under this policy, Institutional Analysis (IA) should be contacted for guidance.

4. Exceptions

This policy does not apply to:

1. individual faculty research;
2. surveys that involve small, specific sampling;
3. surveys that are part of assigned work of a course or degree requirements;
4. evaluation of an event by participants or feedback from clients at the point of service;
5. teaching evaluation forms.

5. Definitions

NSSE (The National Survey of Student Engagement)

This survey involves first entry program students in first and final year;

CGPSS (Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey)

This survey covers all graduate students.

OUAC (Graduate Placement Survey)

This survey is administered to students who have graduated from with an undergraduate degree from all programs.

LSSSE (Law School Survey of Student Engagement)

This survey is designed specifically for Law students in all years.

6. Procedure

An individual or group wishing to conduct a broad administrative survey or having responsibility for managing an external survey should consider whether or not it falls within this policy. If so, the individual or group must make an application to Institutional Analysis prior to administering the survey. This application will identify:

• The purpose of the survey and who is managing it;
• What data is to be collected and from what population;
• The sample size;
• How the survey will be administered;
• The planned timelines;
• If it is a one-time survey or if it will be administered on a cycle (frequency).

The application is to be made in the prescribed format (Appendix: Administrative Survey Form). Institutional Analysis (IA) will discuss the survey with the group considering criteria such as:

• Is there other data available that will allow the survey to be avoided;
• Can the data needs be combined with other surveys planned;
• What is the optimal timing to ensure it does not interfere with university surveys? The surveys as noted in the definition section will take precedence over other survey research.

Please complete the Administrative Survey Form forward by email to oia@uwindsor.ca or fax to (519)971-3619 Att: Executive Director, Institutional Analysis.