For an
overview of IAS surveys, click here. If
you are looking for a questionnaire, data, or reports from a survey
IAS has conducted in the past, click here.
To request help from IAS with a survey you are conducting, go to
Data Support.
IAS conducts institutional surveys for assessment purposes at the direction of the Vice President and Provost. Surveys with a broad institutional purpose, and those required by external governmental and accrediting bodies, are given first priority. IAS offers consultation on research design, question wording, questionnaire design, survey administration, and data tabulation and analysis. In addition, IAS can provide direct support (question writing, web programming, administration and analysis), for a limited number of other surveys from University offices, time permitting. The Provost’s Survey Policy Committee meets when necessary to discuss requests for direct survey support. To request survey support, go to Data Support. Surveys are administered each semester and requests to administer surveys are due prior to the start of the semester. If the Policy Committee directs IAS to conduct a survey, a schedule of deadlines will be established. Units must strictly adhere to those deadlines.
Provost’s Survey Policy Committee
The committee will apply the guidelines below to determine the institutional surveys that will be conducted by IAS in a given semester. Only direct costs (mailing, stationary, incentives, software usage fees) will be charged back to units.
IAS Capacity
The number of surveys IAS can conduct each academic semester varies based on a number of contingent factors (workload, staff, complexity of survey, and level of analysis needed). Typically, three 50-question surveys per semester with basic data tabulation and presentation would be considered a maximum. More complex surveys or surveys requiring detailed analysis (a written report) need to be considered on a case by case basis.
Criteria:
Organizational position is to be given first priority. For example, surveys requested by the President and Vice President and Provost will be given precedence over surveys requested by individual academic departments or support units. A secondary factor to be considered is the population (target group and breadth) for the survey. Breadth is indicated by the proportion of the target group to the target population and the entire University community. Surveys that study broader populations will be given priority over those that examine smaller ones. Finally, the resources of the unit to conduct its own survey is the final factor to be considered. Units with significant resources will be given lower priority.
Reporting Expectations:
Organizations which utilize any of the survey services offered by IAS are required to report back to IAS on the implementation of the survey results. Specifically, we would like to know (1) what the organization did with the data (2) what the organization learned from the process, and (3) what improvements were made as a result of the data collection. In addition, we would request that a copy of any reports or presentations that were created to disseminate the survey results be forwarded to our office (if applicable, confidentiality will be assured).
The Inquisite web survey system licensed by the University
allows creation of web-based questionnaires, administration of
surveys,
and analysis
of survey data from your desktop. Creation of surveys is done with
the "survey builder," a program you install on your
computer; the rest is done through a web interface.
This system is available to departments and units for assessment-related
use within the University, under a restricted site license administered
by IAS. At the Inquisite website
you can get more information about how the system works, and
download a trial version, which has the same capability as the
licensed-version with a 30 day, 20 response restriction. Surveys
created with the trial version should be able to be deployed with
the licensed version.
If you decide that Inquisite is the right tool for your purpose,
use the form on the IAS Data
Support page to request use of the software for the duration
of your project. IAS staff
will
provide
initial
orientation
to the survey system, and you will be eligible for direct support
from Inquisite for any questions that may arise along the way.
Whether a charge is assessed for use of the software will depend
on a number of factors. IAS makes every effort to minimize usage
fees. Often there will be no fee for small projects.
Download MS Word version
1. Define
the purpose of the survey as precisely as possible.
2. Review previous surveys/data to determine whether a new survey
is needed.
3. Check with the Institutional Review Board to see if approval
is needed.
4. Formulate research questions and hypotheses—what is it
you want to learn by conducting the survey and what are your hypotheses?
5. What is the survey population? (e.g., undergraduates, graduate
students, alumni).
6. Are oversamples of certain population subgroups necessary to
insure sufficient cases for analysis?
7.
Will incentives be offered to boost the response rate, e.g., lotteries,
cash, tokens? IAS recommends $1/respondent be spent on incentives.
8.
Create a rough draft of questions/subjects to be included in the
survey.
9.
Pretest the survey on a sample of potential respondents to test
questions and get feedback on question wording, order, etc.
10.
Revise the questionnaire draft according to the feedback from
the pretest.
11.
Draft an invitation to participate letter (see sample below).
12.
Print letters, stuff envelopes, sort, and mail, late in the week
if possible. The goal is to have respondents receive surveys early
in the week—Monday or Tuesday. IAS strongly recommends sending
a printed invitation letter as a first step.
13.
Define the field period and adopt a tracking plan (when to send
reminders, and what type). IAS recommends tracking nonrespondents
and sending reminders to those who have not responded. At least
3 email reminders to nonrespondents are appropriate and sometimes
more are necessary.
14.
Clean and assess the quality of the data and tabulate results.
15.
Analyze the results, test hypotheses, and write reports.
16.
Publicize the results—if possible it is a good idea to give
respondents the option of seeing the results.
Sample Letter
[Printed on Institutional Letterhead]
“Announcement” Sample Letter
[Date]
[first name] [last name]
[Address 1]
[City], [State] [Zip]
Dear [student name]:
I am writing on behalf of the University of Virginia to request
your help with an important project. As part of a larger program
to evaluate the quality of education at UVa, we are conducting a
survey of current TK students to ask about their experiences at
the University.
You were selected to be part of this project because you are a
first-year student in the School of TK. I know that this is a busy
time of year for you, but I hope that you will take just a little
time to participate in this brief web survey created by the University’s
Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies.
To complete the survey online, please go to the URL below (click
on “Current Surveys” and then “TK Survey”).
Enter the respondent key that appears at the bottom of this letter,
and then follow the online survey instructions. You will need the
respondent key to take the survey. If you do not have access to
the internet, or prefer to answer the questionnaire on paper, you
may request a paper survey by sending an e-mail to iaas@virginia.edu
or calling 434/924-3417.
As a token of our appreciation for your participation in this important
study, upon receipt of your completed questionnaire, the Office
of Institutional Assessment and Studies will enter your name in
a series of lotteries in which respondents are eligible to win $50
or $25 gift certificates from the UVa Bookstore. The first lottery
for 5 $50 gift certificates will be conducted TK date. You are substantially
more likely to win a lottery if you respond early. The overall odds
of winning a prize are about one in TK.
Your answers will be completely confidential. Your respondent key will be used for tracking purposes only. You will need this randomized alphanumeric code to complete the web survey, but once the field period has ended, the code will not be linked to your identifying information and your responses. Moreover, the results of the survey will be reported in a summary format, so again no one will link you to your responses. Text comments will be reported verbatim, so please do not provide identifying information in your text comments.
Thank you in advance for your participation in this important project.
If you have any questions about the administration of the survey,
please contact Jonathan Schnyer, Assistant Director and Assessment
Coordinator for the Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies
at 434/924-3417 or iaas@virginia.edu.
Sincerely,
Jonathan A. Schnyer
Associate Director and University Assessment Coordinator
Web address: http://www.web.virginia.edu/iaas/surveys/
Respondent key: «Resp_key»
Institutional
Review Board for the Social and Behaviorial Sciences
Center for Survey Research
Survey
Suite (web survey software developed at UVa)
Inquisite Web Survey System
(available through IAS site license)
Glossary
of survey terms
Best
Practices for Survey and Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
How large a sample
do you need? (calculator)
Survey Monkey Web Survey
and Analysis Software (very low priced)
Zoomerang Web Survey Software
(low priced)
Inquisite Web Survey Software
(download a trial version)
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