Office of Institutional Effectiveness Survey Policy

Statement of Purpose:

An institution-wide surveying policy serves two distinct purposes. It aligns the use of the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline module surveying tool with the university’s need to assess institutional effectiveness. It also serves to control access to the campus population for surveying purposes, thus avoiding survey fatigue and redundancy.

Policy:

Survey Tool

Campus Labs/Anthology is an assessment data management platform made up of five separate operational modules. The surveying tool and the affiliated data repository in the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline module is designed to capture data used in analyzing the effectiveness of ESU in fulfilling its mission. The Baseline module synthesizes survey data and assessment information captured across the modules into reportable formats which are aligned with the assessment of institutional effectiveness strategies. Thus, the restricted use of this tool is delegated only to those who serve in institutional effectiveness assessment leadership roles and for purposes directly aligned with the measurement of such.

Approval for Tool Use

Gaining approval to use the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline survey tool is funneled through the three main operational units of the institution (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance). Those entities assessing co-curricular student learning will gain approval first through the Vice President of Student Affairs who will communicate with the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness to provide access and training. Those entities assessing academic units and curricular learning will gain approval, access, and training through the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness. Those entities assessing institutional effectiveness not directly related to student learning (academic or co-curricular) will gain approval through the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness. Cumulatively, all three operational areas of the institution are included in this policy (Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, and Student Affairs).

Access to Survey the Campus Population

Currently, there are three surveys which are distributed on an annual basis to the campus community which measure student perceptions, plans, and satisfaction with their ESU educational experiences (i.e., National Survey of Student Engagement, The Senior Survey, and the Career Services Destination Survey). These indirect assessments serve to inform the campus community and meet external stakeholder reporting requirements (i.e., Kansas Board of Regents). These surveys receive continuous approval and are reviewed by the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, as needed.

Surveying all or part of the campus community for class projects and individual student or group research assignments is not recommended, as many disciplines include a research component in their curriculum. An increased emphasis on research is anticipated in the future. These class projects and assignments are an important part of students’ learning key research skills, and the use of students enrolled in said course as a survey sample is appropriate. Faculty approving the surveying of students across multiple discipline specific courses to serve as a project sample is appropriate, if approved by the department chair or other designated decision-maker. Use of all or part of the campus community not previously identified for such class projects or assignments is not allowed, as it is vital that ESU students are not burdened with extraneous surveys which detract from time spent on academic endeavors.

College-wide, department, and discipline specific surveying of students and faculty members is a common practice. This gathering of data to indirectly assess instructional quality, career placement, faculty evaluations by students, and overall student satisfaction is a key complement to the direct assessment of student learning. These processes should be incorporated into the overall assessment plan and data capture should occur within the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline survey tool. These practices are not under the direction of the Access to the Campus Population policy. Access to these student sub-populations is under the discretion of each designated leader (Dean, Chair, or Appointed Assessment Leader) and use of the survey tool is acknowledged through the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness.

Faculty engaging in Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved generalizable research which identifies all or part of the campus community as the study’s sample must first receive approval for access to the campus population by his or her respective Dean. The Dean’s office will communicate said approval for access to all or part of the campus community to the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness (APIE). Approval by the APIE is dependent upon the upholding of any/all laws pertaining to open records and the sharing of personal data, and under consideration of the timing of prior survey disseminations to the campus community. Upon APIE approval, the study sample e-mail addresses will be provided to the faculty researcher. The researcher is responsible for securing the intended surveying tool (i.e., zoomerang, survey monkey) and launching the electronic survey. Unless the research is a component of the institutional effectiveness assessment plan, the use of the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline survey tool is not applicable.

Campus Survey Committee (ad-hoc as assigned by the Provost and VP for Academic Affairs)

The campus survey committee serves as an oversight group to provide advisory guidance in determining which IRB approved faculty research projects are appropriate for surveying all or part of the campus community. The committee charge identifies membership and provides direction for decision procedures. The committee will be engaged in the decision-making process upon the recommendation of the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness or Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Appeal Procedure

As with many policies, there are always circumstances not addressed. If an individual(s) feels that an exception should be made to policy or would like to appeal a decision, written appeals may be made to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Access to Campus Community Email Addresses Policy

Statement of Purpose:

This policy serves to control access to and the distribution of campus community email addresses contained as records in the Banner relational database. This policy also serves to reinforce FERPA rules.

Policy:

Distributing surveys to all or a part of the campus community using e-mail distribution is restricted to purposes of gathering required data metrics for accreditation, assessment, external reporting, institutional effectiveness reporting, or for data based decision-making. Beyond these specific purposes, access to all or a sub-set of campus community email addresses for the purposes of soliciting information through electronic survey must be approved by the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness. This is specific to the survey distribution method using direct email invitation or embedding a survey link in the text of an email must be approved by the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness. A special request for an email distribution list shall be submitted to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness as per the following procedure. Special requests will only be honored if the data collected from the survey is institution specific and serves a benefit to the institution.

Procedure:

All requests for access to a set of campus community email addresses must be submitted to Assistant Provost in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. The request must be in writing and submitted electronically along with documentation confirming approval of the research project by the Emporia State University Institutional Review Board (IRB). All open records requests are forwarded to the University’s Legal Counsel to initiate open records act procedures.

Exception:

A preferred method to distribute surveys to members of the campus community is done by placing a survey link in a campus announcement using the campus portal (currently named Hornet 365). The procedure for this surveying method is the same as submitting a Hornet Announcement. Using a Hornet Announcement survey link does not require access approval from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (Assistant Provost).

Campus Labs/Anthology Baseline Module Survey Tool Use Policy

Statement of Purpose:

The purpose of this policy is to align the use of the Campus Labs/Anthology-Baseline Module surveying tool with the gathering of data used to provide institutional effectiveness evidence for the University.

Policy:

Institutional Effectiveness incorporates assessment practices and data gathering techniques to measure the institution’s ability to meet its mission. Effectiveness practices occur across all operational units of the university. The Campus Labs/Anthology Baseline Module includes a survey tool and rubrics tool which are used to capture and record electronic data directly related to these practices.

Procedure:

An individual/unit requests the use of the Campus Labs/Anthology Baseline Module survey tool by submitting a written email request to the Assistant Provost in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. Access to use the Baseline Module is restricted to ESU employees (faculty or staff). The Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness is the Administrator for the Baseline Module and provides all permissions, access, and training.

Adopted 1/1/2013-revised 11-14-2017-last updated 10-15-2021