Survey
Details
 What
is The National Survey of Student Engagement?
Reasons
to Participate
Survey
Administration
Data
Reporting
What
will you do with the data?
Will
my answers be shared with the institution?
What
will my school do with the data?
Are
you surveying my school only?
Project
Administration
The
National Survey of Student Engagement is a survey specially designed
for students like you to provide information about your
college experience, including your views about the quality
of your education and how you spend your time. The survey
has a national flavor in that your school is one of more than 400
colleges and universities from different parts of the country
using the survey this spring. But the main reason your college
is participating is that it wants to learn more about what
students think and do so it can improve the undergraduate
program.
Each
year more than 200,000 college students receive The Report
and are invited to express their views and describe their
experiences. The project sponsored by grants from Lumina
Foundation for Education and The
Pew Charitable Trusts based in Philadelphia which has
a keen interest in improving the quality of education at
all levels.
At most institutions,
the survey is being completed by a random sample of students,
but at selected institutions, all first-year students and seniors
are being surveyed. For most institutions, when your college got
involved in this project it gave us a data file with the names
and mailing addresses of all first-year students and seniors.
Theoretically, every first-year student and every senior at your
school had an equal chance of being chosen because the names were
randomly selected from the list your school provided. The odds
of being chosen depend in part on the number of students at your
school. In general, the larger the school, the smaller the chance
of being selected; the smaller the school, the greater the chance,
unless you attend a school where all first-year students and seniors
were selected.
At most institutions,
the survey is being completed by a random sample of students.
For these institutions, this procedure ensures that every first-
year student and every senior has an equal chance of being identified.
Also, the selection process essentially guarantees the more people
that return the survey, the more valid the results. However, this
procedure does not allow for adding people after the original
group was identified from the list of enrolled students your school
provided. At selected institutions, all first-year students and
seniors will be surveyed. So, as you can see, it is very important
that you complete The National Survey of Student Engagement, as it's not
possible to ask someone else at your college to take your place.
Your school is counting on you as it needs as many students as
possible to participate to have confidence in the results.
The information
from this study will be used in several ways. First, your answers
will be combined with those of others at your school, analyzed
and summarized in the aggregate. Your school will be able to examine
the information in different ways; for example, to learn about
the experiences of women and men or the experiences of students
in different major fields. This is extremely valuable information
because most schools do not have good information about how students
spend their time and what they think of their institution. With
this information in hand it is possible for people at your school
to identify areas where, with some adjustments, the student experience
can be improved. In other words, the more your college knows about
its students and what they think of the institution, the more
likely it is that faculty, academic and student life administrators
and others, can take appropriate action.
Another way
the information you provide will be used is in comparisons with
other schools that are more or less like yours. This isn’t done
very often, primarily because comparable information across institutions
does not exist. Finally, a set of national benchmarks will be
established for different types of institutions. A benchmark is
a level of performance, reflecting an area of practice (in this
case, educational practice) that potential consumers, customers,
or others use to determine the quality of a product, service,
or educational institution. The for-profit sector has used benchmarking
practices for years and your answers to The College Student
Report will allow your school as well as other colleges and
universities across the country to do this.
Absolutely.
One of the most important reasons to do this survey is so that
your school discovers what you and other students at your college
do and think.
Schools will
use the information from The National Survey of Student Engagement in
different ways. Most will share the results in summary form with
faculty, staff, student leaders, and other groups that have a
“need to know?what it’s like being an undergraduate at your school.
Most colleges have an assessment committee that collects information
about various aspects of institutional performance, including
the student experience. Surely your school’s assessment committee
will analyze information from The Report very carefully
and use it in their own reports and in future planning for other
assessment activities.
Your college
will also use the information in reporting to external authorities,
such as regional accrediting agencies, which are responsible to
the general public for assuring quality in higher education. Your
school may also share the results with other institutions in order
to learn how your school compares. Finally, the information will
be of keen interest to prospective students as it reveals what
you and other students at your school do and think of their education.
So, there are some very different uses, all important . Perhaps
the most important is for your school to learn about you and your
classmates, and where it should focus attention to improve.
In
Spring 2004, more than 400 schools will be involved in the survey.
This will be an annual study, so that the information you
provide now will become part of the national database and
be used for some time to come as people compare your responses
with those students in the future.
Simply put,
your school needs to know what you think of your college experience,
the kinds of activities in which you engage, and how you are benefiting
from your studies. Without this information, it’s not very easy
for faculty and staff at your college to identify the areas that
can and should be improved. And because you were randomly selected
from among your classmates to represent your school, it’s imperative
that you make your views known.
Unlike many
other surveys, The Report has a real chance of making a
difference in terms of how people at your institution use the
information. There is great interest in this study for two reasons.
First, your college chose to participate; it wasn’t required.
This means there are people who want to see the results. Second,
there are numerous people beyond your school who would like to
know how well your college is doing - prospective students, their
families, alumni, and others. So, your answers - after they are
combined with those of your classmates - will be read with interest
by a wide variety of people.
You’ve heard
the expression, “think globally, act locally??This is a national
project with immediate local implications. That is, thousands
of students around the country are getting the same survey. And
people will be interested in what college students as a group
think about their education. But it’s also important that your
school find out directly from you about your experience and then
share what it learns through comparisons with other colleges.
This will, probably for the first time, give your faculty and
administrators an answer to the question: “How well are we doing??
The survey
results can be used almost immediately.
Your answers
combined with those of your classmates will identify areas that
your college will likely examine more closely. For example, compared
with other schools like yours, do students have more or less meaningful
contact with faculty? Do students at your school study more or
less than students at other schools? Do you and your classmates
think your college supports them in their efforts? Answers to
these and the other questions on this survey will pinpoint areas
that need immediate attention.
Finally,
this survey differs from most others you get because what you
say will become part of a continuing national study that people
at your school as well as hundreds of other colleges and universities
around the country will continue to use for the foreseeable future.
So, your answers will not only help your school, but many others
around the country as well.
The project is located at Indiana University and is directed by
George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education. The Center for Survey Research at IU, directed by John Kennedy,
administers the surveys. These people are supported by dozens of others who help design, package, mail, and collect the
surveys and then analyze and report the results to your school and the other participating colleges and universities
around the country. These people were originally asked by a philanthropic organization,
The Pew Charitable Trusts, to do this study.
The Pew Charitable
Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education,
the environment, health and human services, public policy and
religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments
to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions
to difficult problems. In 2001, with approximately $4.3 billion
in assets, the Trusts granted over $230 million to 175 nonprofit
organizations.
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