At Champlain College we conduct surveys on student satisfaction and engagement; employee satisfaction; ratings of instruction; student learning; post-graduation employment and much, much more. Before you conduct your own survey, check with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment to see if existing data can answer your questions, help you design a survey, help you add questions to the IDEA student ratings of instruction survey or add your question to an upcoming college-wide survey.

All internal surveys must comply with Champlain College's Survey Policy: Survey Policy -Final 2018 (1).pdf

All surveys must be approved by the Office of Institutional Research. Please submit this Survey Approval Request Form.

If you would like to create a survey project and are new to the practice, please read the guidelines in the Survey Best Practices page.

Follow Ethical Research Practices

It should be noted that all research (including surveys) must follow Champlain's Principles for Ethical Research Involving Human Subjects. Regardless of whether your research project is for a class assignment, for a publishable research project or an internal institutional project, researchers at Champlain College are responsible for ensuring that all research practices involving human subjects satisfy the following requirements:

- Risks should be minimized.
- Benefits should outweigh risks.
- Privacy should be respected.
- Autonomy should be respected.
- Data should be monitored closely.
- Equity should be sought.

For more information, see Champlain's Principles for Ethical Research Involving Human Subjects on pg. 3 of the IRB Policies and Procedures document.

Gain Appropriate Consent from Participants

Regardless of the scope of your research or survey project, all researchers must gain appropriate consent from their participants. Consent should be a reasoned judgment to participate in an activity in full recognition of what will, or could, happen. Please download and use as appropriate Champlain College's General Consent Template.

Institutional Review Board:

All research proposals involving human subjects must be submitted for IRB review. Visit the Champlain College IRB web pages for more information.

When does a study need IRB approval? When it is intended to contribute to "generalizable knowledge." According federal regulations governing research with human subjects (45 CFR 46) projects meeting the criteria for regulated research with human subjects defines research as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.”

This site from NC State has a good definition of generalizable knowledge.

Current Guidelines on Gender and Sexual Orientation Items

Champlain's current guidance (Spring 2024) on asking constituents about gender and is as follows:

What is your current gender identity?

Cisgender Woman
Cisgender Man
Transgender Woman
Transgender Man
Gender queer/Gender non-binary
Not otherwise specified

Which term best describes your sexual orientation?

Asexual
Aromantic
Bisexual
Gay
Queer
Heterosexual
Lesbian
Pansexual
Questioning
Not otherwise specified

See

Best Practices for Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation on Surveys

Best Practices for Asking Questions to Identify Transgender and Other Gender Minority Respondents

Surveys we Conduct at Champlain:

IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction Survey

(See the College's web pages for more information about IDEA at Champlain.)

Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)

Measuring Information Service Outcomes (MISO)

ModernThink "Great Colleges to Work For" workplace quality survey

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Noel-Levitz Priorities Survey for Online Learners (PSOL)

Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI)

Internal Surveys

Champlain College also administers internally-designed surveys, such as:

- Incoming Student Survey
- Culture of Consent Survey
- First Destination survey of recent graduates

These are aimed to gauge student involvement in various fields around college and academia. For more information about these surveys, contact the Office of IR&A.

More Information on Surveys:

Analyzing Qualitative Data University of Wisconsin

Likert scale response options Mount Wachusett Community College

Marc Beam, Suggestions for Survey Design: Things to Consider when Conducting a Survey, Mt. San Antonio College, 2005

Populations and Sampling from University of Saint Mary of the Lake

Quantitative approaches to Qualitative Data University of Reading

Research Basics on Explorable

Research Methods Knowledge Base

So YOU Want to Survey Cornell Students…

References:

Jennifer K. Frederick, When to Ask (or Not Ask) Demographic Questions, Ithaka S+R, January 11, 2021

Jennifer K. Frederick, Four Strategies for Crafting Inclusive and Effective Demographic Questions, Ithaka S+R, January 11, 2021