120 Survey and Research Procedure

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness will serve as a coordinating body and clearinghouse for a variety    of surveys including those of current and former students, faculty, and staff.

Purpose of Research Procedure:

1. To coordinate surveys and research and avoid redundancy or research; avoid survey fatigue; limit un-solicited e-mails; ensure methodologically sound practices, appropriate distribution, and  use of results; offer assistance; maintain inventory of surveys, datasets, and associated reports and maximize response rates to Inform about required approvals such as:
   1. IRB
   2. Appropriate vice president
   3. Survey policy
2. To issue exemptions to approval process
3. To minimize the risk of gathering and mishandling sensitive information
4. To ensure that data collected is reliable, valid, and an ethical manner and is used to promote data driven decision making

Procedures for administering/requesting surveys:

1. Prior to recruiting participants or collecting data, any administrative office, committee, staff member, faculty or student wishing to survey current or former students, faculty or staff must submit a complete survey request to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
2. The office of Institutional Effectiveness will review the request and determine if the request is exempt from the policy or forward the request to the appropriate Vice-President and members of the Institutional Assessment Committee
3. If the survey request is approved, the requestor will be responsible for administering and analyzing the survey. The office of Institutional Effectiveness can provide the following support:
   1. Help identifying an appropriate sample
   2. Consult of appropriate questions to reduce bias and to ensure validity and reliability
   3. Provide access to web-based software for creating and sending the survey
4. All research will be conducted to the highest ethical standards. MSC students, faculty, and staff participating in research must be fully informed as to the purpose of the research, the risks and benefits, and what participation will entail; give their consent to participate; and be free to withdraw from research at any time.  MSC will not provide to a researcher any identifiable student record data except Directory Information as allowed by FERPA and MSC Policy.
5. The Vice-President of Institutional Effectiveness will issue a letter to the researcher indicating approval or denial of the proposal.
6. Survey instruments, materials, and results must be shared with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

Exemptions:

All surveys administered must submit a survey request to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.  Some     surveys may be exempt from review by the Institutional Assessment Committee.

1. Surveys administered within a class as part of teaching research methods. These surveys must be small in sample size (100 or less) and reviewed for ethical principles and appropriateness by the course instructor.
2. Surveys administered within an Academic department for assessment purposes. Surveys administered within an academic department in which the sample, distribution, and data used stays within that department.
3. Course Evaluation is not exempt. Faculty should refrain from using unauthorized course evaluations. Any course evaluations administered must be approved the VPAA.