Wellesley College Survey Coordination Policy
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish a coordinated approach to surveys administered within Wellesley College's community. Effective coordination aims to mitigate survey fatigue, enhance response rates, and ensure data quality. This policy applies to surveys of individuals at Wellesley conducted by Wellesley College administrative offices and faculty committees.
Survey Submission and Review Process
To ensure effective coordination and optimal timing, survey plans should be submitted to the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) for review. Use the Wellesley College Survey Coordinating Form to submit survey plans. Submissions should be made at least 3 months before the intended survey launch date. OIR staff will review submissions within 1-2 weeks and may request additional information, schedule meetings, and confirm distribution timelines. Approved survey launch dates will be added to the institutional survey calendar.
Exemptions
Surveys falling into any of the following categories are exempt from OIR review and coordination:
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Surveys involving data collection from individuals not affiliated with Wellesley College.
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Surveys conducted within a single course, or a limited number of courses, for course feedback.
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Feedback or evaluation forms for events, workshops, seminars, or programs, conducted immediately after the event.
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Administrative data collection, including event registration/RSVP forms and web-based elections.
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Annual or regular surveys that have been previously approved.
Survey Guidelines and Assistance
Question Formation and Existing Data
An important early step in survey planning is clearly defining your question and determining whether it can be answered with existing institutional data. Many groups survey individuals at Wellesley. Students are the most frequent subjects, but faculty, staff, alumnae, and parents of students are asked to fill out surveys as well. Some surveys are conducted by educational consortia and are reported with comparative data from other institutions. For more information about existing institutional data and how it can be used to answer your questions, contact oir@wellesley.edu.
Survey Design and Platforms
Wellesley College commonly employs Google Forms and Qualtrics for surveys. Google Forms suits simple, short surveys, while Qualtrics is recommended for complex surveys. Wellesley community members can access Qualtrics.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
If a survey is part of a research project, it must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Details on IRB approval and the submission process can be found here: IRB Information. While internal surveys for institutional purposes might not require formal IRB approval, ethical data collection practices are essential.
Confidentiality vs. Anonymity
Deciding whether your survey will be confidential or anonymous is crucial and should be communicated to survey respondents upfront. When a survey is confidential, survey responses are linked to identifying information about a respondent, but protocols are made to ensure the privacy of this information. In an anonymous survey, survey responses are not connected to personally identifying information. There are pros and cons to both approaches. If you have questions about which might work best for your survey, OIR can offer guidance.
Sharing Survey Results
Considering the intended use of survey data during the design phase can enhance question effectiveness. Sharing the context of data use with respondents promotes transparency, and impacts whether and how people respond. After your data has been collected, disseminating a summary of the survey within the community fosters a sense of respondent inclusion and has the potential to help to increase response rates in future surveys. This Survey Summary Template offers direction for composing an overview of survey findings. More details on college policies about sharing survey data can be found here.
Contact and Support
For guidance on survey design, administration, data analysis, and other inquiries, OIR is available to assist. Contact us at oir@wellesley.edu for support.