For full details see the committee membership page.
What surveys should go to the committee?
All surveys sent any MSU faculty, staff, or students, with few exceptions.
The few exceptions:
Surveys excluded from review and approval by the committee include:
- Surveys conducted to obtain information required for employment or matriculation.
- Surveys conducted by instructors as part of their course.
- Surveys conducted by colleges, departments, or schools as part of planning for program offerings, including education abroad.
- Surveys to inform instruction or instruction-related materials.
- Surveys conducted as part of a performance review of employees, including administrators.
- Surveys conducted as part of an election process and/or to establish committee membership.
The following surveys are also excluded from committee review and approval. However, the committee still needs to know about them for planning and scheduling purposes:
- Surveys relating to federal reporting.
- Surveys related to accreditation (institutional or specialized).
- Surveys related to the evaluation of academic programs, departments, and colleges.
- Surveys conducted as part of annual rankings initiated by external organizations.
Please email survey@msu.edu with a copy of your survey and your survey dates.
All other surveys should go through the MSU Survey Qualtrics for committee approval. If you are not sure if your survey requires committee review and/or you would like further information, please email survey@msu.edu.
When is full committee review required?
Full committee review is required when the survey meets one or more of the following criteria:
- The survey is to be distributed to all MSU faculty, all MSU staff, and/or all MSU students.
- The survey is to be distributed to all faculty, staff, and/or students from a single college or MAU (Major Administrative Unit).
- The survey is to be distributed to 2,500 or more MSU community members (employees or students).
- The topics of the survey are sensitive in nature, including but not limited to: campus climate, RVSM, structural inequalities, marginalized individuals, the campus incident on February 13th, 2023.
- The survey request is initiated by an external constituent.
Review timeline
The MSU survey committee meets every two weeks and reviews surveys on a first in, first reviewed basis. We encourage submitting your survey as soon as your instrument, population, and timing are finalized.
What counts as a survey?
A survey is anything that uses standardized questions to gather information from individuals about preferences, thoughts, and behaviors systematically. Surveys take many forms including paper, telephone, email, QR codes, or through a URL. Excluded are in person interactions such as focus groups, interviews, and other face-to-face interactions. Also excluded from are pop quizzes, requests to participate in a research study, and collecting information on a form or inventory.
A survey’s goal is to collect data representative of the group being surveyed and provide researchers with insights and make informed decisions or draw conclusions. A successful survey is clear, concise, and unbiased and avoids leading or loaded questions that could influence the answers.
References:
QuestionPro: Surveys: What They Are, Characteristics & Examples
SmartSurvey: The Difference Between Survey and Questionnaire
qualtrics: What is a survey?