Survey FAQ

To combat survey fatigue, a committee has been formed to help keep track of surveys done on campus at MSU. This committee keeps track of surveys on a large portion of our campus population from faculty, staff, and students. If you have general or potential survey questions please reach out to survey@msu.edu.

No. While a survey can remain open during blackout dates, you may not send emails or outreach about the survey during that time.

Yes. Surveys marked as "annual" must be submitted each year, including updated survey dates and copies of any renewed surveys.

No, all external organizations and external individuals who wish to survey within MSU, regardless of survey size, must get approval through the survey committee. If approved, external surveys will be given lower priority on distribution dates in the institution-wide survey calendar. External is defined as a group or individual completely external to MSU and those not working with a member of MSU faculty, staff, or students.

Please report all surveys unless it is a listed exclusion. Please use the Qualtrics Survey Approval Request Form. If you are unsure, please reach out to survey@msu.edu.

If your survey is intended for a specific college/MAU/unit at MSU, you must obtain approval from that college/MAU/unit before submitting your survey for review. The MSU Survey Committee requires confirmation of this approval as part of the review process. If permission is not granted, there is no need to submit it to the Survey Committee as the committee honors all unit decisions.

If the survey committee has determined that your survey does not require their review but it will still be distributed to unionized employees, then yes, we recommend that you contact Employee Relations directly. You can reach them at: AVPHR.OER@hr.msu.edu

Complete the Qualtrics Survey Approval Request form. The MSU survey committee meets every two weeks and reviews surveys on a first in, first reviewed basis.

Yes. You should submit your survey to the MSU Survey Committee if it meets other requirements for review by the committee. All surveys sent to MSU faculty, staff, and students that meet the requirements for review should be submitted to the committee regardless of how many individuals may receive the survey.

Surveys sent out only to solicit individual feedback based upon an individual interaction or meeting (e.g. advising or medical appointment) sent to a small number of recipients do not need to go through the Survey Committee. If you are unsure, please email survey@msu.edu

Yes. The surveys identified as ones the committee does not need to know about are not shared with them. Surveys identified as excluded from review but should be shared with the committee should be reported to the committee via survey@msu.edu so that the survey can be added to the university-wide survey calendar. All other surveys should be reported through the Qualtrics Survey Approval Request Form for review and approval by the committee.

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 focus groups, interviews, and other face-to-face interactions.

The committee was formed by request of the MSU President to establish coordination of surveys administered to the MSU Community in effort to reduce survey fatigue, enhance response rates, and ensure data quality.

Any entity which wants to survey MSU faculty, staff, and/or students.

While financial incentives are allowed, they must abide by all gambling and raffle laws in the state of Michigan. So internet surveys that want to use incentives must do so as a game promotion or sweepstakes and must be geofenced to the state of Michigan. You can find more information about raffles and gambling here:

https://controller.msu.edu/tax-services/raffles

https://controller.msu.edu/manual-of-business-procedures/section-49

https://controller.msu.edu/manual-of-business-procedures/section-44

Removing the element of consideration can change a raffle to a sweepstakes. To do this there must be an alternative method of entry that does not require any type of participation or survey completion. This can often be achieved by allowing participants to mail in their name for entry without completing the survey. For sweepstakes potential participants much be advised of the date prizes will be awarded, what the prizes are, how the winners will be selected and the approximate odds of winning a prize (which can be a generic statement that odds are based on the total number of entries).

To avoid these requirements, the element of “chance” can be removed by making the survey “skill based.” This could be as simple as “the first 15 to respond.”

If considering using incentives, please confirm with OGC that it meets all gambling and raffle laws.

Yes. To comply with US Department of Education (ED) regulations, financial assistance provided to a student in support of their academic pursuits, recognition of their academic or other achievements, or in recognition of their financial need, must be reported to the Office of Financial Aid (OFA). This includes Cash awards, gift cards, and prizes awarded only to students (Awards and prizes for competitions open to students and non-students alike are not considered countable resources). There is no minimum amount. All gifts or payments are countable for aid purposes.

If the external evaluator is working with either an MSU faculty, staff, or student, the MSU member should complete the Qualtrics on the external evaluator’s behalf. The survey will be reviewed as an internal evaluator for these purposes.

Surveys may also require IRB approval review and committee approval. If in doubt, after the MSU survey committee has approved your survey, please submit your application to IRB and they will determine if a review is warranted. You can find more information here: https://hrpp.msu.edu/help/required/index.html

As they are two separate processes requiring approval, we are encouraging everyone to start with the MSU Survey Committee first. Once this is complete then, if needed, IRB approval should be obtained. This is consistent with recommendations from peer institutions. If there are concerns with timing, please reach out to survey@msu.edu for further guidance.

Please reach out via survey@msu.edu with the changes to the instrument. If further action is needed, a survey committee member will contact you.

No. If you are asking the same questions the committee does not need to re-review the survey. Please email survey@msu.edu with your planned dates so we can check the institutional survey calendar for any potential conflicts.

Please email survey@msu.edu with the planned dates and timeline for your survey once you know them. Once the survey is approved, it does not need to re-route through the committee but must be added to the institutional survey calendar.

As soon as your survey is complete and you know you want to send it out to campus, send it to the committee.

Please give your best estimate for administering the survey e.g., April 2024, or late March 2024, summer 2024. The survey committee can work with you once you have a set date range.

Please complete the Qualtrics as soon as you can. You can enter historical dates if the survey was administered in the past. Please email survey@msu.edu and let them know about Qualtrics and your survey.

Sensitive topics include campus climate, RVSM (Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct), sexual activity, structural inequalities, marginalized individuals, and February 13th, 2023 incident on MSU campus.

You will receive an email letting you know of the committee's decision.

No, exit surveys are not included.

Please start with the MSU Survey Committee. The RO requires Survey Committee approval before it will fulfill student survey related requests.

No, event planning surveys are not included.

Surveys administered through SONA do not need to go through the MSU Survey Committee.

No, assessment/satisfaction surveys are not included.