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Institutional Research

Survey FAQ

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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.

 

FAQ

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. 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 . Ex cluded 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.

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.

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 note if the survey includes employees, you must contact Employee Relations for union review before submitting 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.
All approved surveys will be listed on the MSU Survey Calendar (login required). Please check there.
You will receive an email letting you know of the committee's decision.
Please start with the MSU Survey Committee. The RO requires Survey Committee approval before it will fulfill student survey related requests.
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. Broad surveys sent out to large groups to evaluate services offered or provided, regardless of individual use, and to solicit broad program feedback should be submitted to the committee. If you are unsure please email survey@msu.edu

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