The Office of Institutional Research uses our subscription to an online survey program called Qualtrics to administer surveys for other UCCS offices. By extended our services, we improve campus efficiency and save time and money. We improve efficiency by offering our expertise with survey design and methodology, analysis and reporting, FERPA and IRB related concerns, and by providing contact information for potential respondents. Having administered numerous surveys over the years, we are able to build and distribute a customized survey in a few hours, allowing for immediate application of results to encourage data-driven decision-making and to improve the quality of services those units provide to students and employees. We also save time as our campus colleagues need not spend an inordinate amount of time reinventing the wheel by researching the variety of online survey programs, training employees how to manage such programs, or developing questionnaires. We save money as other units need not pay for our labor, the subscription fees, or the costs associated with administering a survey; we offer these services free of charge to all campus offices.

The Institutional Research Office consists of Dr. Robyn Marschke, director, Dr. Wendi Clouse, senior analyst, and Janet Van Kampen, analyst.

HOW DOES THIS IMPACT THE UNIVERSITY?

Since 2010, we have conducted over 100 surveys and collected information from 16,000 respondents. Thus, even with a conservative estimate of $5 per respondent, we figure we have saved the university at least $80,000 and possibly as much as $250,000 in potential survey costs. This year alone, the Student Government Association was able to re-allocate $2000 typically spent on a third-party vendor for student elections. We also use the program and offer our services for Faculty Assembly elections, administrator performance evaluations, customer satisfaction surveys, student and faculty surveys often needed for accreditation purposes, exit surveys for departing employees, mandatory VETS 100 reports about employment of military veterans, conflict of interest data collection and compliance, graduating senior and alumni surveys, and for gathering metrics required for both the Annual Diversity Report and the CU Performance Contract.

IMPLEMENTATION STATUS

We began implementation of shared survey practices in 2010 and significantly ramped up our services in 2011.

Submitted by Dr. Robyn Marschke, Director, Dr. Wendi Clouse, Senior Analyst, and Janet Van Kampen, Analyst, Institutional Research Office, University of Colorado Colorado Springs