"The senior administration is really hungry for the data," says the office coordinating the survey. A high return from the students "will help send an unambiguous message" and will help senior administrators focus their energies on the issues students consider most important.
For the first time in at least two decades, the University is conducting a comprehensive survey of all four undergraduate classes to evaluate programs and services on campus.
Fifty percent of Brown's fulltime undergraduates were selected at random to receive the Cycles Survey, a set of questions designed by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE).
"Without a doubt, this is the most comprehensive survey of Brown's undergraduates ever, certainly in my 26 years here," said Kay Lewis, University registrar and director of Brown's Office of Institutional Research, which is administering the survey for the dean of the College and the dean of student life.
The survey was mailed to 2,857 students the week of March 29. It asks students to rank their level of satisfaction on a variety of student life and academic issues, to tally the number of papers they had to write for courses last semester, and whether they have witnessed or experienced harassment this academic year. Some questions are open ended, particularly those that query students' experiences with academic advising. Responses to all questions are strictly confidential.
In the science of surveys, the higher the response rate, the more accurate the data. "We're hoping for a 50 percent return," Lewis said. "The senior administration is really hungry for the data. A high return from the students will help send an unambiguous message" and will help senior administrators focus their energies on the issues students consider most important.
To entice survey recipients to respond, more than 120 prizes - including a $400 travel voucher - are being raffled off. The earlier students return their completed surveys, the more often their names are entered. Deadline for returning surveys is 5 p.m. April 29. Prizes have been donated by the Brown Bookstore and other local merchants.
The data will be forwarded in mid-May to COFHE, which will code it and return the data set to Brown. Lewis and her staff will begin analyzing the data by class and expect to be able to report results to the Brown community sometime this fall.
The Office of Institutional Research, an outgrowth of the Division of Curricular Research, is a new initiative backed by President Gee and Provost William Simmons to help the senior administration make data-driven decisions. The staff of Lewis, K. Tracy Barnes, Suzanne Greenwald and Martha Hayden already has one project under its belt - a survey of last year's senior class. Results of that survey found that the Class of 1998 was very satisfied with Brown's academics, but less satisfied with Brown facilities and advising.