Survey Guidance

Acknowledgements: UC San Diego would like to thank the following institutions for their survey policies, which deeply informed our own: Indiana University Bloomington, Pepperdine University.

Purpose 

The purpose of the guidance is to ensure survey data collection efforts are aligned with institutional mission, goals, and philosophies driving the collection and usage of data at UC San Diego, including UC San Diego’s Strategic Plan, the UC San Diego Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence, the Principles of Community, and Privacy Principles. Through coordination and standardization of survey data collection efforts, UC San Diego seeks to protect community members’ time and privacy and reduce institutional risks and costs. 

All surveys, except those meeting the exemption criteria below, shall be reviewed for compliance with laws and regulations, alignment with institutional mission, goals, and philosophies, and ethical considerations prior to release. The Executive Vice Chancellor is responsible for creating and overseeing a committee to develop review criteria and process for survey reviews. 

Scope  

This guidance applies to all surveys of students, alumni, academic employees, career staff, non-career staff, or other affiliates in or associated with General Campus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Health Sciences, including surveys conducted by external entities and student groups. A pre-existing obligation to a funding agency or collaborator, prior use of a survey instrument, and/or IRB approval of a survey instrument do not exempt surveys from this guidance. 

If the data is being collected for academic research purposes (for publication), survey distributors must also independently seek IRB approval or exemption. Sometimes the demarcation between operational use and research is unclear, and seeking IRB guidance is advised in these cases. 

Definitions 

Human subjects research: Research about a living individual wherein an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting the research obtains 1) data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or 2) identifiable private information (i.e., personal information) from any source. 

Operational Use: Use of data related to the internal functions and processes of the university —such as admissions, enrollment, course scheduling, student financial aid— to manage operations, make decisions, and improve processes. Operational Use excludes uses for patient care, scholarly research, and direct delivery of educational services. 

Personal Information/Data: Information that, alone or in combination with other data, regardless of where those Data are stored or who has access, potentially identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with or single out an individual, a particular person, or household. 

Principal Investigator: In the context of this guidance, the Principal Investigator is the UC San Diego personnel who will take primary ownership of ensuring that all relevant policies and expectations are followed in the creation, distribution, storage, and analysis of the survey/survey data. 

Research: A systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, basic or applied research, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Generally, research is in the public interest, adheres to all applicable ethics and privacy laws, and the results are anticipated to be widely shared. 

Responsible Party: In the context of this guidance, the responsible party is a member of academic or administrative leadership who has reviewed and approved the survey to ensure alignment with institutional policy and goals. This should be a Dean or Vice Chancellor. 

Survey: In the context of this guidance, a survey is a systematized effort to make inferences about a population through gathering information directly from students, alumni, faculty, staff or other university affiliates using questionnaires, interviews, or focus groups. 

Existing Surveys 

The University of California System and UC San Diego invest significant resources in conducting quality surveys of their student, alumni, academic, and staff populations. Prior to creating a new survey, the Principal Investigator should familiarize themselves with the data and analyses already available for making data-informed decisions, including those posted to UC San Diego’s Institutional Research website and the University of California Institutional Research and Planning website. These surveys answer many of the frequently asked questions about the experiences of these populations on campus. Principal investigators are also encouraged to review the UC San Diego Data Guidance & Survey Review Calendar to ensure their proposed timeline does not conflict with institutional survey efforts. Surveys highly duplicative of existing data collection efforts will not be approved. Survey timelines that conflict with institutional data collection efforts on the same population are unlikely to be approved. 

Survey Approval Steps: 

1. Complete all necessary training (FERPA, Privacy@UC San Diego or Privacy 101). 
2. Prepare all survey materials (survey content, drafts of all proposed communications to participants, and any other relevant documentation). 
3. Determine whether survey is exempt from this guidance. (See below.) 
4. Identify a responsible party. In most cases, this will be your Dean or Vice Chancellor. 
5. Complete the UC San Diego Survey Request Form. Please keep the Survey Consultation Committee’s meeting calendar in mind for submission in order to ensure a faster review time. 

Surveys Exempt from This Guidance: 

• Surveys used to collect data strictly for assessment or program improvement internal to a business unit or department and involving fewer than 150 people. 
• Administrative surveys designed to solicit feedback from participants regarding a specific campus event. 
• Point-of-service surveys administered during or immediately following the service interaction. 
• Course-embedded curricular evaluations or assessments (per Regents policy 2301). 
• Administrative forms that individuals complete as part of routine business operations (e.g., directory updates, scholarship applications, IT services help tickets, and polls used for voting purposes such as elections and referenda) are not considered surveys, even if these are administered using electronic survey software. 

Even if a survey is exempt, principal investigators should still: (1) familiarize themselves with existing surveys in order to reduce duplicative efforts that contribute to survey fatigue and waste of institutional resources; (2) follow all relevant laws and policies, and (3) utilize leading practices for data collection, analysis, and storage. 

Procedures and Resources Survey Consultation Committee  

• Executive Director, Institutional Research and/or Director of Equity Research & Analytics and Director of Student Success & Analytics, as needed
• Chief Privacy Officer, Campus 
• Representative, appointed by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life
• Senior Director, Strategic Consulting, Assessments, and Analytics (SCAA), Human Resources
• Faculty member, nominated by the Academic Senate Committee on Committees (2 representatives, 2-year service, rotating) 
• Representative, appointed by the Faculty Director of the Teaching and Learning Commons (1 representative, 2-year service) 
• Representative, appointed by the Vice Chancellor for Organizational Transformation (1 representative, 2-year service) 
• A graduate student representative, appointed by the Graduate and Professional Students Association (1 representative, 1-year service) 
• An undergraduate student representative, appointed by Associated Students (1 representative, 1-year service) 

• Human Resources Data Steward or appointed representative  
• Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel or appointed representative 
• Data Steward – Student Academic/Administration or appointed representative 

The Survey Consultation Committee will meet based on a posted meeting calendar. Quorum is reached when 5 or more members convene. 

References

• UC San Diego’s Strategic Plan
• The UC San Diego Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence (PDF)
• The UC San Diego Principles of Community
• UC San Diego Privacy Principles
• UC BFS-IS-3
• UC BFS-IS-3 Protection Level Classification Guide (PDF)