Campus Constituent Surveys Process 

Dear Colleague,

Your responses to the 2022 staff and faculty surveys have led to significant changes at KU, including:

How did this happen? How will survey results continue to drive action at KU?   

In this edition of Open AIRE, we break down the Campus Constituent Surveys process. Introduced in 2022, this process ensures that KU surveys its core constituents every three years, engages constituents with the survey results, establishes actionable recommendations, and continues tracking our progress.

What are the current Campus Constituent Surveys?

FACULTY

COACHE Faculty Job

Satisfaction Survey at Harvard's Graduate School of Education

Last Administration: 2022

Next Administration: 2025

UNDERGRADUATES

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) at Indiana University’s School of Education

Last Administration: 2024

Next Administration: 2027

STAFF

Great Colleges to Work For, administered by ModernThink

Last Administration: 2022*

Next Administration: 2026

* Docking Institute Employee Satisfaction Survey administered in Spring 2022.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Graduate Student Experience Survey (GSES), administered by KU

Last Administration: 2024

Next Administration: 2027*

* Currently exploring nationally benchmarked surveys.  

The Campus Constituent Surveys website provides more detailed information, but there are a few highlights about these key surveys that you should know about right now:  

Scroll down to learn more about how the Campus Constituent Surveys process ensures that your ideas and experiences are integrated into strategic planning at KU. 

As ever, please reach out to AIRE-help@ku.edu if you have any questions. 

With very best wishes, 

Corinne Bannon  | Vice Provost for AIRE and Chief Data Officer

Each step in the Campus Constituent Surveys process varies slightly depending on the survey. This overview breaks down the major stages for nationally benchmarked surveys.

What is a nationally benchmarked survey? 

A nationally benchmarked survey is administered by a third party to institutions across the United States. KU receives results specific to our institution, along with comparative benchmarking data.

Examples:

The COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey is administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with over 300 participating institutions. 

NSSE is administered by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University’s School of Education, with participation from over 1,000 institutions.  

Key Stages:

1) Defining Survey Populations 

To ensure that data can be compared with other institutions, we must follow consistent definitions of the survey population.

AIRE collaborates with the survey administrator to determine these population definitions. For example:

You can find more information about who is included on the individual survey webpages. 

Once the survey population is defined, analysts in AIRE pull a list from the data warehouse and send it to the survey administrator. The data warehouse contains data from major source systems at KU.

The list sent by AIRE typically includes names and email addresses. 

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2) Survey Administered

The survey administrator sends emails to the constituent group with unique links to complete the survey. Multiple reminders are sent to encourage participation.

Campus Constituent Surveys are generally administered during spring semesters. 

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3) Confidentiality and Data Analysis by Survey Administrator 

The survey administrator ensures that your responses are confidential by assigning you a unique ID and following approved protocols.

For example, in the COACHE survey, the confidential data collection process is approved by Harvard's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Identities are used only to send the survey and reminders, and are not shared with KU. Data are analyzed by the COACHE team at Harvard and aggregate reports are provided to KU.

Deidentified, anonymized data are shared with AIRE at KU. 

To further protect confidentiality, results are only disseminated when data are aggregated in cells of five or more respondents, so neither individual faculty nor departments can be identified.

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4) KU Analysis 

Advisory committees are formed to review the reports provided by the survey administrator and identify key themes. These committees are typically chaired by leaders with direct accountability to the survey's constituents. For example, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education chairs the NSSE 2024 Advisory Committee. 

AIRE conducts additional analyses as directed by the advisory committees. This may include creating dashboards or thematic reports.

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5) Results Shared With Constituents

Advisory committee chairs share the reports provided by the survey administrator with the campus community via the survey website and campus email.

Advisory committees also hold engagement sessions with constituents to share results and gather additional feedback to inform recommendations. 

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6) Recommendations Created

The advisory committee develops a report of actionable recommendations, which is shared with constituents and campus leaders via a campus forum, email, and documentation on the specific survey's website. 

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7) Recommendations Tracked and Progress Reported

The Campus Constituent Surveys Implementation Team is responsible for overseeing the recommendations. This team, composed of stakeholders with oversight of core university functions, reviews, prioritizes, and communicates updates on Campus Constituent Survey recommendations three times a year.

The Campus Constituent Surveys Implementation Team last met in October and shared updates that address your recommendations from the most-recently administered faculty and staff job satisfaction surveys. You can review these updates in the tracking document for constituent survey recommendations.

If you have any questions about the Campus Constituent Surveys, or any other data-related questions, please contact AIRE at AIRE-help@ku.edu 

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