If you or anyone in your units use surveys for research or administrative purposes, please attend a one-hour open forum on either June 23 or June 29.
The forums will kick off the work of the Enterprise-wide Survey Software Evaluation Committee, a team that is taking a close look at the tools used for more than 2,000 surveys conducted each year in classrooms, labs, and offices across the University of Minnesota system.
Our current ad hoc survey landscape does not promote best practices in survey research or allow for meaningful collaborations between units. Units may be conducting similar surveys for the same populations, leading to survey fatigue and poor response rates. External survey tools pose significant costs systemwide as well as practical, ethical, and legal issues for institutional and research security, IRB compliance, and data privacy.
The Enterprise-wide Survey Software Evaluation Committee is an effort by the Office of Planning and Analysis and Office of Information Technology to identify a state-of-the-art survey solution to meet needs across the University system--and to make this tool broadly available by early 2012.
To be successful, the 10-person project committee needs input from faculty, staff, and students who are involved in survey research at any level. If you use surveys for any reason, let us know what features, functions, and technical capacities you're looking for in an enterprise-wide survey tool.
Please contribute to this crucial conversation by attending an open forum on either Thursday, June 23 (1-2 p.m., Science Teaching and Student Services Building 114, East/West Bank) or Wednesday, June 29 (11 a.m.-12 noon, Biological Sciences Center 64, St. Paul).
You can also visit our project website to provide input or to request an info session for your unit, department, or campus. Comments may also be sent to the committee chair, Christina Frazier.
Please forward this message as appropriate within your units. Thank you for your participation in this vitally important process.
