Texas A&M University Strategy and Business Services

Purpose

Texas A&M University1 surveys can provide critical insight into the experience of our faculty, staff and students. However, the university community has consistently reported experiencing survey fatigue, and survey response rates from these populations have decreased in recent years. Texas A&M, spanning multiple locations, has historically taken a decentralized approach in conducting surveys, which has led to duplication of effort, perceived conflict in findings, inconsistent practices in publishing results, and entities not taking advantage of scheduled surveys to obtain meaningful data.

To help reduce survey fatigue, increase survey response rates, mitigate duplication of effort, facilitate the effective and efficient gathering and use of such data, and improve transparency of data collection efforts, Strategy and Business Services (SABS) and the Survey Advisory Committee oversee surveys at Texas A&M.

All surveys intended for faculty, staff and/or students require review and approval from the Strategy and Business Services prior to distribution unless one of the following exceptions is met:

Exceptions

  • University-administered student course evaluations;
  • Surveys conducted to meet course or degree requirements;
  • Surveys administered to faculty and staff within a unit’s direct reporting line2;
  • A university-recognized organization surveying its own members3 but excluding constituents4 (e.g., University Staff Council surveying council representatives but not all staff members);
  • Point of service5 surveys soliciting feedback following the use of specific resources (e.g., a workshop or training session, an encounter with an advisor, a specific experience such as the New Student Conference, admissions/onboarding); or
  • Faculty and staff members who are conducting scholarly activity intended for publication6.

Survey Request Form

To engage in a survey of university faculty, staff and/or students (that does not meet an exception listed above), please complete the Survey Request Form.

Please have these items available to submit your request:


Timing of Surveys

Surveys seeking to gather data from our university community or a subset of it will be coordinated using a master calendar to minimize overlap and survey fatigue. Strategy and Business Services manages this master calendar in coordination with the Division of Marketing and Communications. The master calendar includes blackout dates such as finals week and university-approved holidays and will be updated in real-time as surveys are approved. Survey administration dates will be kept to a length of two calendar weeks (14 days) or less and may change slightly depending on previously scheduled mass communications. We will make every effort to schedule your survey for distribution in your desired timeframe but may not be able to accommodate all requests.

Survey Approval Request Deadlines

Please keep in mind that survey requests should be submitted no later than two weeks before the anticipated administration date. Strategy and Business Services will contact the requestor with any additional questions and notify the requestor when the survey has been approved.

If there is an expedited timeline or an urgent need to distribute a survey, please don't hesitate to contact us at sabs@tamu.edu, and we can work with you on the timing of approval and distribution.

Sampling and Distribution

Rarely does a survey require distribution to a full population to obtain valid results. Examples of a “full population” include all students, all juniors, all students in a major, all international students, all faculty members, or all female staff employees. Unless an exception is granted, surveys may not be distributed to a full population. Instead, surveys should be distributed to a statistically designed sample8 of the desired population.

Sampling is a statistical process that allows researchers to draw conclusions about a larger population based on data collected from a smaller, representative subset. This approach is widely recognized and utilized in research. 

If you need assistance with obtaining a sample, Strategy and Business Services is available to provide support. For guidance regarding the distribution of a survey, the Division of Marketing and Communications may provide assistance.

Data Privacy

Please note it is the responsibility of the survey requestor to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as the Standard Administrative Procedure for Data Privacy and any applicable State of Texas laws or regulations, such as the Texas Business Commerce Code. Please keep this in mind when deciding whether your survey will be conducted anonymously9 or confidentially10. Except for education records governed by FERPA and other regulations, all information collected from surveys may be subject to the Texas Public Information Act. This means that while you may decide not to actively share survey results, in some cases you may be compelled by law to release information gathered from survey respondents, unless prohibited by federal or state law.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The survey approval process does not take the place or duplicate efforts of Institutional Review Board (IRB) review or impact any of the requirements for human subjects research. Continue to follow all applicable policies and procedures for human subjects research as provided by the Texas A&M Human Research Protection Program. See My IRB Contact – Division of Research for the process of obtaining IRB approval or exemption for a survey.  

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please contact our team at sabs@tamu.edu.

Definitions

1Texas A&M University - including the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas A&M at Galveston and approved off-campus instructional sites (e.g., Fort Worth, McAllen, D.C.) and excluding The Texas A&M University System Agencies

2Direct reporting line - as indicated by Workday supervisory organizations (e.g., college, division, department)

3Member - someone who belongs to a group or organization through a process such as election, paying dues, volunteering, or by appointment

4Constituent - a person who is represented by an official or organized group

5Point of Service - type of customer feedback tool used by businesses to gather responses from customers regarding their transaction or service experience (this does not include graduation surveys sent out by departments)

6Scholarly Activity Intended for Publication - research and academic work that is prepared with the goal of being published in academic journals, books, or other scholarly outlets or for presentation at a professional association meeting

7Population - the entire group of individuals or entities that you are interested in studying or gathering information about

8Sample - a subset of the full population that is representative based on key identified characteristics

9Anonymous - no personal identifiers are collected, and the identity of the participant is unknown

10Confidential - personal identifiers may be collected, but they are protected and not disclosed