Scope
This policy applies to all faculty and staff at the College who plan to survey active members of the Hampden-Sydney community, to include students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni. This policy does not apply to:
- faculty research,
- student research supervised by faculty,
- course evaluations,
- surveys sent to group members within a department or student organization, and
- polls.
Purpose
By depending on a centralized mechanism for organizing survey development and distribution, the College can prevent survey fatigue, archive survey forms and data in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE), standardize the format and design of surveys, and craft surveys that are relevant to departmental and institutional planning to ensure purposeful data collection.
Definitions
A survey is a tool used to collect qualitative and quantitative data to understand a population.
A College survey is a survey developed by a Hampden-Sydney department in partnership with OIE.
A third-party survey (e.g., First Destinations) is a survey developed by an external organization with which the College establishes a contract.
An external survey (e.g., The Princeton Review) is a survey developed by an external organization that contacts a Hampden-Sydney stakeholder about participation.
Policy Statement
The following policy statement guides the management of surveys at the College.
Participants
Participation in College surveys is always voluntary. Participants can decide not to participate at any time without consequence. Survey administrators must disclose whether survey engagement is anonymous (participants cannot be identified unless they disclose specific information about themselves) or confidential (participants’ identities are known, but the information is not shared).
Incentives
If a department decides to provide incentives, gifts should be nominal, such as clothing and other H-SC paraphernalia available at the College bookstore. If gifts are awarded, the department must determine how anonymity and confidentiality will be preserved. Departments should not give cash or cash equivalents (e.g., gift cards) because they are taxable income. This rule does not apply to third-party surveys that award cash or cash equivalents.
Approval for Third-Party and External Surveys
Third-party and external surveys must be approved by the Senior Leadership Team prior to distribution. The brief proposal for these surveys should include:
- a description of what the College must provide the third-party or external survey group (e.g., email addresses);
- the cost of development and administration;
- alignment with departmental and/or College strategic planning; and
- why the department needs the survey administered by an outside organization, and as applicable, why it is advantageous for the survey to be administered by an outside
Survey Software
In most cases, departments should use Qualtrics for surveys. When appropriate, departments will receive their own Qualtrics username and password and share their Qualtrics survey folder with OIE to ensure institutional archival of survey forms and data. In other cases, such as surveys that are released periodically, OIE will develop and house surveys, editing and releasing them in consultation with the department. Qualtrics access can be removed at any time.
Procedure
Departments should contact OIE at least six months prior to the anticipated survey administration date to ensure enough time for survey development, testing, and implementation.
For surveys that occur on an established schedule, OIE will contact departments the summer prior to the upcoming academic year to gather administration dates for the College-wide survey calendar.
Responsibility
Excluding third-party and external surveys, OIE serves as the clearinghouse for all College surveys. Therefore, all surveys listed in the scope section of this policy must be reviewed and approved by OIE. The Senior Leadership Team approves the initial administration of all third-party and external surveys.
Management and approval of faculty and student research is the responsibility of the H-SC Institutional Review Board. Faculty or student research projects that involve surveying a substantive H-SC population (e.g., all students, all faculty, all staff, all alumni, all parents) must be completed in partnership with OIE to prevent survey fatigue.
Departments that want to administer a College-wide survey are responsible for adhering to the guidelines above. Departments that are unsure about whether this policy applies to their survey must check with OIE.
Policy History
- Approved by Senior Leadership Team: September 12, 2025
- Revisions approved by Senior Leadership Team: March 18, 2026
- Implementation: July 1, 2026
- Next Review Date: September 12, 2028