Surveys

PRE designs, administers, and analyzes college-wide, course, program, division, department, and ad hoc surveys. PRE also provides research design assistance for the assessment of institutional effectiveness by assisting in data collection as well as analyzing and disseminating results.

If you require information from the PRE office, please contact gbreaux@ccbcmd.edu.

College-wide surveys

Surveys are distributed to representative percentages of the college to gain awareness in an array of topics. Topics include, but are not limited to, the perceptions and experiences of CCBC students or faculty and staff.

Department / Program / Divisional surveys

Surveys are conducted as part of requirements for accreditation and/or program evaluation on a scheduled and ad hoc basis.

Ad hoc surveys

Surveys may be developed and conducted by PRE at the request of CCBC stakeholders on an as needed basis. These surveys must be determined to be in the interest of CCBC business. Such surveys are brief and focused on a particular issue(s).

Helpful hints

Things to consider when planning a survey:
  • The first and foremost thing you need to think about is the objective of the study. Ensure that you can phrase these objectives as questions or measurements. What are you trying to discover? What actions do you want to take as a result of the survey? This helps you double check the validity of the data collection.
  • Visualize all of the relevant information items you would like to have. What will the output report look like? What charts and graphs will be prepared? What information do you need to be assured that action is warranted?
  • Make sure the objectives, topics and information you need are appropriate. Remember, you can't solve the problem if you ask the wrong questions.
  • Think about how easy or difficult is it for the respondent to provide information on each topic? If it is difficult, is there another way to obtain the information by asking another question?
  • Make sure that the questions asked first do not bias the results of the next questions. Sometimes providing too much information, or disclosing purpose of the study can create bias.
  • If writing questions, you may need to write several questions for each topic, selecting the best one. You might also be better off dividing the survey into multiple sections.
  • Think about the length of the survey. The answer rate is about three to four questions per minute. One open end text question counts for three multiple choice questions.