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Climate Survey: Methods and Procedures. The University of Texas at El Paso April 2004 Manuela Romero, Ph.D. Why the Survey?. ADVANCE Initiative at UTEP has three Components:
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Climate Survey:Methods and Procedures The University of Texas at El Paso April 2004 Manuela Romero, Ph.D.
Why the Survey? • ADVANCE Initiative at UTEP has three Components: • a policy and recruitment process that proposes faculty support and retention policies, supports recruitment efforts, and provides research support • a faculty development process that helps faculty define a holistic and balanced academic career • a collaborative leadership process involving faculty throughout the participating colleges, to identify and support innovative leaders, share best practices, and facilitate improvement of departmental climates • Baseline Measure
Our Purpose • Document existing issues • Document differences across gender, ethnicity, departments, colleges, etc. • Capture subtle differences • Required detailed analysis – lengthy survey • Might affect response rate • Research purpose • Case study • Compare results
Why this Survey? • Modified the University of Wisconsin’s ADVANCE survey • Pre-existing • Part of another ADVANCE initiative • Comprehensive • Identified all pertinent Climate areas • Allowed fine detail analysis • Comparative • Compare results with another ADVANCE site • Two very different institutions • Very different patterns • Very similar patterns
Information Gathered - 1 • Basic Demographic • Education and career histories • Hiring Process • Tenure Process • Work Environment • How they spent their work time • Resources for research and teaching • Opportunities for collaboration • Leadership opportunities and desire • Interactions among colleagues (department, college, and university)
Information Gathered - 2 • Diversity Issues • Gender • Ethnicity • Sexual Harassment • Balancing Personal and Professional Life • Caring for children/elders • Availability of care • Spouse/Partner’s Career
Method • Paper survey in booklet format • Did not use a tracking number • Strategic placement of items • Designed survey so demographic information was collected in different places throughout the survey • Very interested in issues of diversity and interactions with colleagues and so these were placed in the middle of the survey document • We knew that the tenure process was an issue on our campus, thus we placed it in the beginning of the survey • Handling Data • Access, but length of survey created numerous problems • SPSS • Manual Entry
Response Rate – 48% • Confidentiality, anonymity and length of survey • Affect the response rate • Created a multi-step reminder process • Two days before survey was mailed, we sent a personalized e-mail telling everyone that the survey was on its way • The survey was delivered with a letter personally addressed and hand-signed by the PI of the grant • On the due date, we sent another personalized e-mail reminder that the survey was due on this day • 34% response rate on this date • A week after the due date, we sent another reminder • 39% response rate on this date • Two weeks after the due date, we sent a thank you note with a pen • 43% response rate on this date
If you have already taken the time to complete the ADVANCE Study of Faculty Worklife survey, thank you for your support of our research project. If you have yet to complete the survey,is it because… (please check all that apply) You couldn’t find a pen? (see attached) You couldn’t find the survey? (please contact the ADVANCE office for a replacement) What survey? (again…please contact the ADVANCE office for a replacement) Other (please specify)_________________________________________________________ Burges Hall 418 advance@utep.edu www.utep.edu/advance 747-6188
Issues Encountered • Research Purposes • Required IRB, which lengths the process • Length of Survey • Anonymity • Tracking, probably, would have made it worse • Data entry • There are costs no matter which approach • Multi-step reminder process helps response rate • We did not send another survey with reminders, we probably should have • Cost was an issue • We surveyed only the 18 departments under our NSF Grant • We surveyed only full-time faculty and full-time lecturers • No Staff