Survey Policy (CMC)

Category: Academics/Research
Title: Survey Policy
Approved By: President’s Executive Cabinet
Date Approved: October 31, 2016
History: Issued: 5/5/2004; Revised 11/5/2012, 12/1/2014, 8/7/2017, 1/27/2025
Related Policies: Consortial Survey Policy  , Institutional Review Board (IRB) Policies  
Responsible Official: Office of Institutional Research

• Policy Statement
• Entities Covered by this Policy
• Contacts
• Definitions
• Survey Principles and Procedures

Policy Statement

These guidelines were developed in order to assist CMC faculty, staff, and students who receive requests to either respond to or administer surveys.  Please note the following institutional priorities in advance of such requests:

1. Ensuring that students, faculty and staff are not being over-surveyed; which causes decreases in response rates across surveys;
2. Ensuring that surveys are administered on a schedule that best promotes response rates and obtaining information that is useful to the College;
3. Ensuring that surveys are constructed in ways that protect confidentiality and prevent coercion;
4. Ensuring that students, faculty and staff are not being asked for information on topics for which there is already data;
5. Facilitating assessment needs, as appropriate, at the College

Entities Covered by this Policy

• Any person or group wishing to conduct survey research with CMC constituents, or wishing to use CMC resources to conduct a survey of any kind, will require permission.

Contacts

CMC Office of Institutional Research
530 N. Mills Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
InstitutionalResearch@cmc.edu
(909) 621-8650

Definitions

Survey - a research instrument or questionnaire aimed at collecting responses from members of the community

Administrative Approver - A member of the President’s Executive Cabinet (PEC)

Survey Principles and Procedures

1. Surveys from external constituents, including entities from the other Claremont Colleges, are NOT typically approved for distribution to CMC students, faculty and staff.  The relevant administrative approver shall make this determination based on survey saturation and management of the current number of requests.

2. Institutional surveys administered by College departments which are used to track trends and information over time are given priority.  Requests from faculty committees are part of the governance of the college, and everything will be done to accommodate them. Requests from individual faculty members and research institutes will be carefully considered by the relevant administrative approver in consultation with the Office of Institutional Research; they may need to adjust their timeline or the request may be declined during peak survey times (most commonly during the spring semester).  It may be helpful to review the CMC survey inventories to get a sense of the regular annual survey schedule.  It is imperative to contact the Office of Institutional Research in the early stages of planning for a survey

3. Research involving human subjects falls under the purview of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and requires IRB approval or exemption before research can begin. Research must first be approved, or exempted through the IRB before submission to any administrative approver.  After IRB approval or exemption is received, the request for the research project may be sent to the administrative approver responsible for the body (or a subset of that body) being surveyed. If the Vice President approves of the project, the research may commence.  Approvals are required for each requested population, e.g. a survey intended for students and faculty will need approvals from both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.

4. IRB protocols that have been approved by a full board review are valid for 12 months from the date of approval unless otherwise indicated.  The same timeline (12 months) applies to administrator approvals. Ongoing research that has been deemed exempt from review or approved through expedited review does not require annual submission of an IRB renewal application as long as there are no changes to the methodology.

5. If a study is approved, the data will be controlled by the person/group conducting the survey. The person/group conducting the survey must adhere to informed consent procedures and ethical standards regarding data-management, as specified by the IRB and the administrative approver.

6. The person/group conducting the survey will be responsible for maintaining the privacy of the records collected, in accordance with ethical standards specified by the IRB.

7. CMC may conduct surveys for the consortium, if approved by the IRB and the appropriate administrative approver, as illustrated in #3.  Additional approvals from other colleges IRB’s and administrators may apply. This policy applies equally to other members of the consortium (including CUC) who want to survey CMC constituents.

8. Non-CMC students from The Claremont Colleges can apply to the CMC IRB or provide an IRB letter from another institution before they request approval from the CMC VP for Student Affairs, if they wish to recruit and use CMC students in their research.

9. Survey policies should be maintained on the Institutional Research website and in appropriate college handbooks (faculty, staff, and student).  The Office of Institutional Research will maintain a list of routine surveys on its website.

10. CMC’s IRB is staffed by a member of the Office of Institutional Research.  The Office of Institutional Research may require a detailed copy of the survey results or output, as appropriate.

11. Appeals: If the responsible administrative approver does NOT approve a request, the body requesting the survey may appeal to the President’s Executive Cabinet (PEC) for approval.  PEC decisions are final.

12. Exemptions:
See IRB Policies  for exemption classifications under HHS federal regulations and the process for achieving exempt status under the CMC IRB.

Examples of the types of surveys common to CMC that typically qualify as exempt under HHS [45 CFR 46.101] include:

1. Self-studies conducted by the College for the purposes of informing educational activities, programming, curriculum, or classroom management. Ex: Course evaluations, OCS Study Abroad Preferences
2. Optional, anonymous, evaluative feedback surveys offered to participants of a college-sponsored event, or to individuals who receive a service offered by the college. Ex: Board of Trustees meeting feedback, Dorm Housekeeping feedback.
3. Students conducting surveys for research classes are required to consult with their instructor prior to the initiation of any the research, including contact with or recruitment of subjects, regarding IRB.  In addition to IRB approval or exemption, surveying students beyond those enrolled in the same course or the SONA system will require the 2nd administrator approval per the table above.

13. For a complete list of CMC IRB policies, please see the IRB website.

*U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Code of Federal Regulations [45 CFR 46.112]