SURVEY GUIDELINES MIT（调查指南麻省理工学院）.pdfVIP

Office of the Provost, Institutional Research Survey Guidelines Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of the Provost, Institutional Research Updated March 2015 SURVEY GUIDELINES Overview The Office of the Provost, Institutional Research (hereafter referred to as IR), supports the use of data in decision making and policy discussions at the Institute. To that end, we collect and analyze data from many sources, including surveys that we periodically administer to students, faculty, alumni and staff. Often, we are approached by a student group or an office on campus who would like to administer a survey. This document is intended to assist those wishing to implement a survey efficiently and productively use their time and resources. In general, the following list provides a rough guide of the survey process: 1. Authoring survey and creating the population profile 2. Designing incentives (optional) 3. Launching survey 4. Sending out invitations and reminders 5. Collecting the data 6. Analyzing 7. Archiving For an outline of the requirements for a survey, see this checklist on our website: /surveys/survey-checklist.pdf First Steps When designing or planning a survey, the most important step is to clearly define the question to be answered by the survey results. A survey is most effective if its purpose can be clearly and succinctly stated. Surveys with vague or overly-broad motivations can become too lengthy or difficult to analyze. Also, a survey may not be the best way to answer your question; focus groups are an example of another research method that may be useful in certain contexts. Once a target question or topic has been identified, we suggest reviewing existing information to see if it is possible to answer your quest