Survey Best Practices

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Best practices for survey creation, sending, and receiving.

Do not duplicate existing surveys

The campus currently has several major survey programs in place which are managed by Institutional Research, Assessment, and Policy Studies (IRAPS)

Identify Audience and Purpose in surveys

Consider the audience and purpose of the survey and determine if there is already data available elsewhere on campus.

Appropriate for:

  • Survey questions about a recently launched service or product targeted to the department’s customers.
  • Research questions directed at a group or limited population (e.g., a specific major or club).
  • Evaluation of a single program, course, or event.

Inappropriate for:

  • SPAM
    • Surveys directed at broad groups (ex. all-staff, all-student, etc.)
    • Campuswide surveys for a small/limited audience (i.e. a department or unit’s services or products)
    • Entire student populations (e.g., all undergraduate or graduate students at UC Santa Cruz) 
  • REPETITIVE or DUPLICATIVE 

For any existing data which is collected and managed by IRAPS, contact IRAPS (https://iraps.ucsc.edu/about/staff.php) or to request access to a collection of materials on survey development (a Canvas-based course), send a request to surveys@ucsc.edu.

State your affiliation when sending surveys

When sending surveys, make sure that your affiliation is clearly identified. Individuals or groups should not claim to represent the University itself officially in an official capacity.

Appropriate examples

  • “This survey is sent on behalf of the Department of Engineering at UCSC.”
  • “This survey is sent by Jane Smith, an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz as part of a class assignment.”
  • “This survey is sent on behalf of the UCSC Dance Club.”

(These examples assume that you are an authorized representative of, or have permission from, the group which you say is sponsoring the survey.)

Inappropriate examples

  • “This survey is being sent on behalf of the University of California (or UC Santa Cruz).”
  • “The University of California (or UCSC) asks that you provide the following information.”

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Do not request confidential or regulated information in surveys

Qualtrics should not be used to request personally identifiable information (PII) unless coordinated with existing campus regulatory compliance and Health governance teams.

How IRAPS deals with confidential or regulated information in a survey

  • Health-related and Confidential-data Surveys and reports by Institutional Research, Assessment, and Policy Studies (IRAPS) contain data analyzed at the group level (for example, student experience in a given program).
  • Responses to open-ended questions are paraphrased to protect the respondents' identities.
  • IRAPS-administered surveys use established survey system platforms (Verint/Vovici or Qualtrics system). When members of the UCSC community, including students, alumni, faculty, or staff, are invited to take an IRAPS-administered online survey, they will normally receive either an email with a personalized survey link unique to them, or will be directed to log in through the UCSC Gold CruzID to ensure additional security.

Major regular and periodic surveys that are conducted by IRAPS are listed on the UCSC Campus Surveys Calendar, with additional information about the survey, so that the campus community can verify that the survey is taking place.

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Do not secretly collect identifying information in surveys

There are mechanisms which allow some surveys to collect respondent metadata. 

  • On an anonymous survey, it must be explicitly stated if you are silently collecting any identifying information. 
  • If identifying information is needed from respondents, it must be explicitly stated or requested as an item on the survey.

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Protection of research subjects

Researchers must follow all applicable guidelines to protect research subjects and their information.
Some essential applicable regulation:

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