Survey FAQs

In higher education, campus climate typically refers to the quality of the real and/or perceived interactions that university members have with each other. These include “the current attitudes, behaviors and standards of faculty, staff, administrators and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential” (Hurtado, 1992; Rankin, 2001).  

Data-driven campus climate measures are developed via a combination of personal experiences, direct observations, and demonstrable institutional efforts, not through hearsay and innuendo.

Research shows that positive personal experiences and positive perceptions of campus climate correlate with desirable individual and institutional outcomes. When students, for example, experience a campus that fosters belonging and inclusion, they are more likely to thrive inside and outside the classroom. At the individual level, this is correlated with academic progress, a sense of affinity, and an interest in getting engaged in co-curricular activities. At the institutional level all of this is correlated with increasing retention and graduation rates. 

Members of the Cal Lutheran campus community have thought it important to conduct a climate survey for several years. Last year, the president and cabinet committed to launching a comprehensive climate program that would provide the university with both qualitative and quantitative baseline data.

The purpose of the baseline information is to identify the starting point of an organization in its efforts to affect change. Without baseline data, it is nearly impossible to measure or describe what progress has occurred and in what areas.  In this sense, baseline data allows an organization to make comparisons about what types of programs, services, and resource allocations are and are not working. This, in turn, helps an organization invest in those areas that are bringing about desired change.

Rankin Climate, LLC will be guiding Cal Lutheran’s campus climate assessment. Rankin Climate has conducted climate studies at more than 250 institutions across the country. 

Consultants from Rankin Climate will be working directly with a Cal Lutheran Campus Climate Task Force (CCTF), comprised of three faculty, five staff, two students, and two administrators who will serve as co-chairs.

Best practices in higher education reveal that external expertise is typically necessary when designing and implementing a comprehensive campus climate assessment program. Relatedly, studies also show that students, faculty, and staff are more likely to respond to surveys that have been developed by expert, third-party researchers who guarantee confidentiality and can offer comparison data of similar institutions.

The survey was developed from a questionnaire template provided by Rankin Climate. The Cal Lutheran Campus Climate Task Force (CCTF) reviewed the survey questions and offered feedback to Rankin Climate and to the CCTF co-chairs: Drs. Taiwo Ande and Colleen Windham Hughes.

Responses that force participants to choose a status of “other” can be seen as a form of marginalization. Hence, this survey attempts to have as many respondents “see” themselves in response choices. This endeavor is particularly important in campus climate research which is meant to promote inclusivity. 

Yes. There are three benefits to putting it through this process.

First, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process provides some assurance to potential participants that their responses to the survey will remain confidential.  

Second, going through an IRB review provides some protections to the principal investigators (PIs)— including Campus Climate Task Force (CCTF) members, Rankin Climate associates, and the institutional PIs—who will be entrusted with analyzing and managing the data. The IRB’s data security plan prohibits responses from being shared with others.

Lastly, surveys that go through an IRB process typically garner more respect from academics and researchers than those that do not. These individuals understand what an IRB review requires, and they typically respect the review’s protections in data collection, management, and analysis.

An IRB application will be submitted for the project. Once the project is approved, the survey will be administered.

Data from the survey will be used to develop specific and measurable actions aimed at further improving the campus climate at Cal Lutheran. 

A summary of the survey and the focus groups responses will be shared with faculty and staff at divisional meetings, with undergraduate and graduate students at their governance meetings, and with university regents at a meeting of the Board. 

The target participation in the survey is all students, faculty, and staff at Cal Lutheran.

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary. Participants can skip any question they prefer not to answer. However, participants are encouraged to answer as many questions as possible.

Rankin Climate takes multiple precautionary measures to enhance individual confidentiality and the de-identification of data.

• No identification data already protected through regulation or policy (e.g., Social Security number, campus identification number, medical information) is obtained through the survey. In the event of any publication or presentation resulting from the assessment, no personally identifiable information will be shared. 
• There will be no data reported from any group of fewer than five individuals, because those “small cell sizes” may compromise confidentiality. 
• Any comments submitted will be separated at the time of submission to Rankin Climate so they are not attributed to any individual demographic characteristics. Identifiable information submitted in qualitative comments will be redacted and the university will only receive these redacted comments.
• No IP addresses will be recorded.
• The survey will run on a firewalled web server.

Information in the introductory section of the survey will describe the manner in which confidentiality will be guaranteed, and additional communication to participants will provide expanded information on the nature of confidentiality, possible threats to confidentiality and procedures developed to ensure de-identification of data.

Rankin Climate will provide a report that includes the following: an executive summary; a report narrative of the findings based on cross tabulations selected by Rankin Climate; frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations of quantitative data; and content analysis of the textual data. The reports provide high-level summaries of the findings and will identify themes found in the data. Generalizations for populations are limited to those groups or subgroups with response rates of at least 30%.

Rankin Climate uses a research data security description and protocol, which includes specific information on data encryption, the handling of personally identifiable information, physical security and a protocol for handling unlikely breaches of data security.  The data from online participants will be submitted to a secure server hosted by Rankin Climate. Rankin Climate associates will have access to the raw data.

Rankin Climate has conducted more than 250 institutional surveys and maintains an aggregate merged database.

The survey will be administered to all faculty, staff, and students at Cal Lutheran. Climate exists in micro-climates, so creating opportunities to maximize participation is important. Along these lines, Rankin Climate has recommended not using random sampling as we may “miss” particular populations where numbers are very small (e.g., Native American students).