More About Surveys

The majority of the surveys conducted by the Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting are confidential to the extent allowed by law and College policy. Only members of the Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting have access to survey data. If survey comments or responses suggest that an individual may be a danger to themselves or others, this information may be shared with professionals on campus for review and possible follow-up. If a survey is confidential, results are shared in aggregate form only. This means that individual results are combined and presented together. Individual survey responses are not released, and aggregate results are not published in any form that would identify any individual. (Typically, results are not reported for groups smaller than five respondents.) Confidential surveys enable Bowdoin to combine responses with other institutional demographic data from the College’s system of record.

At times, there are specific questions on a confidential survey that are not considered confidential. These questions typically request contact information or information related to employment and graduate school (Senior and Alumni surveys). When provided, this information is used to update College information systems.

Occasionally, IRAC conducts anonymous surveys. When a survey is anonymous, responses cannot be linked back to the person who completed the survey; IRAC does not know who provided a given response. Personally identifying information is not collected. The Qualtrics survey software enables us to send out personalized emails and survey links. However, once the survey is completed, any identifying information is deleted and cannot be retrieved.

As general practice, survey results are not shared publicly as this may negatively affect response rates and candor, takes College resources to prepare public reports, and requires context to understand the results. Public reports on survey results are occasionally provided, when planned in advance of the fielding of the survey and when the benefit to informing the conversation outweighs the risk to Bowdoin and its students.

In the interest of saving respondents’ time and improving data quality, Bowdoin often links demographic data from the campus system of record with survey responses. Survey responses remain confidential. Individual or small group (< 5) responses are not shared; however, when directly helpful to departments, open comments may be shared, after personally attributable portions are removed. Aggregated results are shared with senior officers and relevant leaders on campus to inform policy and assess Bowdoin’s programs.

The Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting uses Qualtrics, Bowdoin’s approved survey tool, to conduct web-based surveys. Qualtrics enables us to personalize our contact with respondents and follow up with reminders to those who have not yet responded. The survey invitations which Bowdoin sends out from Qualtrics have a return email address that may not look familiar since it doesn’t include the Bowdoin name. Qualtrics surveys come from:  noreply@qemailserver.com. Be assured that it is a legitimate Bowdoin survey.

The Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting is frequently contacted by academic departments, student organizations, or other groups on campus that are interested in conducting a survey. Before conducting a survey, there are numerous factors to consider, including: 

• What question(s) are you trying to answer?
• What do you want to know?
• Is there existing information that could answer the question(s)?
• Is a survey the best approach? 

The proliferation of surveys in recent years, both at Bowdoin and beyond, has created a burden for everyone (students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents), resulting in survey fatigue. Respondents are overwhelmed by requests to complete surveys and are increasingly choosing not to, leading to lower response rates. Those who do start taking a survey are more often dropping out before finishing. It’s more important than ever for all researchers to be intentional in their work and respectful of people’s time.

Please consider contacting the Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting to determine if the information you seek is available, either from an existing survey or another resource. If it is not available, IRAC may be able to consult with you on a survey or, if appropriate, include your questions on a survey that is already scheduled.

If you need to collect data for your research via surveys or need assistance with Qualtrics, the web-based survey software used at Bowdoin, please contact Academic Technology and Consulting.