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PRINT DISCLAIMER: Official version of this document is accessible in the online policy library at https://policyoffice.ku.edu/. Printed copies may not reflect the most recent updates.
DOCUMENT TYPE:
Policy
PURPOSE:
To balance the demand for survey information with the burden surveys impose on students, faculty, and staff. To establish a process of best practices regarding survey development, submission, distribution, and approval and to outline protocols for survey data collection and access for the campus-wide community.
APPLIES TO:
Faculty, staff, and students.
Affiliates and third parties who request to administer a campus survey.
CAMPUS:
Lawrence, Edwards, Leavenworth, Juniper Gardens, Parsons, Pittsburg, Salina, Topeka, Wichita, Yoder
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Overview
Development
Submission & Approval
Participant Support/Survey Incentives
Data Security & Management
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Review
POLICY STATEMENT:
Overview
Surveys of campus constituents (i.e., students, faculty, and staff) (hereafter, “participant”) are a means for collecting information that assists in maintaining educational quality, enhancing institutional effectiveness, and improving satisfaction. Any individual or unit (survey administrators) intending to survey the campus community must collaborate with Analytics, Institutional Research, & Effectiveness (AIRE) when the survey has any of the following conditions:
- Campus-wide surveys of participants including those that must be sent via University-Maintained Mass E-mail Lists.
- Campus-wide surveys that require custom participant pools based on demographic or other factors.
- Any campus-wide survey that requires the signing of an institutional agreement including those with or without a fee.
- Surveys with overlapping active dates for largely the same participant group(s) or with similar content to those on the Survey Calendar.
- Requests to use mass email distribution lists will be forwarded to and approved by the Office of Public Affairs.
Surveys that do not require coordination through AIRE are listed in the Exclusions or Special Circumstances.
Development
Survey administrators must incorporate the following criteria in the development of their surveys:
- Transparency of Sponsor: Identify the group or person who is conducting the survey and include contact information for that person.
- Voluntary Participation: Notify all participants that their participation is voluntary, and they may discontinue at any time.
- Privacy: Notify survey participants in advance whether their responses are Confidential or Anonymous (see Definitions section below)
- Distribution: Inform survey participants about the way the survey results will be published or distributed, including whether individual responses will appear in the published results or if results will be publicly available.
- Consistency: Honor any stated restrictions or intentions provided to the survey participants regarding publication or presentation of survey results. Any deviation from the stated purposes or uses of personally identifiable information (PII) must comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and requires explicit consent from each survey participant, unless otherwise required by law.
Submission & Approval
Survey Administrators must submit a Survey Request Form at least 45 calendar days in advance of the proposed launch date. Prior to submission of the Survey Request Form, Survey Administrators should consult the Survey Calendar and proactively resolve conflicts by adjusting the planned survey administration dates in their submission.
The Survey Coordinating Committee evaluates submissions and makes reasonable efforts to resolve conflicts by facilitating data sharing options for similar surveys or adjusting the dates of planned surveys.
Survey dissemination is prioritized in the following order:
- Surveys used to provide evidence of assessment for accreditation.
- Surveys sponsored by the Offices of the Chancellor or Provost.
- Surveys that support a specific objective of the University strategic plan.
- Surveys that support an active research project.
The Survey Coordinating Committee determines all other criteria for prioritizing a survey. Surveys that the committee determines do not provide sufficient institutional benefit, are duplicative in domain with other planned surveys, or have unresolvable date conflicts, are lowered in priority. Upon approval from the Survey Coordinating Committee, the survey is added to the Survey Calendar.
Completion of a survey request form is not a substitute for filing the IRB protocol with KU Office of Research. For further information, see Institutional Review Board (IRB) Review section.
Participant Support/Survey Incentives
Protocols surrounding surveys that fall within the Human Research Protection Program must follow the guidelines indicated on the Human subjects research policies and procedures Office of Research webpage.
Data Security & Management
Conducting campus-wide surveys requires the use of the University of Kansas enterprise survey system. The University of Kansas Enterprise Survey web-based software is available to all faculty, staff, and students of KU-Lawrence campus and adheres to all standards of security and safety commensurate with KU’s Information Technology Security Policy. Use of alternative third-party solutions and associated agreements to conduct University surveys requires coordination with AIRE. All third-party solutions and agreements must have the Chief Data Officer’s approval.
Survey Administrators are responsible for managing data collection in accordance with KU’s Acceptable Use of Electronic Information Resources, Information Technology Security Policy, the Data Classification Handling Policy, the Student Records Policy, and the Data Classification Handling Procedures Guide. All surveys or research must comply with applicable privacy regulations, including FERPA and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). For more information regarding integration and compliance policies, contact the KU University Privacy Officer.
The collection of PII in surveys is permitted only if survey administrators clearly demonstrate its necessity within the project's defined objectives.
Invitations to participate in surveys must adhere to all other applicable policies at the University, including the Electronic Mail Policy.
In addition, if there is a release of survey data to a KU student for a class project, the student must sign a Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement, located on the Forms & Policies webpage.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Review
Approval to administer a survey under this policy does not constitute approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The review processes of AIRE and IRB are independent of each other. The IRB reviews and approves all survey projects which meet the criteria to be considered research. For more information, see the Human Subjects Research webpage.
EXCLUSIONS OR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES:
The following types of surveys are not covered by this policy and do not require survey owners to contact AIRE:
- Feedback from clients at the point of service.
- Event evaluations by event participants.
- Faculty surveys of students for pedagogical or curricular purposes (i.e., the results will not be published or otherwise disclosed).
- Surveys administered by students to other students conducted solely to fulfill the requirements of a course assignment (i.e., the results will not be published or otherwise disclosed to an audience external to KU) under the guidance and direction of a faculty member who has completed the KU human subjects research protection training.
- Polls that involve voting on one or more preferred options from a range of choices for a specific event (e.g., meals, scheduling, speakers).
In special circumstances, AIRE, in consultation with institutional leadership, has the authority to make exceptions to this policy. Please submit any exception request to AIRE for review and evaluation.
CONSEQUENCES:
Violations of University (or unit) policies and procedures, and/or laws regarding the confidentiality, privacy, and/or security of survey participant information may result in disciplinary action and/or other corrective measures. Investigations and determinations regarding corrective measures are made in accordance with the University’s existing policies and procedures regarding such matters.
CONTACT:
Analytics, Institutional Research, & Effectiveness
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
785-864-4412
aire-help@ku.edu
Office of Integrity & Compliance
University Privacy Officer
913-588-0940
cgriffith@ku.edu
APPROVED BY:
Chief Strategy and Data Officer and Vice Chancellor
APPROVAL DATE:
2025-06-16
EFFECTIVE DATE:
2025-06-16
REVIEW CYCLE:
Biennial
BACKGROUND:
The intent of this policy is to encourage high response rates, high quality data collection, and effective use of survey administration by limiting survey fatigue and duplication of data collection. This policy’s goal is to align itself with the University of Kansas’ value in support of learning and advancement of knowledge, skills, and society through collaborative, inclusive, and transparent processes. Additionally, this policy aims to support the privacy and respect of the University community while balancing the need for valuable feedback and data collection.
RELATED FORMS:
Survey Request Form
Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement
RELATED RESOURCES:
AIRE Website
Survey Calendar
Human Subjects Research
Distribution Lists webpage
DEFINITIONS:
Anonymous Surveys: Instruments designed to collect responses without any association to personally identifiable information. Survey participants cannot be identified through the data collected, stored, or analyzed. Survey administrators should design questions to avoid inadvertent collection of identifying information, even in open-ended fields. If anonymity is promised and a login is required to access the survey (e.g., Single Sign On), the survey administrator must implement technical measures to ensure that login information is not collected and stored in a way that can be connected to survey results.
Confidential Surveys: A survey in which respondents' identities are known to the survey administrators but are protected from disclosure. The data collected is linked to participants, but access is restricted to authorized individuals, ensuring that responses are not shared in a way that can identify individuals. Data is aggregated for analysis and reporting, with safeguards to prevent identification of specific respondents.
University of Kansas Enterprise Survey software: A survey software available to University of Kansas faculty, staff, and students.
Survey Administrator: The person or persons responsible for a given survey project. Survey administrators are the authority regarding requests on the details of the survey project (i.e., survey population, distribution timing, content, etc.).
Survey Coordinating Committee: A working group of campus contacts responsible for coordinating campus surveys to ensure campus-wide communication of best practices. AIRE facilitates the Survey Coordinating Committee.
Survey Participant: A person, also called a survey respondent, who has been invited to participate in a survey and has implicitly or explicitly consented to participate by opting in and replying with answers to questions about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Depending on the survey questions and context, respondent answers may represent themselves as individuals, or a household or organization of which they are a part.
University-Maintained Mass E-mail Lists: Email distribution lists created and maintained by University representatives who are knowledgeable of that list’s population, also known as listservs or discussion groups. For more information, see the Distribution Lists webpage.
CHANGE HISTORY:
06/16/2025: New policy published in Policy Library.