Higher Education Survey Design Checklist

Make sure you’re running your higher education surveys effectively with this checklist. Get your ducks in a row by planning, piloting and producing the most accurate and effective survey you can.

You’ll be able to derive key insights to feed into your marketing and enrolment strategies and also loop back key data to improve the student experience and course offerings.

Don’t miss our article, Higher Education Market Research: The Ultimate Guide – which dives further into the topic.

1. Scope and Sampling Plan

Objective & Scope: Decide whether your survey is meant for strategic planning, programme evaluation, recruitment insights, campus climate assessment, etc.

Budget & Resources: Budget for survey tools (e.g., enterprise survey software) and incentives (gift cards, campus dining coupons, etc.).

Sampling Method: Decide whether you need a representative sample across the entire institution or within specific groups (undergraduates, graduate students, international regions, faculty, staff, alumni).

Academic Calendar Alignment: Run it when you’re less likely to clash with exams and holidays.

Timeline: Set deadlines for content development, Institutional Review Board (if required), distribution, and analysis to keep everyone on the same page.

2. Set Clear Research Objectives

Purpose Statement: Outline what you want to learn or improve (e.g., student retention, faculty satisfaction, alumni engagement, brand awareness for prospective students).

Key Questions: Translate objectives into precise questions. Example: “How satisfied are students with online tutoring services?”

Success Criteria: Decide how you will gauge success – this could be completion rates, clarity of data, or institutional benchmarks for satisfaction or engagement.

3. Understand Your Audiences

Segment Identification: Break down your target respondents (prospective students, undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors) to tailor the survey.

Demographics & Psychographics: consider major, year of study, faculty status (tenured vs. adjunct), alumni class year, donor interest areas, etc.

Inclusivity & Representation: Aim for representation across diverse backgrounds (race, ethnicity, first-generation students, international students from specific regions) for better insights.

Why It Matters: Different campus groups have distinct experiences and motivations. Segmentation makes sure you get the full picture.

4. Define Distribution Strategy

Survey Platform: Use platforms supported by your institution or recommended by IT/legal for data security (e.g., Qualtrics, QuestionPro).

Data Privacy & FERPA or GDPR: Confirm your platform complies with FERPA/GDPR for student data. Discuss any student information usage with your institution’s legal/IT teams.

Distribution Channels: Have in mind where you’ll share it – e.g., email lists, campus portals, learning management systems (LMS), internal messaging boards, or social media channels (for prospective or alumni outreach).

5. Write Effective Survey Questions

Question Types: Use multiple-choice, Likert scale, and open-ended questions that align with the academic context (e.g., programme feedback, campus facilities, teaching methods).

Avoid Leading or Double-Barreled Questions: Instead of “How satisfied are you with our campus facilities and student services?”, split into two separate items if needed.

Accessible Language: Use clear, neutral terms. Avoid jargon that might not be understood outside specific faculty or administrative circles.

Consistent Scales: Use uniform rating scales (e.g., 1–5) to reduce confusion and enable comparative analysis across survey sections.

6. Design Sequence and Flow

Warm-Up: Start with easy, non-sensitive questions to engage respondents. For instance, “Which campus facility do you use most often?”

Main Content: Gradually move into more detailed or reflective topics (e.g., satisfaction with curriculum, student experiences, etc.).

Demographic or Sensitive Items Last: Questions about identity, departmental affiliation, or personal experiences (if sensitive) usually belong near the end to minimise drop-offs.

7. Run Pilot Testing

Internal Review: Have faculty, staff, or student representatives review the survey to identify unclear questions or potential bias.

IRB Considerations: If data may be published or used for research beyond internal improvements, consult your Institutional Review Board to ensure compliance.

Soft Launch: Send the survey to a small test group (e.g., a representative student club, a faculty committee) and incorporate their feedback.

Timing & Clarity: Monitor how long it takes to finish the survey and whether any questions consistently cause confusion.

8. Address Ethical and Legal Requirements

Informed Consent: Clearly state the survey’s purpose, the voluntary nature of participation, and how data will be used.

FERPA/GDPR Compliance: If collecting identifiable student information, understand how to handle and store it.

Privacy & Confidentiality: Outline steps taken to protect anonymity or confidentiality, including how you’ll store and secure the data (e.g., secure servers, limited access).

9. Launch and Monitoring

Reminders: Send polite follow-up reminders to non-responders, but space them out to avoid spamming.

Response Tracking: Keep an eye on response rates and dropout patterns. If dropout is high at a particular question, investigate possible issues.

10. Analyse and Report Findings

Data Cleaning: Remove incomplete or invalid responses (e.g., contradictory or obviously random answers).

Statistical Methods: Use appropriate analyses (cross-tabulations by major, t-tests between student cohorts, regression for factors influencing satisfaction) to draw robust insights.

Segmentation: Compare subgroups (e.g., undergrad vs. grad, new vs. returning students, faculty vs. staff) to uncover important differences.

11. Post-Survey Follow-up and Next Steps

Thank Respondents: Express appreciation via email, institutional announcements, or small tokens of thanks. Incentives can encourage future participation.

Disseminate Findings: Share summarized results with relevant groups (e.g., campus committees, student government, academic departments) to foster transparency.

Action Planning: Develop next steps or improvement measures based on data (e.g., adjusting advising processes, adding more study spaces, etc.).

Iterate and Improve: Keep track of what worked (and didn’t) to refine future surveys. A formal “lessons learned” document helps establish best practices at your institution.

This higher education survey design checklist is for informational purposes only. It’s intended to set you off in the right direction. But we don’t know everything about your insitution, your policies or protocols. Be sure to run everything past legal – and check into see which survey design resources you have at hand.

At Hubbub Labs, we’d be delighted to help you analyse your survey results and build out your strategic marketing plan. Get in touch below.