Frequently Asked Questions

Question:

How should I go about conducting an electronic survey of the MIT community?

Answer:

The Institutional Research group at MIT's Office of the Provost works to coordinate survey administration around campus. The Institutional Research group tries to consolidate efforts on surveys to avoid over-surveying specific populations during peak periods. When surveys overlap, it is quite likely that one or more surveys will end up with a low response rate as the population becomes saturated with competing requests. Be sure to check the Institute Survey Schedule to avoid such a conflict.

When you plan to survey the community, please contact Lydia Snover (lsnover@mit.edu) at the Institutional Research group with the following information:

• Who is in your target population?
• Who is administering the survey?
• What methods do you plan to use (paper or web)?
• How often do you plan to repeat the survey (annually, every two years, etc.)?

It's best to know this information relatively early since many institute surveys are scheduled several years in advance. Part of the strategic plan is to archive survey data so that it can be used by researchers in the future.

Check out "Tips for Running a Survey on the Web."