Background: Since the inception of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System in 1991, all surveys have been conducted in schools, using paper and pencil instruments (PAPI). For the 2019 YRBSS, sites were offered the opportunity to conduct their surveys using electronic data collection. This study aimed to determine whether differences in select…

Survey research is still confronted by a trend of increasing nonresponse rates. In this context, several methodological advances have been made to stimulate participation and avoid bias. Yet, despite the growing number of tools and methods to deal with nonresponse, little is known about whether nonresponse biases show similar trends as nonresponse…

Increasingly, student assessments of courses are being conducted online as opposed to administered in class. A growing body of research compares response rates and course ratings of courses evaluated online versus on paper. The present study extends this research by comparing student course assessments before and after the University of South…

Previous research has indicated the majority of athlete alumni do not give charitable donations to their alma mater or athletics department. With over 4 million former National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes, these athlete alumni should have an inherent affinity for their athletics department. The purpose of this research study…

We examine a range of options for recruiting teachers into a nationally representative survey panel. Recruitment strategies considered include a telephone-based approach and the use of promised incentives and pre-incentives of varying amounts and forms. Using a randomized experiment, we evaluate the effectiveness of five separate recruitment…

Using nine years of student evaluation of teaching (SET) data from a large US research university, we examine whether changes to the SET instrument have a substantial impact on overall instructor scores. Our study exploits four distinct natural experiments that arose when the SET instrument was changed. To maximise power, we compare the same…

Background: Recruitment is a widely cited barrier of representative intellectual disability research, yet it is rarely studied. This study aims to document the rates of recruiting children with intellectual disabilities using two methods and discuss the impact of such methods on sample characteristics. Methods: Questionnaire completion rates are…

Surveys play an important role in understanding the higher education landscape. About 60 percent of the published research in major higher education journals utilized survey data (Pike, 2007). Institutions also commonly use surveys to assess student outcomes and evaluate programs, instructors, and even cafeteria food. However, declining survey…

Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) use student evaluations of teaching (SET) to evaluate and improve teaching quality; to gather data for faculty, department, or institutional planning; and to provide data on the students' satisfaction with their educational experiences. As a cost-saving measure, many IHEs have moved to providing SET in an…

Concerns over the usefulness and validity of student ratings of instruction (SRI) have continued to grow with online processes. This paper presents seven common and persistent concerns identified and tested during the development and implementation of a revised SRI policy at a Canadian research-intensive university. These concerns include bias due…

Recent research has shown mixed-mode surveys are advantageous for organizations to use in collecting data. Previous research explored web/mail mode effects for four-contact waves. This study explores the effect of web/mail mixed-mode systems over a series of contacts on the customer satisfaction data from the Florida Cooperative Extension Service…

Electronically assisted survey techniques offer several advantages over traditional survey techniques. However, they can also potentially introduce biases, such as coverage biases and measurement error. The current study compares the relative merits of two survey distribution and completion modes: email recruitment with internet completion; and…

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis 2015 (HESPA 2015) was conducted to update and validate the Areas of Responsibilities, Competencies, and Sub-competencies for Entry- and Advanced-Level Health Education Specialists. Two data collection instruments were developed--one was focused on Sub-competencies and the other on knowledge items…

Due to the increasing number of educational institutions in Nigeria, Universities (particularly private Universities) are competing to attract more students into their faculties. In a bid to achieve this goal, these Universities are making all efforts to satisfy their students. This paper therefore examines the impact of the faculty of study on…

We present an equation, derived from standard statistical theory, that can be used to estimate sampling margin of error for student evaluations of teaching (SETs). We use the equation to examine the effect of sample size, response rates and sample variability on the estimated sampling margin of error, and present results in four tables that allow…