Welcome to The Launchpad, SoundRocket’s blog, where we share our insights and musings on the science of doing science (well), #soundscience.
As preparations have begun for another implementation of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL), and with nearly 60 schools enrolled for the MSL2018 implementation (a record enrollment for the study at this stage of early recruitment), study Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. John P. Dugan has announced his move to The Aspen Institute as their Director of Program Quality, Design, & Assessment.
When you find yourself surveying a population where significant information is known about those who are in the study prior to them completing the survey (such as in a longitudinal survey, a panel, or when the respondents are part of a known group such as a membership organization), such data can be used as part of the survey instrument design.
While it is tempting to do whenever possible, when using such data, care should be given to how and when it is used…
A collaborative partnership between the University of Michigan and SoundRocket now offers colleges and universities across the nation affordable access to a national campus climate survey measuring sexual assault. Piloted at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor during the Winter 2015 term, the NCCS successfully measured what was previously thought of as unattainable in college student surveys. The survey achieved a final response rate of approximately 67%, demonstrating how a comprehensive and responsive survey design can be implemented to achieve a more balanced and representative collection of responses.
SoundRocket’s collaboration with the University of Michigan on the National Campus Climate Survey hits a new milestone with the launch of the NCCS 2016 at the University of New Mexico.
Survey research is a part of the scientific process – and even a science on its own. So why do researchers abandon the science when they implement their studies? An astronomer would not go to the hobby store to buy a telescope to study the galaxy. A geneticist would never purchase non-sterile test tubes from an unknown source to capture saliva samples from research subjects. So why do social scientists routinely treat their own data collection tools this way?