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The HERI Faculty Survey
Information current for the 2007 survey year

The HERI Faculty Survey is designed to provide colleges and universities with timely information about the attitudes, experiences, concerns, job satisfaction, workload, teaching practices, and professional activities of collegiate faculty and administrators. Information resulting from the survey can be used to facilitate self study and accreditation activities; inform campus planning and policy analysis; enhance faculty development programs; and improve students’ educational experiences.

The 2004-2005 Faculty Survey was the ninth national survey of faculty conducted by HERI —the sixth in a triennial series initiated in 1989. Since 1989, over 300,000 faculty at more than 1,100 two-year and four-year colleges nationwide have participated in this research.

Download official HERI Faculty Survey brochure.

See the new online HERI Faculty Survey in action

>> Registration for the 2007-2008 HERI Faculty Survey is now closed. <<
You may register for the next triennial HERI Faculty Survey in 2010.

Note About Registration Deadline:
Because of the new method of survey distribution, unlike previous years, there is no real deadline for registration. You may register for the survey any time between now and May* 2008, when the survey period closes.  Your first consideration should be when you want to implement the survey, between October 29 2007 and May* 30 2008, giving yourself enough time to complete the process.

* Note: HERI has extended the 2007 Faculty Survey cycle so that it ends in May 2008 instead of March 2008

Survey Cycle: November - March, every 3rd year


Untitled Document

Click on any one of the following headers to expand on each topic. Click again on the header to close it, or you may leave it open while expanding other topic headers if you'd prefer.

  Faculty Survey Program Overview

The HERI Faculty Survey provides an institution with a comprehensive profile of their faculty, and is designed to be of immediate use to institutions. How do your faculty members perceive your institutional priorities? What kinds of goals do they have for their students? Are they engaging students in the classroom and their own research? What are sources of stress for your faculty? What are sources of satisfaction? These and other timely issues are examined in the HERI Faculty Survey, based on almost 20 years of research on faculty issues at HERI.


Participating institutions receive a detailed profile of their faculty members, as well as national normative data for faculty in similar types of institutions (e.g. private research universities, public four-year colleges, highly selective Catholic colleges, public two-year colleges, etc.). In addition, the normative data collected from this survey is published in The American College Teacher. Together, the national normative data and individual campus profile reports provide important context for understanding your institution’s faculty and administrators.


Faculty Survey data are useful in a variety of program and policy areas including:

  • institutional self-study and accreditation activities
  • campus planning and policy analysis
  • faculty development programs

  Faculty Survey: The Survey Instrument

The Faculty Survey instrument repeats items from previous years to enable institutional participants to compare current responses with those from earlier surveys. The Faculty Survey is revised prior to each administration to reflect the changing needs of participants. In 2007, the survey covers these following areas:

  • Time Diary for faculty work and life
  • Faculty productivity
  • Perceptions of institutional priorities
  • Perceptions of institutional climate
  • Teaching and learning outcomes for undergraduate education
  • Evaluation methods
  • Instructional techniques
  • Goals and outcomes for general education
  • Engagement with undergraduates in:
    • Research
    • Teaching
    • Service
  • Diversity issues
    • Integration of diversity in the curriculum
    • Integration of diversity in research
    • Institutional climate for women, minorities and gay/lesbian faculty
    • Institutional diversity priorities
  • Faculty job satisfaction
  • Sources of faculty stress, plans to leave, or potential for faculty job turnover
  • Faculty goals and attitudes that match items on CIRP student surveys
  • Faculty salary and satisfaction

NEW QUESTION FOCUS FOR 2007

  • Interactions with students that foster habits of mind for student learning
  • Enhanced pedagogy items
  • Special consideration to: part-time faculty, as well as 2-year and community college faculty

In the event that the standard HERI Faculty Survey questions do not cover your institution’s specific area of interest, institutions have the opportunity for a small fee to add their own locally-designed questions.


  Faculty Survey Features

Beginning in 2007, the HERI Faculty Survey will be entirely administered via a web-based survey. HERI’s new web portal (www.cirpsurveys.org) allows maximum flexibility in survey administration. Institution-specific welcome and thank you pages, the ability to add additional questions to the survey, and an email survey notification system+ are all available as customizable options++ to the standard survey administration.


The survey includes special emphasis on faculty-student interaction, undergraduate teaching, and curricular issues. Other items focus on faculty's use of PC/Internet technology and current issues of interest to today's campus, such as diversity and civic engagement. Up to 20 questions of specific interest to your campus can also be included. The Faculty Survey can be used independently (stand-alone) or in a systematic program of analysis incorporating other campus data.


In each administration year, surveys from those institutions providing the most representative samples are used to compute the national norms, which are statistically adjusted to represent the nation’s total population of approximately 441,000 full-time undergraduate faculty. Placing institutions in comparison groups based on type, control (public, private, etc.), and selectivity is a key feature of creating the national norms and, as explained in The American College Teacher, permits HERI to provide institutions with national normative data for faculty in similar types of institutions.


While The American College Teacher focuses on the normative responses of full-time undergraduate faculty, HERI encourages campuses to include all teaching faculty within their institutional samples.


+While HERI recommends that you use our email survey notification system for convenience and reliability, you may elect to send the email notifications yourself.
++Please see the Costs section for a break down of fees associated with these additional options.


  Faculty Survey: Reports & Special Services

In late Spring 2008, campuses will receive a detailed report profiling responses from their institutions. This report provides in-depth profiles of male faculty, female faculty, and all faculty, plus separate profiles of teaching faculty and academic administrators. Additionally, the report provides comparative normative data for faculty in similar types of institutions. In addition to the campus profile report, HERI offers a number of special supplemental services for a nominal fee.

Department/College Reports
These reports profile faculty within different academic units at your institution. You can compare the demographics, experiences, teaching methods, etc. of various units to each other and to the institution as a whole.

Special Comparison Reports
The comparative results that are included in your standard report are based on data from institutions that are the same type as yours. With the Special Comparison Report, you can compare your results with any two of the eleven comparison for which we generate national results.

Peer Group Reports
The Faculty Survey is ideal for developing consortium activities and data-sharing projects. The Peer Group Report compares your faculty responses to aggregated responses from institutions you designate.

Data Files
Campuses can obtain a data file to assist institutional research activities. The Faculty Survey data can also be used with other campus data for additional analyses.

Reports on Spreadsheet
Each report in the campus profile can be provided in a spreadsheet format (e.g., EXCEL or LOTUS) on diskette. These reports allow you to perform additional analyses without having to hand-enter data from the profile reports.


  Fees / Cancellation Policy

STANDARD COSTS  

 

Participation Fee   $675

Processing Fee

 

$2 for each processed survey

 

 

 

OPTIONAL COSTS  

 

Customized Welcome and Thank You Pages

 

FREE

Integrated additional questions

 

$300

Email distribution to faculty

 

$325

Real-time Data Analysis

 

$475


Billing Policy
Upon registration, institutions are sent one bill for the participation fee. After each institution completes their survey administration and returns the data for processing, the per-survey processing fees are calculated and a second bill is sent to each institution for their respective processing charges. Institutions are also billed separately for any Data Service Orders they may place, and these bills are sent out after the completion and fulfillment of each Data Service Order.



Cancellations Policy
You may cancel without penalty up to the time that the unique web log-in codes have been sent to your institution, or distributed per your institution's direction. If the web log-in codes have already been sent to your institution or distributed via HERI's email distribution service to your intended survey participants, you will be charged a cancellation fee of $100. In addition, if HERI has provided any customized services at your request (e.g., incorporated on-line additional questions, etc), you will also be responsible for the full cost of these services.

Administering the HERI Faculty Survey

  Administration Procedures

Beginning in 2007, the HERI Faculty Survey will be entirely administered via a web-based survey. HERI’s new web portal (www.cirpsurveys.org) allows maximum flexibility in survey administration. Institution-specific welcome and thank you pages, the ability to add additional questions to the survey, and an email survey notification system+ are all available as customizable options++ to the standard survey administration.

+While HERI recommends that you use our email survey notification system for convenience and reliability, you may elect to send the email notifications yourself.
++Please see the Costs section for a break down of fees associated with these additional options.



  Important Forms and Documentation

Please make sure to review all these documents carefully, so as to ensure a smooth administration of the HERI Faculty Survey at your institution.


Click Icon to Download
  Form/Document Title  
  Administration Guidelines  
  Survey Administration Checklist  
  Survey Information Sheet  
  Research (IRB) Approval & Certification of Research Use Form (done online via Administrative Portal)  
  UCLA IRB Approval Notice  
  Changes To The Current Year Survey Instrument  
  Information About Payment Using Purchase Orders  
  Information on using HERI's Email Distribution Service
To avoid legit emails from HERI with survey log in codes being filtered out as bulk or junk mail.
 

 

The following is a list of frequently asked questions about the HERI Faculty Survey. Click on each header for more information about each individual study; click again on the expanded header to close the section.

 Administration: Can HERI distribute the survey log-in codes for us?

Yes, for an additional fee. Please check the respective survey overview pages for the exact fee amount.

Related Links: TFS Overview, YFCY Overview, CSS Overview, Faculty Survey Overview


 Administration: Can we directly integrate our local questions into the survey?

Only web administered surveys have this option, and it is at an additional cost. Otherwise you must distribute the questions to the students separately with instructions on how to fill in the answers on the survey form. Please check the respective survey overview pages for the exact fee amount.

Related Links: TFS Overview, YFCY Overview, CSS Overview, Faculty Survey Overview


 Administration: How do I complete the Research Approval Form?

As of September 2007, all Research Approval and Certification of Research Use forms are to be completed online via the CIRP Online Portal.


 Administration: Must the Research Approval Form be completed by an Institutional Review Board member?

This varies from campus to campus. HERI does not require an IRB member to complete the RAF; any appropriate campus representative may complete the form. However, your institution may have rules about who can complete such forms - so please check with your local IRB.


 Administration: What is the administration timeline?

Please refer to the calendar in our forum and the Administrative Guidelines for specific dates. In general, there are 9 steps:

  1. Register your institution for the survey, ordering surveys/log-on IDs to arrive a week before you plan on administering.
  2. Set up a PO to pay for the participation fee. You may also include projected processing fees on this PO.
  3. Complete the online Research Approval Form (RAF) stating whether or not IRB approval was required on your campus.
  4. Administer the surveys.
  5. Return surveys to our vendor (you can use the boxes they came in) remembering to include the Transmittal Form in the boxes.
  6. Fill in the online Administration Report Form (ARF).
  7. Order any additional data services you may desire.
  8. Set up a PO to pay for processing fees and/or additional data services.
  9. Receive survey results from HERI.


 Billing: What is included in the participation fee?

Your participation fee includes:

  • participation in the current year survey
  • any costs involved in mailing surveys to your institution (unless expedited shipping is necessary, in which case it is billed to your institution),
  • your Institutional Profile (Report on Excel Spreadsheet), and
  • the Data File (in SPSS and raw formats).

Freshmen Survey participants also receive a copy of The American Freshmen: National Norms publication; and Faculty Survey participants also receive a copy of The American College Teacher: National Norms.


 Billing: When will I be billed?

There are two invoices you will receive; one when you first sign up for the participation fee and one at the end of administration for the processing fees. Please check the individual survey overview pages for more info on pricing structure. Any additional Data Services that your institution has ordered will be billed for separately when services are rendered. (See Data Services Order Forms for more detailed information about Additional Data Services).


 Data Services: How do I gain access to HERI data?

Please follow the directions given in the Researcher’s Tools section.


 Data Services: I can’t find the Data Services Order form, how do I order additional services?

On all surveys from 2007 on, data services will be ordered via the web portal. For orders on older surveys please use the archived DSOs available under Data Services Order Forms.


 Data Services: When will we get our results (aka institutional profile)?

Generally speaking, institutions should expect to receive their results (aka institutional profile) from each survey within approximately 6 weeks from the close of survey. The official survey close date is posted in the administrative guidelines for each respective survey, as well as online in the HERI forum.


 General: How do I determine participation history?

These three files show each institution's participation history since 1989. Participation for a given year is indicated by an "N" or an "P". Institutions providing data judged to be representative of their full -time undergraduate faculty and included in the national norms report are indicated by an "N". Campuses that participated in the survey but whose data were not included are indicated by an "P". Institutions that were surveyed directly by HERI as part our supplemental sample are indicated by a "*".


 General: What are stratification cells? What are the different strat cells that HERI has?

CELL     INSTITUTIONAL TYPE/SELECTIVITY1    SELECTIVITY SCORE2

Public Universities

01

low

less than 1,085

02

medium

1,085 – 1,139

03

high

1,140 or more

 

 

 

Private Universities

04

medium

less than 1,174

05

high

1,174 – 1,309

06

very high

1,310 or more

 

 

 

Public Four-year Colleges

07

low

less than 985

08

medium

985 – 1,054

09

high

1,055 or more

10

unknown 3

 

 

 

 

Nonsectarian Four-year Colleges

11

low

less than 1,015

12

medium

1,015 – 1,099

13

high

1,100 – 1,249

14

very

high 1,250 or more

15

unknown

 

 

 

 

Catholic Four-year Colleges

16

low

less than 1,020

17

medium

1,020 – 1,074

18

high

1,075 or more

19

unknown

 

 

 

 

Other Religious Four-year Colleges

20

very low

less than 985

21

low

985 – 1,049

22

medium

1,050 – 1,099

23

high

1,100 or more

24

unknown

 

 

 

 

Two-year Colleges4

25-29

public

 

30-33

private

 

 

 

 

Historically Black Colleges & Universities4

34

public 4-year colleges/universities

35

private 4-year colleges/universities

36

public 2-year colleges

37

private 2-year colleges



1 The broad categories of institutional type are defined as follows:
Universityan institution that awards a substantial number of doctoral-level degrees in at least five different disciplines. The CIRP “university” is roughly equivalent to the Carnegie “Research” and “Doctoral” designations.
Four-year Collegean institution that awards master- and/or bachelor-level degrees. Corresponds Equivalent to the Carnegie “Master’s (Comprehensive)” and “Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts)” designations.
Two-year Collegean institution that awards associate-level degrees.

2 Selectivity is defined as the average SAT Composite Score of the entering class.

3 Institutions with unknown selectivity are grouped with the low-selectivity when computing the National Norms.

4 Two-year colleges and historically Black colleges & universities are not differentiated by selectivity.


 Registration: How many surveys should I order?

More than you need. We do not charge based on how many forms you order, but on how many completed surveys you return.


 Registration: I usually get an invitation in the mail with a registration to mail in, what happened this year?

While we do still mail out "invitations," one is not needed in order to sign up for any HERI surveys. All survey registrations are now done exclusively on-line through the web via the CIRP web portal.


 Registration: Is there a deadline for registering?

There is not an actual deadline for registering. However, all institution must complete survey administration by the official survey close date (this may be found in the Administrative Guidelines for each respective survey). You can register up until a week before the survey administration closes, as long as you complete survey administration by the official survey administration close date. To avoid expedited shipping being billed to your institution, please order your surveys at least 10 business days before they are needed.


 Registration: When will the registration page be up?

Registration pages for each survey usually go up about a month or two before the survey administration period officially starts.

  • The CIRP Freshman survey is usually administered annually during Summer or the start of Fall, as it is given to freshmen who are just beginning at their institution. So look to be able to register a couple of months or so before the start of Summer.
  • The Your First College Year (YFCY) and College Senior Survey (CSS) are usually administered annually at the end of the school year, so registration for these two surveys typically go live around some time during the Fall.
  • The HERI Faculty Survey is administered tri-annually during the Fall, so expect to be able to register in the late Summer.