Faculty Perspectives on Current Topics in Higher Education
Challenge
Current issues in academia create polarized environments that affect faculty work and university functioning.
Faculty at American universities hold diverse perspectives regarding current issues in higher education. These issues often emerge within polarized environments, where opinions may be shaped by personal beliefs or political ideologies. To better understand these viewpoints, the researchers plan to survey faculty on topics such as workplace expectations and diversity. Their goal is to gain insight into how these issues influence faculty work environments and the broader functioning of universities.
Solution
NORC will survey faculty at American universities about current issues in higher education.
NORC will administer a survey to faculty across American universities. The faculty selected for the survey have previously participated in a Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey and individually agreed to be contacted for future research. COACHE is based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has been administering surveys to U.S. faculty since 2005.
The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and asks questions about workplace experiences, political preferences, political knowledge and engagement, perspectives on diversity in academia, and thoughts about local issues within the institution. Faculty who participate in this survey help advance insights that could improve the advice and support that scholars, teachers, and university leaders receive across the American professoriate.
Result
Researchers will analyze survey data to gain a deeper understanding of the range of faculty perspectives on current issues in higher education.
The researchers intend to combine the data from this contemporary survey with anonymized data from the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey to advance insights on the current American professoriate and their views on current topics such as diversity in higher education. This project will develop and assess narrative structures which may be used by faculty and administrators when communicating about current issues in higher education and academic values in their micro and macro environments.
Project Leads
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Karen Grigorian
Vice PresidentCo-Principal Investigator -
Erin Knepler
Senior Research DirectorProject Director
FAQ for Study Participants
NORC at the University of Chicago is conducting this research study, which is made possible by support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
NORC is a nonprofit corporation affiliated with the University of Chicago that conducts survey research in the public interest for government agencies, educational institutions, private foundations, nonprofit organizations, and private corporations.
The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been administering surveys to U.S. faculty since 2005. One question at the end of those surveys gives respondents the explicit choice of allowing COACHE to keep their contact information on file for future, COACHE-vetted follow-up projects such as this one. You affirmatively provided that permission; this is the first time that contact information is being used for such a study.
Only NORC research staff monitoring survey participation and preparing the final dataset will have access to survey responses linked to identifying contact information. Your contact information (e.g., name, email address, IP address) will not be included or linked to the final dataset used for all analyses.
Analyses will aggregate survey responses and combine them with selected, anonymized data from the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey dataset. This is a restricted access dataset governed by a data use agreement. Researchers will analyze the survey datasets and provide reports of results in a manner that will not reveal the individual identities of respondents.
Following this study, the final, de-identified dataset will be securely and separately maintained and under IRB review until the research team has exhausted the data’s analytical value.
NORC has implemented extensive security programs to provide all aspects of computer and data security. All electronic project files and programs will be stored on secure servers and access to the project’s shared space will be restricted to authorized staff members with clearance to use identifiable data. NORC also follows strict standards for internal and external data transmission. Data will be saved and shared on password-protected, encrypted cloud services. Data will be processed and analyzed (interactively while saved only on the cloud) using password-protected computers. Transmission to and from computers from the cloud is encrypted.
Overall, the risks primarily revolve around psychological discomfort, social consequences, and confidentiality concerns. These risks are not trivial given the polarized environment surrounding current issues in academia, but they are manageable with proper protections in place.
- Psychological Risks: Faculty members participating in the survey may experience discomfort or stress when answering questions that require them to reflect on or take a position regarding current issues in higher education. These issues may be personally or politically charged, and participants may fear how their responses could be interpreted or used.
- Social Risks: Although the survey is anonymized, there remains a risk that participants may feel their responses could be identifiable, leading to concerns about how their colleagues or institutions might react if their views became known. This could create anxiety about potential social repercussions or professional consequences.
- Legal Risks: While unlikely, there is a small chance that data collected during the survey could be subpoenaed or otherwise used in legal proceedings, especially if current issues become involved in litigation at participants’ institutions. This could expose participants to legal scrutiny based on their views or responses.
- Confidentiality Risks: There is a risk that survey responses could be compromised, especially if adequate data protection measures are not in place. If anonymity is somehow breached, participants could face professional or reputational harm, particularly in cases where their views on current issues are controversial within their institution.
To minimize risks to participants, several strategies are being implemented to protect confidentiality, reduce psychological stress, and mitigate social or legal harms.
- Anonymization: We will ensure complete anonymization of survey responses by avoiding collection in the survey of any identifying information (e.g., names). We will use randomized record ID numbers for participants instead of any identifying details. Although we collect demographic data, we will ensure that it is generalized in analysis to avoid identifying individuals from small groups.
- Data Encryption: The survey platform itself, Qualtrics, is approved by NORC for use such as this project’s. Once the survey data are collected, NORC will protect the confidentiality of survey responses by using secure, encrypted data storage systems. Survey data will subsequently be stored on password-protected servers with access limited to authorized researchers only.
- Separate Consent Forms: The Qualtrics platform separates respondent identities in the consent approval process from survey responses to further ensure anonymity. When participants “sign” a consent, it is not linked to their survey responses in any way. That is, proceeding into the survey is proof that the consent has been “signed”.
- Clear Instructions: The survey’s consent statement provides clear instructions to participants on how the data will be used, how their responses will remain anonymous, and the measures in place to protect their privacy. This will help reduce psychological stress by reassuring participants that their views will not be traced back to them.
- Voluntary Participation and Withdrawal: Our recruitment materials and informed consent page emphasize that participation is voluntary and participants can choose a “prefer not to say” option or entirely skip most questions or exit the survey at any time. This will reduce pressure or discomfort participants may feel when responding to sensitive topic questions.
- Aggregate Data Reporting: Survey results will be reported only in aggregate forms, avoiding any individual-level data that could indirectly identify participants. For example, no data will be presented in a way that could identify individuals based on their department or specific role at the institution.
By implementing these strategies, we have earned NORC IRB authorization to significantly reduce the potential risks for participants, ensuring that their identities, privacy, and well-being are protected throughout the study.
There will be no direct benefits to subjects. Participants may benefit from this study by becoming informed about differing perspectives on diversity in the professoriate and in the academy more generally. For society, this project will provide university leaders and faculty with data-driven and market-tested narrative structures which they can use to create their own authentic messaging about a current issue in higher education in their micro and macro environments.
If clicking directly on the survey link in your email does not open the survey for you, you may find it easiest to simply copy and paste the link into the address bar of your web browser and then hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard.
You do not need to start the survey all over again. If you choose to suspend the survey to take a break, if your computer shuts down, or if you lose your Internet connection, you will be able to resume where you left off and your prior responses will be saved.
Simply log back in using the link you received in the email we sent you. You will be directed to the point of the survey where you previously left off. You can move between questions using the navigation buttons at the bottom of each screen. If you navigate back to previous questions, you’ll see that responses to the questions you’ve already answered have been preserved. To change a prior response, simply select a different answer choice before proceeding to the next screen.
Please be sure to complete your survey before the deadline. After the close date, you will no longer have access to the survey.
If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to this survey or your participation, please contact the NORC project team by emailing FacultyPerspectivesSurvey@norc.org. We will try our best to respond in a timely manner. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant, please contact the NORC IRB Manager toll-free at (866) 309-0542.
