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Educational Effectiveness Research

Survey and focus group data provides a snapshot of the behaviors, attitudes, and experiences of Biola students and faculty. The Office of Educational Effectiveness facilitates a comprehensive survey schedule to track students’ academic and co-curricular development throughout their time at Biola. Summary survey results are available to the Biola community on my.biola.edu. Different survey instruments are used in rotation to enhance the validity of the findings.

Surveys

Survey Calendar

Year Fall Spring
2022-2023 HEDS New Student Survey

NACE First Destinations Survey

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE)

HEDS Alumni Survey
NACE First Destinations Survey

2023-2024 HEDS New Student Survey

NACE First Destinations Survey

National College Health Assessment (NCHA)

College Senior Survey
HEDS Alumni Survey
NACE First Destinations Survey

2024-2025

HEDS New Student Survey
NACE First Destinations Survey

HEDS Alumni Survey
NACE First Destinations Survey

Note: Survey calendar is subject to change.

Overview of Surveys

HEDS Alumni Survey

Available in two different versions (undergraduate and advanced degree), the HEDS Alumni Survey asks about the quality and enduring impact of their educational experiences (curricular and co-curricular), as well as “postgraduate employment, college satisfaction, and college debt” (https://www.hedsconsortium.org/heds-alumni-survey/).

HEDS Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey

The HEDS Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey, asks students, faculty, staff, and administrators to anonymously report their “perceptions of their institution’s climate, perceptions of how their institution supports diversity and equity, and experiences with discrimination and harassment at their institution” (https://www.hedsconsortium.org/heds-diversity-equity-campus-climate-survey/). Biola University’s statement on Unity Amidst Diversity heavily informs how survey participants understand diversity and how findings are contextualized for our campus community.

HEDS New Student Survey

The HEDS New Student Survey gives incoming students the opportunity to share their goals for college and career with the institution and connect with staff members to continue the conversation. Students are asked to reflect on their academic habits and strengths, identify obstacles that they expect to encounter, and share their dreams about the future. Data from this survey are used to inform programs and services that support student success and career development.

CIRP/HERI Freshman Survey

For over 50 years, the CIRP Freshman Survey (TFS) has provided data on incoming college students’ background characteristics, high school experiences, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations for college. Biola extends the CIRP/HERI Freshman Survey to all incoming undergraduate students, including transfers and post-traditional students. Designed for administration to incoming first-year students before they start classes at your institution, the data serves as a snapshot of what incoming students are like before they experience college. Key sections of the survey examine academic preparedness, expectations of college, values, and goals, demographic characteristics, admissions decisions and concerns about financing college (https://heri.ucla.edu/cirp-freshman-survey/).

College Senior Survey

The College Senior Survey, administered each spring to Biola’s graduating seniors, serves as a companion post-test to the CIRP Freshman Survey, providing longitudinal data on the students’ college experience. Rooted in Astin’s (1993) input-environment-outcomes model for determining the impact of college, paired data from the surveys allows institutions to measure how the college environment has impacted students by controlling for their first-year characteristics (https://heri.ucla.edu/college-senior-survey/). 

NSSE

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) asks first-year and senior students about the nature and quality of their undergraduate experience. NSSE measures the extent to which students engage in effective educational practices that are empirically linked with learning, personal development, and other desired outcomes such as persistence, satisfaction, and graduation. NSSE has been administered since 2000 and has been used at over 1,500 colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada (https://nsse.indiana.edu/nsse/about-nsse/index.html).

FSSE

A companion to NSSE, the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) asks instructional faculty (full-time and adjuncts) to share their perceptions of how often students engage in different activities that impact their learning, the importance that they as instructors place on various learning activities, how often they meet with students and how they organize their time, both inside and outside of the classroom (http://fsse.indiana.edu/html/about.cfm). When paired, the NSSE and FSSE provide rich insight into gaps between student and faculty perceptions and experiences, suggesting areas worthy of institutional emphasis.

NCHA

The National College Health Assessment (NCHA) is a nationally recognized research survey that collects precise data about Biola students’ health habits, behaviors, and perceptions.

The ACHA-NCHA Survey offers a way to map the widest range of health issues affecting our undergraduate students:

  • Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
  • Sexual health
  • Weight, nutrition, and exercise
  • Mental health
  • Personal safety and violence

At Biola we extend the NCHA survey to all enrolled students (undergraduate and graduate). We use the survey to identify and prioritize our health and wellness initiatives on campus. We use the data to inform policy and programming decisions not only in the "student health center" but also in other campus programs that care about the wellness of students.

NACE First Destination

The NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) First-Destination survey provides comprehensive and reliable data which can be used to inform and shape career expectations of current undergraduate, new alumni, and prospective students. This survey requests information about employment, continuing education, opinions about job placement and preparedness for life after graduation from Biola alumni within six months of graduation. Additionally, it helps to provide trends data to help enrich discussions over the value of higher education. (https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/graduate-outcomes/first-destination/)

Survey Research Report Requests

  • Research Reports
  • Custom Reports
    • To support the work of assessment, the Office of Educational Effectiveness will occasionally provide academic and co-curricular departments with custom reports of survey data. To request a custom report, please complete the Survey Data Report Request Form. If you are wondering if a custom report might benefit your department, please contact the Office of Educational Effectiveness for a consultation.

Internal Surveys

Some surveys conducted at Biola do not require IRB approval, such as those used for internal administrative purposes only (e.g., course evaluations, departmental assessments and customer service/satisfaction surveys). However, internal surveys are still expected to protect the privacy of participants, confidentiality of individual responses, and voluntary nature of participation. In order to make sure that internal research follows ethical research practices, surveys administered by departments to gather feedback from faculty, staff or students must be approved by the Office of Educational Effectiveness (OEE) using the Survey Application form. Once an application has been received, OEE will coordinate with the Office of University Communications to make sure that the timing of the survey aligns with other internal communications. Once the application has been reviewed, submitters will receive a response, typically within 48 hours, with any recommendations that should be accommodated before the survey is sent to participants.

Please see our Research on Campus FAQ for more information about conducting surveys and other research activities at Biola.

Complete Survey Application

Internal Focus Groups

Another way to garner feedback from faculty, staff, or students may also be through focus groups. Biola's Institutional Review Board (IRB) requires that any departments conducting focus groups with students, faculty or staff to gather feedback be approved by them. If you are interested in gathering feedback in this way, please see the IRB directory page for more information.

Questions about survey and focus group processes may be directed to Director of Educational Effectiveness Eileen Soto at eileen.soto@biola.edu.