General Survey Guidelines:

NACADA sanctions all advising-related surveys of association members prior to survey development and distribution. Representatives of the appropriate NACADA organizational unit sponsoring the survey (i.e., Commission, Interest Group, Region, Standing Committee, Advisory Board, Task Force, etc.) must receive clearance from Charlie Nutt (cnutt@ksu.edu), NACADA Executive Director, prior to developing the member survey. To begin the survey development approval process, a 50-100 word statement of purpose and rationale must be submitted to the NACADA Executive Office along with survey topics, sample questions, methodology and design, how the data will be used, whether human subject IRB review will be needed, and anticipated survey dates.

After development clearance has been granted, the survey authors should contact Marsha Miller, NACADA Assistant Director of Resources & Services, to discuss survey design.  This should be at least 6 weeks prior to the desired survey start date. Sanctioned member surveys use the on-line survey capabilities provided by the Axio Survey System at Kansas State University.

To assist you with the survey development process, click here for information provided on the NACADA web site, which includes suggestions for designing the survey, informative e-mails to be provided by the survey author, different formats of questions, procedures for administering the survey and reporting the final results, and other survey resources.

Policies and Procedures Specific to Commissions, Interest Groups, Regions, Standing Committees, Advisory Boards, and Task Forces:

There has been a growing concern of “burnout” by NACADA members asked to complete too many surveys. As a result, the following policies and procedures have been established for surveys administered to NACADA members that apply specifically to those sponsored by Commissions, Interest Groups, Regions, Standing Committees, Advisory Boards, and Task Forces in addition to the general guidelines reported above.

1. Any survey administered to the members of a specific Commission, Interest Group, Region, Standing Committee, Advisory Board, or Task Force must be officially sponsored by that unit, and have the permission of its current Chair.
2. The survey author/coordinator must be a current member of that particular Commission, Interest Group, Region, Standing Committee, Advisory Board, or Task Force.
3. Only one survey will be administered to NACADA members within a 10-day period as prioritized by the NACADA Executive Office.
4. The data retrieved from these surveys is "owned" by NACADA. An article reporting the survey results is expected from the survey author for consideration for the NACADA Journal, Academic Advising Today e-publication, or the Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources.
5. The purpose and outcome of the survey must benefit the Association, and not be for the sole purpose of doctoral or personal research.
6. The topic and purpose of the survey must be directly related to the Commission, Interest Group, Region, Standing Committee, Advisory Board, or Task Force sponsoring it.
7. Survey authors are encouraged to develop instruments targeted at specific advising populations, such as those represented by Commissions and Interest Groups, rather than to all NACADA members.
8. Survey authors are encouraged to collaborate with other Commissions, Interest Groups, Regions, Standing Committees, Advisory Boards, or Task Forces when possible on survey topics of interest to more than one unit.

NOTE: NACADA is receiving an increasing number of requests from doctoral students to utilize the NACADA-managed list serves to distribute their advising-related research instruments to members to collect data. The guidelines outlined above must be followed for this purpose as well. The NACADA Council will be discussing the use of NACADA-sponsored listserv lists.