Our higher education survey is based on the interview questionnaire and findings described in our book, The Real World of College. 

In our research, each interview took approximately one to two hours. We have developed this survey to take respondents 15-20 minutes to complete. Accordingly, this survey consists of mostly option-based questions.

The survey consists of seven major sections:

1. Background (including “warm-up” questions and questions about the transition to college)

2. Goals for the College Experience (personal goals and institutional goals)

3. Perspectives on the Academic Program

4. Perspectives on Campus Life

5. Connections to the College Experience (questions about belonging and alienation to academics, peers, and the institution)

6. Issues on Campus (including questions about perspectives on mental health)

7. Perspectives on the Sector of Higher Education

You can find a sample of the survey by clicking here—a selection of three abbreviated sections.

If you are interested in using the survey at your institution, please click here to contact us. 

For a fee, we could work with you to adapt the survey to specifically address your priorities, constituencies, and context (especially for those outside of the United States), and/or to help you make sense of collected data.