Survey helps administrators

Noel-Levitz survey gives insight into effectiveness of college’s services

By Jason Joyce
Staff Writer

A randomly selected group of students will fill out more than the typical end-of-course instructor evaluation this spring. They'll be the first North Lake students to take the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory since 2005.

Noel-Levitz is a comprehensive four-page survey that asks students to comment on such statements as “most students feel a sense of belonging here” and “the amount of student parking space on campus is adequate.”

The feedback provided by the survey and follow-up focus groups allows college administrators to make adjustments, such as extending hours for student services. Teresa Isbell, director of institutional research planning and development, stressed the importance of such questions as “Are we providing services that meet student needs?”. Noel-Levitz is designed a little differently from most surveys. The majority of questions call for two responses on a scale of 1-7 – one response for how a college rates on an issue and a second response for how important the issue is to the student.

In addition to questions on college services, a series of optional questions asks students for information about ethnicity and gender. The responses to the biographical question allow college administrators to identify issues identified as important by various demographic groups.

The optional biographical question most likely to cause controversy is a request for the student's Social Security number. But North Lake has modified that question. Because of privacy concerns, Isbell said, students may use their ID number in place of the Social Security number.

The benefit of having a student's ID number, according to Isbell, is that it allows “some further analysis” options. For example, responses from students who've been at North Lake for a semester or two can be compared with responses from newly arrived students.

According to www.NoelLevitz.com, the paper survey typically requires 30 minutes to complete. The online version of the survey, which Isbell said will be adopted in the future, only requires 20 minutes.