Survey research can be a daunting process, but Institutional Research is here to help! As a first step, check out this brief overview of many of the “best practices” for survey research.

Ithaca College has licenses for Qualtrics and other survey and form tools for use by faculty, staff, and students. Prior to undertaking a survey research project, we encourage you to explore this website.

Institutional Research staff are available for general assistance with survey research (IRoffice@ithaca.edu).

How many people should my survey sample include?

Instead of surveying an entire population, you can use a sample. Determining the number of people to include in your sample can be complicated, but there are handy online tools to help, such as this one. As stated on the website, this calculator can tell you how many responses you need in order to get a statistically valid result. Immediately below the calculator is an explanation of the numbers you need to calculate either a confidence interval, a confidence level, or both.

Is this survey confidential or is it anonymous?

Best practices stipulate that researchers inform participants whether a survey is confidential or anonymous. But what’s the difference?  There's actually a very big difference, and the choice you make when you design your survey will have substantial implications for your results.

Anonymous surveys

  • Do not contain any identifying information about the participants. It is impossible to know exactly who participated in the survey, and responses cannot be tied to any specific individual.
  • Do not allow basic demographic information to be matched in from other sources, so any such information must be requested as part of the survey
  • May solicit more candid responses
  • May result in the submission of multiple responses by individuals who feel strongly about the topic
  • May make it difficult to draw inferences about the population

Confidential surveys

  • Contain identifying information about the participants, making it possible to identify participants and link specific responses to specific individuals. This identifying information is not shared when reporting survey results; results are reported in aggregate form, not on an individual basis.
  • Can be matched with demographic information from other sources, so that information does not need to be requested on the survey
  • Make it possible to send survey reminders to nonrespondents
  • Can prevent an individual from retaking/submitting the survey multiple times
  • Make it easier to draw inferences about the population

If a survey asks for identifying information or contains results that can be linked to a specific individual, and that information is expected to be shared, the survey is neither anonymous nor confidential. Typically, there are very few reasons to conduct this type of survey.

Most surveys conducted at Ithaca College are confidential surveys.