Data User's Guide

FSSE Data User's Guide

Download a PDF or accessible Word document of the FSSE Data User's Guide.

Introduction

Efforts to improve undergraduate education are most promising when they are based on evidence of the performance and experience of students and faculty inside and outside the classroom. In addition, institutions’ evidence of their achievements and of how they use data to inform improvement efforts is expected in their responses to heightened demands for accountability and multiple pressures to increase student persistence and completion, support diversity, and ensure high-quality learning for all students.

The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) was designed to complement the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) by measuring faculty expectations and student engagement. Whether a campus is interested in assessing the importance faculty place on various areas of learning and development or the nature and frequency of faculty-student interaction, FSSE provides colleges and universities with diagnostic, actionable information that can inform efforts to improve the experience and outcomes of undergraduate education.

FSSE results can inform efforts to enhance student learning and success across campus offices and projects including curricular reform, marketing and communications, faculty development, learning support, and scholarship of teaching and learning. As an assessment instrument, FSSE can be used to identify both areas of strength as well as opportunities for growth, to help make the classroom and campus environments more cohesive with student needs and expectations.

Making FSSE data accessible and useful is key to engaging various campus audiences in identifying and analyzing institutional and program successes and shortcomings and for developing targeted strategies for continuous improvement—critical steps in institutional growth and change. How can institutions determine who is interested in FSSE results? What are the best ways to connect campus groups and committees with this information? What audiences could use this information in responding to campus challenges and opportunities?

An early step in making the best use of FSSE data and reports is to revisit your institution’s rationale for participating in FSSE. What motivated your FSSE participation and what does the campus intend for the results? Knowing if your campus plans to use FSSE for accreditation, for routine assessment, or for faculty development efforts is important for determining where data are most relevant and for informing audiences eager to use the results.

Simply reporting FSSE results will not lead to action

Using FSSE data effectively also requires accurately interpreting the results and disseminating the interpretations along with the results to people who can do something about student engagement. Simply reporting FSSE results will not lead to action. Many institutions have found that sharing results at retreats, faculty workshops, first-year experience task force meetings, and other group gatherings is a productive way to stimulate interest and action.

This Guide's Purpose

Although FSSE’s reports are designed for usability, the path to using the data may not readily emerge in reviewing them. Determining how to encourage the use of FSSE data where it has potential to bring improvement and to ensure that the reports influence campus action can be challenging. To help institutions address these challenges, this guide outlines strategies, gives suggestions, and provides worksheets with exercises to help institutional leaders facilitate discussions with a wide range of campus stakeholders to make meaning from the results, identify priorities for action, and formulate uses of FSSE data for accountability, assessment, and improvement.

Overcoming Potential Obstacles to Using FSSE Results Effectively

Converting assessment information into action is a challenge for all colleges and universities. Below, we provide ways to address some of the more common obstacles.
Obstacle	Approach
Small number of respondents	Check your FSSE respondent characteristics to compare the representation of the sample to your campus population. Review the sampling error. In future administrations, consider ways to increase the number of respondents and promote survey participation in new ways.
Questions about validity and reliability	The validity of self-reported data can be affected by the ability of respondents to provide accurate and truthful information in response to questions. Research shows that people generally tend to respond accurately on questions about their past behavior unless the questions are sensitive or make them uncomfortable. Further research suggests that self-reported data are valid under five conditions, all of which FSSE was designed to satisfy: The requested information is known to respondents The questions are phrased clearly and unambiguously The questions refer to recent activities The respondents take the questions seriously The questions do not threaten, embarrass, or violate respondents’ privacy
Limited capacity to analyze and report results	The reports that FSSE sends institutions can be quickly packaged and sent to faculty and staff with little work. All data files, reports, and supporting documents related to FSSE Institutional Reports are available in electronic format, which allows for easier print or electronic distribution.
Lack of faculty awareness of or interest in learning about and using student engagement results	Consider administering FSSE as a way to look at student engagement from the faculty perspective. Results may be useful for discussions at a retreat or workshop. Also, make available a summary of the literature on the value of effective educational practices.