During Spring Administration

Even before the close of the survey administration, NSSE offers early access to a raw form of your NSSE survey data in the spring. The raw data will help you get a jump on assessment, planning, and internal reporting during the spring and summer months.

What does the NSSE raw data file include?

The data are dynamically downloaded from our online survey facility in a simple CSV format—markedly different from the processed and supplemented SPSS and Excel data delivered later in the summer as part of the NSSE Institutional Report.

• INCLUDED: Variables include all core survey items, population file information (studentid, irclass, irenrollment, “group” variables, etc.) and other helpful fields (such as surveyid and logdate). Topical modules, consortium items, and all open-text comments and write-in responses are also included.
  
  A note of caution: Responses from students marked as ineligible in your population file may also be included. Use the variable named "eligible" to filter them out. 
  
  
• NOT INCLUDED: Recoded and derived variables are not included. Because the data are pulled directly from our online survey facility, they do not include supplemental variables that you may be accustomed to using from the processed NSSE data delivered in the summer. For example, while the individual items that make up Engagement Indicators (EI) are in this raw file, it does not include calculated EI scores. Similarly, other NSSE recodes such as those for the writing, time-on-task, and demographic items are not in the raw data download. Data from NSSE experimental sets are also not included.