For Participating Institutions

Support & Resources for Participating Institutions

NSSE participating institutions' capacity to use their data starts long before receiving results. It begins with an intention for participating in an effective administration. Information for a successful NSSE survey experience, including approaches to encourage student participation and survey promotion tips, are available on the Administering NSSE pages. When NSSE participating institutions receive their institutional results, it signals only the beginning of their processes to share and interpret data, identify priorities for action, formulate and implement plans for improvement—and then to circle back to assess the impact of those efforts. Because NSSE provides rich, reliable information on student learning behavior and effective educational practice, colleges and universities have found many uses for survey results. NSSE is deeply committed to providing support and resources for participating institutions to make the best use of their data and results. Here we present examples of how institutions have made use of their NSSE data as well as a series of guides for working with NSSE data and results.

How Institutions Use Their Data

Examples of how institutions have made use of their NSSE data and results

Data and Results Guides

Tips and recommendations for digging deeper and making the most of your NSSE data and results

Participating Institution Search

A form to query participating institutions that fit selected criteria

Workshops and Webinars

A collection of recorded presentations and interactive workshops

Using NSSE Data and Results to Address Campus Issues and Problems

NSSE results can spotlight current campus issues and concerns. Many institutions share common challenges, such as lower-than-desired retention or completion rates. All institutions have an interest in improving the learning environment.

While no single approach to such issues is right for every institution, the following questions can help frame your examination of NSSE results and your development of action plans:

What data confirm known facts?
What results are surprising?
What results meet your expectations?
What results need further investigation?

The reports provide valuable information, particularly if an institution is in the process of strategic planning or needing to report on progress.
Alice Griffin, Director of Curriculum Review and Program Assessment, University of Arkansas

Learning from Comparative Data

NSSE data serve a diagnostic function by identifying institutional strengths and weaknesses with respect to effective educational practices. Comparisons with peer institutions and the full NSSE cohort reveal aspects of performance not readily available from other sources. Also, examining internal variation in student engagement can help in identifying less-engaged groups and determining how to improve their experience. Institutions use two basic approaches to benchmarking with NSSE: normative and criterion. One or both may be appropriate, depending on institutional priorities.

Normative approaches: The normative approach compares your students’ responses to those of students at other colleges and universities. If enough students have participated, this can also be done at the school, department, or major field level—a particularly effective way of stimulating faculty interest in the findings.
Criterion approaches: With the criterion approach you compare your institution’s results against a predetermined value that you and your colleagues deem appropriate, given your institutional mission, size, curricular offerings, funding, and other factors.

Lessons Learned About Using NSSE Data

Based on the collective experience of NSSE users, we offer the following suggestions for incorporating NSSE data into institutional improvement efforts:

Encourage faculty and staff to adopt a student engagement perspective by explaining its potential for improving teaching and learning.
Report and share results in ways that increase understanding of collegiate quality and promote improvement efforts in all institutional sectors.
Confirm the validity, reliability, and other indicators of NSSE data quality by reviewing NSSE’s Psychometric Portfolio.
Drill down to your institution’s department- or unit-level data, made accessible through NSSE census administration and detailed in the Major Field Report.

Link NSSE results to other information about the student experience and complementary initiatives to extend the insights to campus improvement efforts.
Combine numeric data and statistical comparisons with verbal explanations to facilitate interpretation of results.
Examine results from multiple perspectives including normative comparisons that may confirm or challenge assumptions about performance relative to other institutions.
Build campus teams and institutional consortia on topics of mutual interest to increase the likelihood of success in policy and practice changes.