Institutional Surveys

As a result of COVID-19, the university has undertaken several surveys to help with operational planning. A repository of surveys is available for internal users here: COVID Institutional Analysis and Planning COVID-19 Surveys Repository. Access can be requested by emailing Jana Carson. For a list of upcoming institutional surveys or those currently in field, see Important Dates webpage.

As part of the University of Waterloo's commitment to continuous improvement, Institutional Analysis and Planning (IAP) is involved in the strategic administration, coordination, and use of surveys on campus.

Survey Administration

IAP regularly coordinates and administers campus-wide surveys including:

Results are typically available by Faculty and Program. If you are interested in survey results, please send a request to IAP.
In addition, survey instruments, descriptive, and summary reports for current or past IAP-specific surveys can be accessed via the survey links above or through IAP's Survey Repository.

Survey Schedule

Schedule of IAP surveys
Surveys/Tool	Frequency	Last administered	Upcoming survey
NSSE Target population: First-year and final year undergraduates	Every 3 years	Winter/spring 2023	2026
CGPSS Target population: Masters and doctoral students	Every 3 years	Winter/spring 2022	2025
CUSC First-Year Survey Target population: First-undergraduates (sample of 2,000)	Every 3 years	Winter/spring 2022	2025
CUSC Graduating Student Survey Target population: Final year undergraduates (sample of 2,000)	Every 3 years	Winter/spring 2018	2024
OUGS Target population: Undergraduate alumni two years out	Every year	2022/23 (2020 alumni)	2023/24 (2021 alumni)
SES Target population: Undergraduate and course-work masters students (Sample of 10,000)	Every fall/winter	Fall 2023	Winter 2024
Socio-Demographic Survey Target population: All students and employees	Ongoing	2020/2021	Ongoing

Survey Management

IAP helps to coordinate non-academic research surveys administered to the Waterloo population. These surveys, as defined in the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) as quality assurance or assessment, administrative, program review, evaluation surveys etc. are to be reviewed by IAP while those conducted for academic research purposes require ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics (ORE).

University stakeholders interested in conducting a survey at Waterloo should review Waterloo's survey process outlined on the Survey Administration Process webpage or the Survey Administration Process Flow-chart or contact IAP for more information.

To begin the survey review process, complete the survey review form.

Partnership with the Statistics Consulting and Survey Research Unit (SCSRU)

Institutional Analysis & Planning (IAP) has partnered with the Statistical Consulting and Survey Research Unit (SCSRU), formerly the Survey Research Center (SRC), to develop and administer several campus-wide surveys to students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

The Student Experience Survey (SES), the first survey administered through this partnership, aims to understand students' perceptions of their academic and non-academic learning environments and their experience at the University of Waterloo. These topics are explored through questions about student general well-being, perceived efficacy of various instructional modalities and learning supports, and opinions on various strategic initiatives.

To read more about the Student Experience Survey (SES), visit: uwaterloo.ca/iap/studentexperiencesurvey

If you would like help planning and/or administering a survey, please contact SCSRU and fill out a checklist.