Lansing Community College
Procedure Details

Procedure Title: Surveys of Large Scale
Procedure #: CDS.002
Revision #: 000

Unit Responsible: Center for Data Science
Individual Responsible: Executive Director

Effective Date: 01/01/2025
Initial Approval Date: 12/20/2024
Last Review/Update Date: 12/20/2024
Next Review Date: 12/01/2027

*Does this procedure support a Board Policy? No
If yes, identify: N/A

Board policies can be found at: LCC Board of Trustees Policy Page

*Does this procedure support HLC criteria? Yes
If yes, identify: (New Criteria 9/1/25) – 5A, 2A

HLC Criteria can be found at: HLC Accreditation Criteria
HLC Assumed Practices can be found at: HLC Assumed Practices

*Does this procedure support a State or Federal Regulation? No
If yes, identify: N/A

*Note: Standard Operating Procedures should be in furtherance of some LCC policy and/or accreditation criteria, even if the relationship is not direct. Assistance in determining this information can be obtained from the Academic Procedure Advisory Committee (APAC) and/or the Accreditation Liaison Officer.

Surveys of Large Scale

1. Purpose

To establish a collegewide procedure for assessing the need, content, value, security, and oversight of large-scale surveys involving students and/or staff.


2. Scope

Applies to surveys distributed to over 50 students (excluding course surveys) and/or employees, or across multiple college departments at Lansing Community College (LCC).

Exceptions (out-of-scope):

  • Surveys provided and required by accreditors.
  • Pre-approved and ongoing surveys related to point of service (e.g., Academic Success Coach (ASC) survey kiosk, course evaluations surveys [BLUE]).
  • Research-based surveys that are included in an approved or exempt Lansing Community College Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HS-IRB) determination and have been approved by the appropriate Executive Leadership Team (ELT) representative(s) for the area(s) of focus.
  • Event feedback forms or after-event feedback collection (e.g., conferences, meetings, events).
  • Listening sessions, town halls, and focus groups.
  • Course surveys administered through D2L survey functions or other approved survey software for a section or course.
  • When timing limitations apply, grant related surveys may be allowed an expedited review and approval process.


3. Prerequisites

All research involving human subjects, conducted by or using LCC employees or students, must be reviewed by the LCC Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HS-IRB).

Acceptable survey tools:

  1. Dynamic forms (not recommended)
  2. SurveyMonkey
  3. Qualtrics
  4. D2L
  5. Explorance (Blue)
  6. Wufoo
  7. Microsoft Forms (limited use – no FERPA or HIPAA-related questions)

Note: Google Forms are not an approved survey tool for LCC surveys.


4. Responsibilities

Survey Requestor:

  1. Initiate request with Center for Data Science (CDS).
  2. Provide draft questions, survey details, purpose statement, intended audience of survey.
  3. Forward to Office of Compliance (if needed for regulatory review).
  4. Submit HS-IRB review request if determined necessary by CDS.
  5. Obtain final approval of survey questions and survey details from CDS.
  6. Notify Information Technology Services (ITS) of upcoming survey and details.
    1. If necessary, obtain approval for a new survey tool not on approved list (see prerequisites).
  7. Work with Internal Communications/Marketing to develop communications plan.
  8. Possible facilitation and analysis of survey results.
    1. Determine with CDS.
  9. Communication of results to respondents.

Center for Data Science (CDS):

  1. Review and approval of draft questions.
  2. Determine if the project requires HS-IRB review.
  3. Forward employee survey to ELT or student survey to Provost Cabinet (PC) for review.
    1. CDS will take the lead communicating determination or follow-up requests back to the survey requestor.
  4. Review and approve final survey design and survey details.
  5. (If needed) Create the survey in SurveyMonkey.
  6. (If needed) Deploy survey in SurveyMonkey.
  7. (If needed) Provide requestor with survey analysis.

Director of the Office of Compliance or designee:

  1. Review and approve for alignment to regulatory requirements.

Executive Leadership Team (ELT) for employee surveys:

  1. Review survey and purpose of survey requestor for institutional and strategic plan alignment.
  2. Identify responsible party for the survey.
    1. If this is an LCC student-initiated survey, who is their mentor (LCC staff member)?
  3. Review survey details and follow-up plan:
    1. Are there other competing surveys or does this need to be staged based on other surveying plans?
    2. How will the results be communicated?
    3. Is the content controversial or possibly triggering?
    4. Is the potential Return on Investment (ROI) worth the resources to create, oversee, communicate results?
    5. Reflection questions identified (if applicable).
  4. Approve or deny the request with explanation.

Provost Cabinet (PC) for student surveys:

  1. Review survey and purpose of survey requestor for institutional and strategic plan alignment.
  2. Who is responsible for the survey?
    1. a) If this is a LCC student-initiated survey, who is their mentor (LCC staff member)
  3. Review survey details and follow-up plan:
    1. Are there other competing surveys or does this need to be staged based on other surveying plans?
    2. How will the results be communicated?
    3. Is the content controversial or possibly triggering?
    4. Is the potential ROI worth the resources to create, oversee, communicate results?
  4. Approve or deny the request with explanation

Information Technology Services (ITS):

  1. Notify help desk staff of upcoming survey, dates, survey tool being used, and how the survey is being advertised (e.g., direct emails, QR codes, fliers, etc.).
    1. Provide contact information if a respondent would like to speak with the survey creator/overseer.
  2. If the Survey Requestor is planning to use a survey tool not currently listed (prerequisite section), review for suitability.

Marketing/Internal Communications:

  1. Work with the survey requestor and possibly CDS to develop a communication plan.
    1. Communication plan to include how this is advertised and how results will be communicated at the conclusion.


5. Procedure

  1. A survey review request is made to the CDS at least 6 weeks before the intended launch of the survey with a draft of questions and survey details (audience, how long it will run, purpose) to be emailed (LCC-CDS@star.lcc.edu).
  2. CDS reviews the proposed content and survey details and works with the survey requestor to create a draft version of the survey and identify the appropriate survey tool.
  3. If the survey is related to a compliance or regulatory issue, it is forwarded to the Director of the Office of Compliance to be reviewed for alignment to regulatory and compliance requirements.
  4. CDS forwards the draft survey with supporting details to the ELT for employee surveys or to the PC for student surveys.
    1. ELT or PC will review the survey request for alignment with stated purpose, institutional priorities/strategic plan, survey load on intended respondent group, and ROI.
    2. CDS acts as liaison between survey requestor and reviewing group.
  5. Approved survey is submitted to the LCC HS-IRB if determined necessary by CDS. (This step can occur simultaneously with step 6).
  6. Survey Requestor sends ITS a copy of the survey draft, survey details, and the planned surveying tool to ensure awareness of the upcoming survey.
    1. If the survey tool is included in the list of approved survey tools listed under prerequisites, no further action is required. If not, ITS needs to approve the planned tool. If ITS does not approve the tool, the requestor will be directed back to the list of approved survey tools.
  7. Survey Requestor sends the approved survey draft and survey details to Internal Communications review and develop communications plan. This can happen simultaneously with HS-IRB review step.
    1. Communications plan to include advertisement of survey and post-survey information sharing strategy.
  8. Survey Requestor works with CDS to get a final version of the survey and survey details approved.
  9. Survey is deployed for an appropriate period of time, and then analyzed.
  10. Survey results are made available or intentionally communicated based on communication plan.

Alternate expedited procedure for grant related surveys:

If the timing required for a grant is such that the procedure listed above will take so long as to threaten the College’s ability to submit a competitive grant, the following expedited procedure may be used:

  1. An expedited survey review request due to grant time restrictions is made via the CDS Data Request Page with a draft of potential questions and survey details (audience, how long it will run, purpose). Additionally, a brief description of the grant proposal and timing requirements are emailed (LCC-CDS@star.lcc.edu).
  2. CDS will work with the survey requestor to refine the questions for survey quality and grant requirement/proposed project applicability.
    1. If the content of the survey or grant involves human subjects-based research, CDS will work with the survey requestor and Chair of the HS-IRB (or appointee of the Chair of the HS-IRB) to ensure the required elements and content of the survey are in accordance with HS-IRB requirements and expectations. Please note, the HS-IRB does not provide a determination on grant related proposals until after the grant has been awarded. Some changes to survey question, informed consent, or methodology may be required upon full HS-IRB review.
    2. If the survey is related to compliance or regulatory issues, the Office of Compliance will also be involved in the review and refinement of the survey at this stage.
  3. CDS will forward the survey for expedited review and comment by ELT (for employee surveys) or PC (student surveys).
  4. The survey may be included with grant submission at this point. Upon grant approval, the standard procedure should be followed starting at step 5 if HS-IRB review is required, or starting at step 6 if not.


6. Reference


7. Definitions

  • FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
  • HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  • Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HS-IRB) - The College's IRB is responsible for review and, if appropriate, approval of all behavioral or biomedical research activities involving human subjects at LCC, for LCC, or with LCC students and/or employees, with the core purpose of protecting the welfare of human subjects involved in such research.