Surveys can be used as an indirect method of gathering assessment data. Surveys are useful when you have specific questions you want to ask or certain hypotheses you want to test. They allow for quantifiable results, and once developed, can be fielded with specific sets of respondents (e.g., the same students when entering and leaving a program).
Surveys can include open-ended questions that elicit text comments or reflections that can be useful for identifying unmet needs or new ideas.
Respondents can consist of students, alumni, teaching assistants, or even employers and internship mentors. Some populations will be easier to survey successfully than others.
For Survey Planning and Deployment, visit the Survey Research: Resources section of our website.