Surveys

Institutional Effectiveness coordinates and administers a range of surveys relevant to student engagement and University strategic planning (Click to view the survey cycle). We survey entering freshmen, currently enrolled students, seniors, and alumni.

The AI Faculty and Student Surveys are designed to measure attitudes and usage patterns regarding artificial intelligence tools in higher education. The faculty survey assesses instructional integration, professional development needs, and pedagogical concerns, while the student survey evaluates tool adoption, learning experiences, and career preparation perspectives. Together, they target the entire Cal State LA academic community to inform institutional AI policies and support services.

The NSSE is designed to measure student engagement, i.e., academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty, and campus environment. It targets first-year and senior students. For more information about NSSE, please visit the NSSE website.

The BCSSE measures new students' prior academic experiences and their expectations for the coming college year. The fall 2021 administration also included some questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about BCSSE, please visit the BCSSE website.

The Collaborative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Survey is carried out by the Higher Education Research Initiative (HERI) at UCLA.  It includes questions pertaining to student values, goals, concerns about finance, and more. The overview of the CIRP Freshman Survey is available at the UCLA CIRP Overview page.

The Freshman Student Survey aims to assess incoming freshmen's background, aspirations, expectations, finances, and views of themselves.  

The Transfer Student Survey aims to assess incoming transfer students' background, aspirations, expectations, finances, and views of themselves.

We developed a survey targeting graduating seniors. It assesses graduating seniors’ learning experiences, interaction with faculty members, study habits, and plans after graduation.

The Alumni survey aims to assess our alumni's employment status, salary, and attitudes toward Cal State LA.

The Advising Center Advising Experience survey aims to evaluate students' satisfaction with their academic advising experience based on appointment availability, advisor-student relationships, and the support provided by the advising center. Advisor involvement with students' academic and personal life is also explored, including assistance with decision-making, goal-setting, and graduation planning. 

The Assigned Advisor Experience survey aims to evaluate the efficacy of academic advisors based on their availability, support for student progress, and rapport with students. This includes communication frequency, advisor responsiveness to students, guidance in academic and career planning, referral to campus resources, and efforts to build relationships with students.  Additionally, the survey assesses how well advisors promote re-enrollment and provide accurate information for staying on track to graduate.

Surveys of campus constituents (i.e., students, faculty, staff, and alumni) are recognized as an important means for collecting information to support and improve educational quality, institutional effectiveness, and student and employee experience. Survey administration, however, must be done while ensuring that campus constituents’ time and resources are respected. The following guideline establishes a procedure for managing surveys conducted on the Cal State LA campus to ensure that the redundancy and frequency of surveys are minimized and that the surveys align with our University’s mission and values.