Is your higher education institution looking for new ways to collect valuable information and feedback from students? Oftentimes, data collection is key to measuring students’ success and satisfaction at colleges or universities. Whether you’re looking for student input on improvements around campus or evaluating how students benefited from a particular class, online surveys and forms can help provide the information you need.
But how can your organization build forms and surveys that students feel inclined, or even excited, to fill out? We’ve compiled some of our top online survey-building tips to help you gain more quality responses from your students.
Communicate effectively
To fully experience the advantages of online surveys, it’s important to communicate the purpose of your survey clearly and effectively. Your students will be more inclined to fill out a survey if they know exactly how and why your institution will use their feedback.
Are you looking for ways to improve a particular course so that incoming students can get more out of it? Be sure to explain your purpose clearly in the messaging surrounding the survey. That way, students will be more likely to see the value and significance in taking the time to share their feedback with you.
To get more eyes on your surveys, you may want to share them on different channels to better target the students you’re hoping to gather information from. Consider posting the survey on relevant social media pages or student portals for higher response rates.
Let students know their opinion matters
By using language like “we want to hear from you” or “your feedback is valuable to us,” you may be able to further encourage students to share their opinions. Make sure your respondents know that you appreciate their time and feedback, and explain to them how and why their response will make a positive difference. Be specific when sharing how the information will be used for the benefit of not only the respondent, but also your institution as a whole. And, show students you respect their time by keeping surveys as succinct as possible.
To take this a step further, you can even provide incentives to encourage students to fill out your forms. Consider sending out gift cards or campus swag, or simply share the results with your respondents to show them how they compare to their fellow students.
Spruce up the design
User-friendly layout and design can have a huge impact on how many quality responses you receive. One of the great advantages of online forms is that you can easily personalize the design to reflect your higher ed institution’s branding or a particular mood.
Experiment with color options, bring in relevant logos and images, choose modern fonts, alter spacing and sections, and so more. By building forms and surveys that are not only useful but are also visually interesting, you’ll be much more likely to increase your response rate.
With these helpful tips, you’ll be well on your way to building forms and surveys that your students actually want to fill out. With clear communication and effective design, you’ll be collecting more quality feedback and information than ever before.
Several higher education institutions like Cornell and Oxford use FormAssembly for their web form and data collection needs. Are you ready to experience the advantages of online surveys and forms within your college or university?
