Survey Systems Framework

What are some of the concepts in our survey framework?

Survey Instruments - the forms that people fill in.

Survey Versions - sub-types of a "parent" instrument, often used when surveys are modified as time goes on.

Instances - The use of a Survey Version to survey a specific set of respondents at one specified time interval, is called an Instance.

Each instrument has survey sections, and each section contains questions. Each question has a response scale that is defined for it.

There are, of course, many different types of questions and responses, and survey templates to support reuse and rapid construction.

Responses are generally collected online, though it is also possible to create paper surveys, and scan and import them.

Authorized users are able to see automatically generated reports drawn from up to the minute survey data. They are also able to query the survey database to retrieve customized reports.

Project Highlight: CREP

This is an example of our survey system in action. The Center for Research in Educational Policy at the University of Memphis uses the survey system to collect data from students, teachers and school administrators as they seek to fulfill their mission: "to implement a research agenda associated with policies and practices in preK-12 education and to provide a knowledge base for use by educational practitioners and policymakers." As you can see from the image below, the application contains all the tools necessary to create, administer and review online surveys.