Frequently Asked Questions

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Yes. The reliability of Viewfinder® Campus Climate Surveys was tested using Cronbach’s alpha — a measure of internal consistency that assesses how closely related a set of items are as a group. Our surveys were vetted by accrediting agencies and universities via beta testing. Items related to the core campus infrastructures were assessed and analyzed using statistical software.

Yes. Unlike other survey companies, Viewfinder® surveys can be translated into nearly 100 languages. Additional fees apply for each translation.

Campus Climate Surveys, LLC makes every attempt to ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of the data collected in the following ways:

• Survey data is collected and maintained on a secure server.

• No person except for employees of Campus Climate Surveys, LLC will have access to the online account where data is collected and stored.

• Collected data is only shared with designated employees from your institution as well as any outside consultants contracted by an institution.

• No identifiers are attached to individual survey responses, therefore, the only way for an individual response to not be anonymous is if someone self-identifies (i.e. may be the only person of color in a specific department).

• Survey participants may choose to answer some or all of the questions included in the survey.

No. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

School officials with legitimate educational interest;
Other schools to which a student is transferring;
Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
Accrediting organizations;
To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Campus Climate Surveys uses SurveyMonkey to administer our campus climate surveys. We know that the security of our clients’ data is our utmost priority. To read more about how we maintain the integrity and security of your data, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/security/.

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) recommends that campus climate surveys be administered every two to three years. Each Viewfinder® survey carries a three-year Survey Use Agreement.

Yes. We have extracted portions of standards from several higher education accrediting organizations to demonstrate how institutions of higher education should examine their infrastructure. This often affects campus climates and achievement of diversity-related accreditation criteria. The information extracted was carefully considered in terms of meeting standards around accountability, resource allocation, and impact on community behaviors and perceptions of campus success. Viewfinder® Campus Climate Surveys capture the essence of these standards through strategic inquiry to students, faculty, staff and administrators. Use of our surveys will help provide a more accurate snapshot of current campus climate conditions, as well as illuminate and link infrastructures to policy and practice underpinnings that improve an institution’s ability to modify its climate.

Each Viewfinder® Campus Climate Survey includes weekly data summary reports. It’s imperative that you ensure that all campus groups are responding to your survey and these reports will identify where any additional outreach might be necessary. We include a final data summary report in PDF format and the raw data in two formats (Excel and SPSS) after the survey closes. Every survey now includes our exclusive custom Dynamic Dashboard at no additional cost.

Yes. SurveyMonkey, Inc., the platform used by Campus Climate Surveys, LLC to administer Viewfinder® Campus Climate Surveys, certifies on their website that their survey designs are Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 compliant.  Most screen readers including NVDA, JAWs and Apple VoiceOver will accommodate people with disabilities.

We have also included the following to accommodate people with disabilities:

• Use an aqua color theme to assist with colorblindness.

• Use a classic survey format with all questions on one page with no automatic scrolling.

• No images appear in our surveys except our logo on the first page.

• There are no required questions so no error messages appear.

• No navigation labels except those set by default (Next, Previous and Submit).

Yes. We use question skip logic throughout each survey.