Great College Survey Essay
I agree with everyone else saying that we need an “ongoing systematic collection and analysis of meaningful, assessable, and verifiable data”, and I think Daniel, and others have a solid job with the Climate survey for the past 10 years or more.
To my understanding, the main reason that Great Colleges survey is not readily available is because we had the climate survey. Simply put, there is no reason for two different surveys.
To my understanding, the argument should not be towards administering or sharing the survey (we all agree on that) but rather on which survey of the two will provide us with “meaningful, assessable and verifiable data ”
I have taught Statistics here at the college since fall of 2011, I have been with the Data Team for about as long, and I have taken two courses via Achieving the Dream on designing IR research (and did very well in both). Also I have taken stats courses in my previous life, when I was a college student both in the States and in Greece. And I have seen both surveys, and my professional opinion on the matter is that the Great Colleges survey is the better survey. It is designed by statisticians that have forgotten more statistics than we will ever learn, the questions are specific, and do not skew responses in one direction or another. They are clear, unambiguous and unbiased. Also it allows us to compare ourselves with other colleges nationwide. …show more content…
Or in other words, suppose you weigh yourself every morning, then over time you can tell whether you are gaining or losing weight but not whether you are too underweight or overweight. Only if you compare yourself to other people you can tell if you need to eat more or less. As a sociologist would argue, we need to put things into
To my understanding, the main reason that Great Colleges survey is not readily available is because we had the climate survey. Simply put, there is no reason for two different surveys.
To my understanding, the argument should not be towards administering or sharing the survey (we all agree on that) but rather on which survey of the two will provide us with “meaningful, assessable and verifiable data ”
I have taught Statistics here at the college since fall of 2011, I have been with the Data Team for about as long, and I have taken two courses via Achieving the Dream on designing IR research (and did very well in both). Also I have taken stats courses in my previous life, when I was a college student both in the States and in Greece. And I have seen both surveys, and my professional opinion on the matter is that the Great Colleges survey is the better survey. It is designed by statisticians that have forgotten more statistics than we will ever learn, the questions are specific, and do not skew responses in one direction or another. They are clear, unambiguous and unbiased. Also it allows us to compare ourselves with other colleges nationwide. …show more content…
Or in other words, suppose you weigh yourself every morning, then over time you can tell whether you are gaining or losing weight but not whether you are too underweight or overweight. Only if you compare yourself to other people you can tell if you need to eat more or less. As a sociologist would argue, we need to put things into