Climate Survey

Climate is often shaped by our personal experiences, perceptions and institutional efforts. Climate is the current attitudes, behaviors, standards and practices of employees and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential.

Respect, as a core UMass Lowell value, encompasses not only group and individual experiences, it is also the quality and extent of the interactions. Our collective efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are not complete until we also “advance a climate whereby equity, transparency, fairness, safety and inclusion are valued so that all of its members, faculty, staff and students, can fully engage and thrive.” 

Positive personal experiences along with positive perceptions of campus climate generally equate to successful outcomes. Impact to Campus Community: 

• Numerous studies have concluded that how students experience their campus environment influences both learning and developmental outcomes, and that discriminatory environments have a negative effect on student learning. Research supports the value of a diverse student body and workforce on enhancing learning outcomes. Quite simply, students thrive in healthy environments, free of the negativity of discrimination, where inclusion and respect for diversity is the daily norm. 
• Faculty, staff and administrators are significantly impacted by campus climate. Workplace studies highlight the personal and professional development of professionals is greatly enhanced through a healthy working environment. Research also indicates that there is a direct relationship between workplace discrimination and negative job and career attitudes. In addition, faculty and staff who have encountered prejudice directly attribute its negative effects to decreased health and well-being. Creating a healthy campus climate is as important for faculty and staff as it is for students. 

Collective action to strengthen and improve campus climate and across individual departments requires us to first identify areas for improvement. Survey data will be useful in planning for the future, informing campus strategies towards improving the climate at UMass Lowell.   

In 2022, the CSJI recommended a university-wide climate survey initiative to inform efforts to cultivate an inclusive campus climate. A climate survey was also identified as a priority for by a number of committees (e.g. Sexual Harassment Task Force, Students of Color and International Students, and Global Engagement and Inclusive Community) to confront bias and racism at the individual and institutional levels and transform institutional policies and practices.

The Council of Social Justice & Inclusion (CSJI) is charged with conducting the campus climate survey this Fall 2022. After a review of potential vendors, the Council selected Insight ViewFinder to conduct the survey.  While CSJI will regularly update the campus about its progress, ViewFinder will be the sole administrator of the instrument and provide the benchmarking report. UMass Lowell students, faculty, staff and administrators will all receive an individual link to complete the survey to allow participants to come back to the survey if they do not finish in one sitting. Paper copies will be made available in designated campus locations or upon request.

Through 2020-2021, the Climate Survey Subcommittee under CSJI identified best practices after reviewing numerous efforts by other universities who conducted comprehensive climate studies. One was the need for external expertise in survey administration, particularly relating very sensitive subject like campus climate, is likely to yield higher response rates and provide more credible findings if led by an independent, outside agency. Members of our campus community may feel inhibited to respond authentically/honestly to a survey administered by our own institution for fear of retaliation.

Ensuring confidentiality is our utmost priority because it is vital to success of campus climate research particularly, as sensitive topics are discussed. The survey will ask demographic questions, but NO names or IDs are asked. Viewfinder will take multiple precautionary measures to enhance individual confidentiality and the de-identification of data. Data resulting from the assessment that will be shared as part of campus awareness and presentations will not have/share any identifiable information. From the vendor:  

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

Confidentiality in participating will be maintained to the highest degree permitted by the technology used (e.g., IP addresses will be stripped when the survey is submitted). No guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the Internet by any third parties; however, to avoid interception of data, the survey is run on a firewalled web server with forced 256-bit SSL security. In addition, Viewfinder and UML will not report any group data for groups of fewer than five individuals, because those “small cell sizes” may be small enough to compromise confidentiality. Instead, Viewfinder and UML will combine the groups or take other measures to eliminate any potential for demographic information to be identifiable. Any identifiable information submitted in qualitative/write-in comments will be redacted. 

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary. Paper and pencil surveys are available in designated locations during the designated Climate Survey dates and times. If a different accommodation is needed, please contact Equity & Inclusion or Equal Opportunity & Outreach Offices.

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. 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.

Our Chancellor and senior leaders are committed to use the data to plan for an improved climate at UML.  Data will inform and support the development of future DEIB strategies associated with the Pillars of Inclusive Excellence as well as the broader campus strategic plan.

Yes.  SurveyMonkey, Inc., the platform used 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. The following are also included to support greater ease in access: 

• 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) 

Spanish and English versions of the survey are offered. Participants can choose which version to take at the very beginning of the survey. Proctors will be available to support participants at any time during or throughout the entire survey. Locations, dates and times will be posted and shared across campus.

This initiative will include several phases: 

• Selection of vendor and survey development 
• Campus readiness plan including marketing/communication plan 
• Survey implementation that will seek input from all students, faculty, and staff (November-December) 
• Planning and conducting of focus groups and data analysis (Spring 2023) 
• Draft reports and campus sharing/reporting of results  
• Facilitating development of process for development of strategic actions (Fall 2023+) 

Viewfinder^® is a campus climate survey instrument that measures the extent to which diversity and inclusion play an integral role within the infrastructure of your college campus. The surveys extract why your campus may or may not be welcoming to people from diverse populations; why your institutional policies and processes assist or resist the needs of students, administrators, faculty and staff; and why admissions and hiring practices that are in place either ensure diversity among students and employees or don’t. Viewfinder^® innovatively helps identify structural glitches and more by utilizing inquiry aligned with criteria and standards found in higher education accreditation agencies. By providing information and data about what causes student and employee perceptions, Viewfinder^® surveys deliver like no other research instrument.

Yes. The reliability of Viewfinder^® 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. Their 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. Viewfinder^® Campus Climate Surveys are also designed to be internally consistent, which refers to the degree different questions or statements correlate to the same systemic behavior/trait (Mora, 2011).

Yes. ViewFinder 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^® Climate Surveys capture the essence of these standards through strategic inquiry to students, faculty, staff and administrators. Use of 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 warm its climate from its present state.