Survey Context and Background
In November 2021, all UMass Amherst students and employees were invited to participate in a Campus Climate Survey (CCS) to help the university better understand the challenges of creating a respectful and inclusive campus environment. The confidential online survey was developed in-house and achieved robust response rates for three of the four target populations: undergraduates (42%), graduate students (39%), and faculty (49%)*. For each of these groups, demographic characteristics of survey participants closely match those of the corresponding target population, suggesting that a high level of demographic representativeness was achieved.
Why we conduct this survey
At UMass Amherst, diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to our mission, our values, and our success. We conduct the Campus Climate Survey every several years to assess whether our values are reflected in the daily experience of students, faculty, staff, and visitors in order to better understand the challenges of creating an environment that is respectful and inclusive for all. The survey data collected will guide our process for diversity strategic planning in specific and tangible ways, including campus policies, priorities, and distribution of resources.
*NOTE regarding survey context and background: It is important to note that participation among Service/Maintenance (SM) and Skilled Crafts (SC) staff members was very low—10 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Because SM and SC staff constitute more than one-third of all staff at the university, their low participation rates negatively impacted the demographic representativeness of the staff survey results. The CCS research team determined that representation of SM and SC staff in the data set was so inadequate that it compromised the accuracy of staff results for the university overall, as well as for A&F, the executive area in which most SM and SC staff members work. The research team therefore made the difficult decision to exclude A&F staff data from all quantitative reports on the staff results. Because survey participation rates for staff in nearly all of the university’s other nine executive areas were quite robust (e.g., 53% for Academic Affairs and SACL, 48% for Research and Engagement), the staff data for these areas are demographically representative and worthy of sharing. To learn more about the methods and procedures used to conduct the CCS, and obstacles to enlisting participation among SM and SC staff, please consult CCS 2021 Background and Methods.