A set of quality of student life indicators, the Cycles Survey, is described. It was developed
to provide a low cost, quality institutional research program capable of longitudinal re
search, continuous broad bandwidth monitoring, and data comparisons with other insti
tutions. The development of the 50 questions and the form and format of the survey is pre
sented. Test-retest reliabilities of the questions of the survey were found to be good. The
Cycles instrument is multidimensional without dominant evaluative, halo, or response-
effect factors. Some uses of Cycles data are presented. It is suggested that Cycles surveys
will be useful at other colleges and universities, as well as to business, government, and
health institutions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Statistical Association (1973) "Report on the ASA conference on surveys of human populations." Washington, DC: ASA.
2.
Astin, A.W. (1971) "Evaluative research and the new colleges," in P.L. Dressel (ed.) The New Colleges: Toward an Appraisal. Iowa City, IA: American College Testing Program.
3.
Birney, R.C., R. Grose, and H. Coplin (1960) "The class of '59 at Amherst College." Amherst, MA: Amherst College.
4.
Bonjean, C.M., R.J. Hill, and S.D. McLemore (1967) Sociological Measurement : An Inventory of Scales and Indices. San Francisco: Chandler .
5.
Buros, E. K. [ed.] (1965) Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland Park, N.J.: Gryphon Press.
6.
Campbell, D.T. (1967) "Administrative experimentation, institutional records, and nonreactive measures," pp. 257-291 in J. C. Stanley (ed.) Improving Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis. Chicago: Rand McNally .
7.
_______ and J.C. Stanley (1963) Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand McNally.
8.
Hurt, M., Jr. and T. W. Hertz [eds.] (1975) "Proceedings of the second conference on comparability in research, May 1975." Washington, DC : Social Research Group, George Washington, University .
9.
Kegan, D.L. (1974a) "The disgruntled respondent in questionnaire surveys: analysis of an ifi study in a nontraditional college." Amherst, MA: Hampshire College, Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation, Report No. RO1.
10.
_______ (1974b) "The fortnightly cycles surveys: spring 1974." Amherst, MA: Hampshire College, Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation, Report No. W21.
11.
_______ with L. Benedict, and R. Grose (1975) "Developing and using quality of student life indicators: the cycles surveys at Hampshire College, Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts, April 1975." Coping in the 70's: Papers from the Second Annual Meeting of the North East Association for Institutional Research.
12.
Miller, D.C. (1964) Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement . New York: David McKay.
13.
Nie, N.H., C.H. Hull, J.G. Jenkins, K. Steinbrenner, and D.H. Bent (1975) SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences . New York: McGraw-Hill.
14.
PACE, C. R. and Associates (1975) " Higher education measurement and evaluation kit." Los Angeles : Laboratory for Research on Higher Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education.
15.
Patterson, F. and C.R. Longsworth (1966) The Making of a College . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
16.
Robinson, J.P. and P.R. Shaver (1969) Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research .
17.
Shaw, M.E. and J.M. Wright (1967) Scales for the Measurement of Attitudes, New York: McGraw-Hill.
18.
Sudman, S. and N. Bradburn (1974) Response Effects in Surveys. Chicago: Aldine.
19.
Taylor, J.C. and D.G. Bowers (1972) Survey of Organization: A Machine-Scored Standardized Questionnaire Instrument. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
20.
Toole, P.J. and V.R. Hoffner (1974) "Coordinating data-collection systems for higher education." J. of Higher Education45, 8 (November): 607-617.
21.
Villano, M.W., E.H. Rosenstock, and C. Estes (1974) "A decade with a student course evaluation form at a major university." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
