This post is part of a series, describing the assessments used to develop the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL).
Five months after the Summer Research Workshop was complete, we emailed them a link to a Qualtrics survey that took about five minutes to complete, to ask about their workshop experience. The survey was not anonymous. LMU’s IRB reviewed the protocol ahead of sending it to the group.
I wanted to measure the component of Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, emotional arousal (which includes habits and stressors). We also wanted to understand institutional/organizational support/culture that is in place for the Scholars during their IRDL year. To invite further communication about any challenges the Scholars were experiencing post-workshop, the last question in the survey was, “Would you like us to reach out to you to schedule a Zoom check-in with Marie and Kris?”
In the questionnaire we asked the Scholars to rate their general level of agreement on a number of issues related to time and scheduling, space and environmental factors, competing priorities, affect, and social support, to learn how personal habits, stressors, and institutional support may influence the issues. I used a Likert scale of response options: 1, strongly agree, 2 somewhat disagree, 3 somewhat agree, 4 strongly agree. Some example questions from the survey:
- I am able to work four hours or more per week on my IRDL project while I’m “on the clock”
- I’m able to get “in the zone” and concentrate uninterrupted when I’m working on my IRDL project
- I’ve been able to prioritize working on my IRDL project even though there are work tasks competing for my time
- There’s stuff going on in my personal life that is overwhelming the time I need to work on my IRDL project
- My supervisor is supportive of me working on my IRDL project
Linked here is the version of the survey in use from 2022-2024.
My reflection on the use of this tool for assessing the program
The results of the survey helped us better appreciate the environment in which the Scholars were conducting their research projects. We were then better poised to provide options for pivots in research design, extended timelines, or pauses in completion of their projects, to model a positive work-life balance. Our hope for the Scholars was that they would be able to insert conducting research into their regular lives and having examples of what the challenges they were experiencing helped us center that in the model we developed.
The cost of this assessment tool
Because LMU has an institutional subscription to Qualtrics, no grant funds needed to be used for the assessment.
Earlier posts in this series:
Introduction post, Confidence scale, Research networks of the Scholars, External review, Post-workshop survey, Pre-/post-workshop research proposal evaluation
