SERU Project & Consortium - SERU Advantage

Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Project and Consortium

SERU Advantage – Being True to the "DNA" of the Research University Experience

SERU Advantage | SERU Project Summary
SERU Survey Instrument | Response Rates and Psychometric Reports
SERU Informational Webinar | SERU Research Symposium

To begin benefiting from the SERU Survey, contact
Director Steve Chatman (510-643-7141; )
for more information on how to join the SERU AAU Consortium
or how to use SERU data for research purposes.

The Design of the SERU Survey – Structure and Content

The SERU Survey offers a systematic environmental scan of the undergraduate experience and an in-depth analysis of the varied types and levels of undergraduate engagement in research universities.

The SERU Survey employs a modular design in order to include a greater number of items, and to decrease individual response times. It has a set of core questions administered to every respondent—for example, questions on time use, evaluation of a student’s major, and satisfaction—as well as five unique modules of additional questions that are randomly assigned. The survey is organized around five thematic research areas:

Academic Engagement
Civic and Social Engagement
Student Development
Global Skills and Awareness
Wild card for topical questions

A slightly different version of the core is offered to students with a declared major in contrast to undeclared students. Students with a declared major are defined by individual institutions and their survey includes core questions about their experience in their major department. Student responses to the SERU Survey are then matched to institutional data provided by each participating campus.

Click the following links to preview examples of SERU Survey modules:

An Online Census Survey Approach

Under the title of the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), the SERU Survey has been administered at the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses as a sample and pilot survey in 2002, and as an online census survey in 2004, 2006, and 2008. In 2009, the SERU Survey was administered as a census by SERU AAU consortium members (Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, and University of Pittsburgh). All undergraduate spring students enrolled as of the end of the prior term were included in the digitally administered, Internet-based questionnaire, with the large majority of communication occurring by email. On average, completing the survey took approximately 20 minutes with an additional 3-4 minutes for reading the email invitation and consent information and logging in.

Response Rates, Factor Analysis, and Psychometric Reports

Historically, UC and AAU administrations of the SERU Survey have yielded approximately a 40% response rate. In 2003, with a random sample of 2,000 undergraduates per campus, the all-UC response rate was 41.6% (campus response rates range: 31.6% to 54.1%). The response rate for the UC systemwide census survey was 32.1% (campus range: 24.2% to 39.9%) in 2004, 37.9% (campus range: 31.4% to 47.9%) in 2006, and 39.2% in 2008, with four campuses achieving over 40%. The 2009 administration—first year to include non-UC AAU institutions—also resulted in a 40% response rate.

With these results, the SERU response rates meet or exceed the current standards of acceptable response rates for student surveys. NSSE reports that 42% is the average response rate per institution, but the response rate for all students taking the survey is 37%. NSSE includes many small colleges and universities that can achieve a high institutional response rate. However, the average response rate for large public universities is 33%, and the response rate achieved by UC Davis when it participated in NSSE in 2005 was 25%.

The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), which sponsors a number of national surveys, estimated that 20% would be the expected UC response rate to one of their student experience surveys and also reported a 25-30% response for their survey of seniors. Their Freshman Survey (CIRP) achieves a much higher rate (75% or better), but that survey is generally administered to a captive audience of incoming freshmen at orientation. While some sample surveys at large universities have achieved higher response rates than SERU, most published examples of large-scale university student survey response rates are similar to or lower than SERU’s.

A complete examination of response rates for representation and bias is available as a SERU publication “Overview of UCUES Response Rates and Bias Issues” (2007). A more recent analysis of response rate and bias based on data collected from the 2008 UCUES administration also is available.

The following methodological reports and presentation on the SERU Survey also are available: