Diversity Activity Surveys

LAESE - Longitudinal Assessment of Engineering Self-Efficacy
Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Surveys
Undergraduate Engineering Mentee Surveys
Undergraduate PDQ Surveys

An online SurveyMonkey version of the surveys is available for export. To find out more contact AWE.

Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Surveys

Description | What do the instruments measure? | Sample Survey Items | Can the instruments be modified? | When is it best to administer the surveys? | IRB approval | Using the Results | Download the Instruments

Downloads: *Revised* Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Pre-Participation Survey | *Revised* Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Post-Participation Survey| Instrument Instructions

Description

The Undergraduate Engineering Mentor instruments are used to measure the impact of peer mentoring (or similar peer support activities) on the undergraduate women students who serve as the mentors during peer mentoring.

There are two versions of this instrument:

• The Undergraduate Pre Mentor instrument is to be administered before mentors begin to participate in the mentoring program in order to collect baseline data on mentors/leaders.
• The Undergraduate Post Mentor instrument is to be administered to mentors after or towards the end of participating in the mentoring program in order to collect data on the impact of the program on mentors/leaders.

Recommends: Use both the pre and post mentor surveys in order to see how participant responses change from one time to the next. Although you cannot directly attribute these changes to the mentoring program, these changes do provide some evidence of the programs effect.

To measure the impact on the recipients of mentoring – the mentees -- refer to the Undergraduate Engineering Mentee Instruments.

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What do the instruments measure?

These instruments ask students to report on the impact of student mentoring roles on their abilities including:

• Ability to lead other students
• Ability to communicate effectively
• Ability to solve problems that arise during mentoring activities
• Ability to provide direction and offer productive suggestions

The Mentor Post Survey also collects “formative” data designed specifically to determine the extent that the respondent participated in the activity and her overall satisfaction with the program. Formative items on the Mentor surveys in particular address:

• Adequacy of support received to accomplish her responsibilities
• Adequacy of training received
• Satisfaction with supervision
• Respondent's suggestions for improving the activity

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Sample Survey Items

The Mentor instruments contain both formative items and items designed to measure the effectiveness of the activity in reaching its objectives. The following are formative items – that is, they are designed to collect data that can help improve your mentoring activity.

The following is a sample item that is designed to measure objectives for the mentor participants in mentoring activities – solving problems that arise during mentoring, and ensuring maximum mentee participation and motivation. These types of items are included on both the pre and post versions of the instrument. Items are present in both instrument versions so that we may determine the change in student responses from the beginning of the activity (pre survey) to the end (post survey).

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Can the instruments be modified?

The survey questions have been tested and validated, thus they are not changeable in the downloadable documents. If you do change them, they are no longer validated, nor are they valid for national comparative data. However, in order to meet your specific objectives, you may add additional questions to the survey such as institutional information and specific, activity-related questions.

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When is it best to administer the surveys?

Administer both the pre- and post- participation surveys to assess the impact of your activity.

• Administer the Mentor Pre survey before the mentoring program activities begin.
  [tiny logo]AWE Recommends: Administer the Mentor Pre instrument on site (rather than via mail), as you will get a better survey return rate in this manner. Be sure to allow time in your schedule for completing the survey.

• Administer the Mentor Post survey at the conclusion of mentoring activities.

Use the following table of estimated completion times to help plan your data collection.

Whenever you use any AWE instruments, you are responsible for the well-being and the privacy of all respondents. Therefore ...

Recommends:
Before collecting any data using AWE instruments, we strongly suggest you obtain IRB approval.

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Does this instrument require me to get Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval?

Contact the IRB at your institution - they must answer this question for you. As with all AWE instruments, a complete review and approval from your institution’s Institutional Review Board may be required prior to implementation of this survey. A good rule of thumb is that if you any data that will be reported outside your organization, you need IRB approval.

IRB requires that when you administer surveys, you must educate participants about possible risks and benefits involved in taking surveys, obtain their consent before involving them in your research and keep them informed about how data will be used. This is called the "informed consent process."

Visit The Institutional Review Board (IRB) Process page for more information about the informed consent process and to see examples of informed consent documents.

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Using the Results

The instruments contain both "formative" items - that is items designed to help you improve this activity, and "summative" items that are designed to ascertain if the activity is meeting its intended objectives. Using both types of items, you may use the survey results in the following ways.

• Activity improvement:
  • Examine results of items that address participant satisfaction and suggestions to help redesign the activity for maximum impact.
  • Compare the results of the pre and post surveys to see whether the activity is meeting its intended objectives and adjust activity based on the degree to which the activity is meeting these objectives
• Make evaluation decisions
  
  • Conduct a cost benefit analysis - that is, examine the effectiveness of this activity in meeting its objectives relative to its cost. Is the cost worth the results you are getting?
  • Compare this activity in terms of its effectiveness to others your program offers. What is the best way to invest limited resources? Adjust resources towards activities that are meeting their intended objectives and supporting your overall program mission.
• Report to your stakeholders
  • Use instrument results as authoritative sources of evidence for funding support and other administrative reporting.

Recommends:
Use your mentor survey results in conjunction with other AWE tools to gain a more complete understanding of impact!

The AWE Mentor surveys measures participants’ reports of the impact of the activity and collects formative data on quality of the activity organization and implementation--both of which help you to further develop the activity. You can get even more benefit from your survey results if you use them in conjunction with results from other AWE instruments and tools: LAESE, Students Leaving Engineering, and Students Persisting in Engineering.

Use ADAPT– which allows you to track student participation in all of your activities – with your mentor survey results to determine whether students continue to participate in the activity and/or whether students who do continue to participate are recruited or retained at a rate higher than those who don't.

Use the mentor survey results in combination with the self-efficacy results you obtain from the AWE LAESE instrument. Looking at the two sets of results together can help to measure whether continued participation impacts engineering self efficacy.

Lastly, compare the mentor data with profiles of "switchers" from the Students Leaving Engineering Survey can tell you what percentage of switchers did or did not participate in the activity. Taken together, all of these assessment measures provide a powerful set of tools for evaluation of the activity.

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Download the Instruments

• Download Instrument Instructions
• Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Pre-Participation Survey
• Undergraduate Engineering Mentor Post-Participation Survey