Frequently Asked Questions

The Belonging & Culture Survey is a campus climate survey. Campus climate is defined as “the current attitudes and behaviors of faculty, staff, administrators, and students, as well as institutional policies and procedures, which influence the level of respect for individual needs, abilities, and potential.” Sense of belonging and culture are two important components of campus climate.

As we continue to fulfill our commitments to two of the 2030 Strategic Plan pillars—“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and “Community, Big Yet Small”—the Belonging & Culture Survey will allow us to assess student, staff, and faculty sense of belonging and culture at the University and to identify successes and opportunities for improvement. Survey data will provide insights and information that will guide the University in developing and adapting programs, services, and policies to better serve the BU community.

Research maintains that a strong sense of belonging and positive perceptions of culture generally result in successful outcomes, such as more positive educational experiences and healthy identity development for students; productivity and a sense of value for faculty and staff; and increased well-being for the entire community.

We recognize that we have surveyed students, staff, and faculty in a number of different ways over the years, and each one of those surveys has provided us with meaningful, actionable feedback that we continue to address. This survey, BU’s first-ever University-wide assessment, will be the start of an ongoing process to be repeated every three years, aimed at making positive, lasting changes and helping create a more inclusive BU. These goals are in line with our commitments to two of the 2030 Strategic Plan pillars—“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and “Community, Big Yet Small”—and will allow us to assess attitudes toward the University and identify successes and opportunities for growth. Survey data will better enable us to develop programs and policies that will increase a sense of belonging for all at BU.

The survey will be administered to the entire BU community. Climate exists in microclimates, so creating opportunities to maximize participation, as well as maximizing opportunities to reach minority populations, is important. Along these lines, the consultant has recommended not using random sampling, as we may miss populations where numbers are very small (e.g., Native American students). Since one goal of the project is inclusiveness and allowing traditionally silenced/minimized/excluded voices to be heard, we will not be using this sampling technique. In addition, we will not be using randomized stratified sampling because we do not have population data on many identities. For example, BU collects population data on gender identity and racial identity but not on disability status or sexual identity. A sample approach could miss many groups.

Rankin Climate developed a repository of tested questions from administering climate assessments at more than 250 institutions across the nation. To create the survey, BU’s Belonging & Culture Survey Working Group uses this tested collection, along with BU-specific questions informed by focus group results.

It is important in culture climate research for survey participants to see themselves in response choices to prevent “othering” an individual or an individual’s characteristics. Some researchers maintain that assigning someone to the status of “other” is a form of marginalization and should be minimized, particularly in culture climate research, which has an intended purpose of inclusiveness. Along these lines, survey respondents will see a long list of possible choices for many demographic questions. It is reasonably impossible to include every possible choice to every question, but the goal is to reduce the number of respondents who must choose “other.”

The target participation in the survey is all BU students, faculty, and staff. Every response matters and is valuable in providing the most beneficial feedback and results.

Although the committee believes the survey process itself will be informative, we have sought and received commitment from senior leadership that data will be used to plan for an improved culture at Boston University.

The consultant will provide a final report that will include: an executive summary; a report narrative of the findings based on cross tabulations selected by the consultant; frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations of quantitative data; and content analysis of the textual data. The reports provide high-level summaries of the findings and will identify themes found in the data. Generalizations for populations are limited to those groups or subgroups with response rates of at least 30%. The committee will review draft reports and provide feedback to the consultant prior to public release.

This initiative will include five primary phases. The first will involve focus groups (fall 2022). The second includes developing the survey (fall 2022/spring 2023). The survey, which will seek input from all BU students, faculty, and staff, is administered during phase three (spring 2023). Rankin Climate will analyze the data and report the results to the BU community in the fourth phase. The final phase involves development of strategic initiatives/actions and an accountability road map based on the findings (fall 2023). Please see the Timeline section of this website for a full timeline of the planning and launch of the Belonging & Culture Survey.

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary. Additionally, participants do not have to answer every question and can skip any questions they consider to be uncomfortable.

Confidentiality is vital to the success of culture and climate research, particularly as sensitive and personal topics are discussed. While the survey cannot guarantee complete confidentiality because of the nature of multiple demographic questions, the consultant will take multiple precautionary measures to enhance individual confidentiality and the de-identification of data. No data already protected through regulation or policy (e.g., Social Security number, University identification number, medical information) is obtained through the survey. In the event of any publication or presentation resulting from the assessment, no personally identifiable information will be shared.

Confidentiality in participating will be maintained to the highest degree permitted by the technology used (e.g., IP addresses will be stripped when the survey is submitted). No guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the internet by any third parties; however, to avoid interception of data, the survey is run on a firewalled web server with forced 256-bit SSL security.

In addition, the consultant and University will not report any group data for groups of fewer than five individuals, because those “small cell sizes” may be small enough to compromise confidentiality. Instead, the consultant and the University will combine the groups or take other measures to eliminate any potential for demographic information to be identifiable. Any comments submitted in response to the survey will be separated at the time of submission to the consultant, so they are not attributed to any individual demographic characteristics. Identifiable information submitted in qualitative comments will be redacted and the University will only receive these redacted comments.

Information in the introductory section of the survey will describe the manner in which confidentiality will be guaranteed, and additional communication to participants will provide expanded information on the nature of confidentiality, possible threats to confidentiality, and procedures developed to ensure de-identification of data.

Rankin Climate uses a research data security description and protocol, which includes specific information on data encryption, the handling of personally identifiable information, physical security, and a protocol for handling unlikely breaches of data security. The data from online participants will be submitted to a secure server hosted by the consultant. The SaaS hosting platforms are SOC2. The firewall is via Next-Gen Fortigate Firewall. Data is stored in a SQL database which can only be accessed by VPN via authorized personnel only. Our encryption for communication is via HTTPS TLS 1.2. Rankin Climate associates working on the BU project will have access to the raw data. All Rankin Climate analysts have CITI (Human Subjects) training and approval and have worked on similar projects for other institutions. The server performs an hourly and daily backup and stores the backup on a separate context off-site for safety.

Rankin Climate has conducted more than 250 institutional surveys and maintains an aggregate merged database. The data from the Boston University Belonging & Culture Survey will be merged with all other existing climate data stored indefinitely on the consultant’s secure server. No institutional identifiers are included in the full merged data set held by the consultant. The raw unit-level data with institutional identifiers is kept on the server for six months and then destroyed. Rankin will immediately notify the committee co-chairs of any breach or suspected breach of data security of the consultant’s server.

The consultant will provide the primary investigator with a data file at the completion of the project.

The Belonging & Culture Survey Working Group, with the help and guidance of Rankin Climate, is responsible for creating and administering the survey.

BU’s Belonging & Culture Survey Working Group is the committee charged with conducting the Belonging & Culture Survey, with the help and guidance of Rankin Climate. The committee assists in contextualizing the survey for BU (and capitalizing on the many assessment efforts already undertaken), including developing the survey questions. The working group is responsible for the development, implementation, and interpretation of the survey and its results and will regularly update the BU community about its progress.

Please reach out to the Belonging & Culture Survey Working Group by emailing belong@bu.edu.

Rankin Climate is an outside consultant that reports directly to the Belonging & Culture Survey Working Group. Rankin has previously conducted institutional climate studies at more than 250 institutions across the country. Dr. Susan Rankin, Dr. Emil Cunningham, and Dr. Daniel Merson from Rankin Climate, and Sean Rossall from RW Jones Agency, will be the Rankin Climate associates working directly with BU on this project.

In reviewing efforts by other universities to conduct comprehensive culture climate studies, several best practices were identified. One was the need for external expertise in survey administration. The administration of a survey relating to a very sensitive subject like culture climate is likely to yield higher response rates and provide more credible findings if led by an independent, outside agency. Members of a college community may feel particularly inhibited to respond honestly to a survey administered by their own institution for fear of retaliation.

Rankin has conducted multilocation institutional climate studies at more than 250 institutions across the country. They use a five-phase strategic model of assessment, planning, and intervention aimed at helping institutions better understand the challenges facing their communities.

An Institutional Review Board (IRB) application will be submitted for the project. Once the project is approved, the survey will be administered. Submitting the survey to the University’s IRB provides confidentiality and protection for potential participants and principal investigators (PIs) analyzing and managing the data, as well as expectations that the survey will be held to research standards. The primary investigator for the BU IRB process is Dr. Linette Decarie, assistant vice president of BU’s Analytical Services & Institutional Research.