The Office of Institutional Research, Analysis, and Planning is committed to developing and supporting institutional, programmatic and student assessment in its various forms and spaces at Bates College. Assessment involves systematic collection and evaluation of evidence for the goal of improving outcomes, in particular student learning outcomes. This systematic analysis of what students are learning can help inform pedagogy and curricular design, enhance student learning, inspire improvement as well as providing institutional accountability.

Our office has analytical and pedagogical expertise to work with the wide array of data about the Bates experience. We encourage faculty and staff at Bates to use data, evidence and research to guide their work and welcome collaboration on assessment projects. We can provide resources, expertise, data analysis, collective examination and templates to facilitate existing work as well as engage in new ideas. Our office’s projects and professional development are enhanced by the experiences, expertise, insights and feedback from faculty, staff and administration, so we look forward to connecting with folks across campus.

Examples of our recent assessment work

Academic Assessment

Our office provides a broad range of tools and services to support assessment at the institution level as well as  the department and program level. Here are just a few examples:

• To better understand our general education outcomes, we have conducted surveys with both faculty and students (current and alumni) and administered pre- and post-tests to incoming and graduating students, respectively, in addition to facilitating qualitative student focus groups. The confidential results have been analyzed and reported by our office to various leadership teams and administrators to provide information about student achievement and experiences.
• Our office can provide aggregated annual reports based on our graduating senior data (Senior Survey and Senior Exit Interviews) to all academic departments as well as institutional programs and offices.
• In collaboration with STEM faculty and various grant-funded initiatives (HHMI, NSF, NIH), we have conducted extensive analyses aimed at understanding student success, curricular design, and student research opportunities in the STEM fields.
• We have worked closely with the Dean of Faculty’s Office and numerous academic departments to design and administer assessments of students majoring in these fields and alumni who have majored in these disciplines to inform their work in decadal reviews and institutional Foundational Dialogues.
• Our office provides support and evaluation processes for external grant applications and grant-funded programming.
• In collaboration with Bates leadership and staff, we provide support for internal program assessment for academic, administrative, and other college offices and programs.

Institutional Surveys

Our office administers a series of institutional surveys that span the Bates student experience. For technical guidance at using the institutional survey platform Qualtrics, click here. For more information about each survey as well as instrument and results, click here.

• CIRP Freshman Survey (2013 – 2021)
• YFCY (Your First College Year) Survey (2012 – 2018, alternating years)
• Senior Survey (annually)
• Sophomore Survey (2022 & 2023)
• COACHE Faculty Survey (2017-18 & 2023-24)
• Alumni Survey (2015 & 2020, available by request)

These surveys provide us with a wealth of information about student learning, values and perceptions, satisfaction with academic and social experiences, the impact of their college experience on a variety of outcomes, and their post-graduation plans.

Internal Institutional Data Analysis & Reporting

Our office works closely with the Office of the Registrar and Information & Library Services to provide faculty, staff, departments, and programs with institutional data to support the work of the college. For ad-hoc data analysis and/or reporting, Bates faculty and staff can complete the Data Request Form (click link here). The Data Request Review Committee will review the request and contact you to discuss how to best support your assessment work.