Pandemic Response Project
Prior to the Fall 2021 semester, we collaborated with a University of Minnesota leadership workgroup to administer a qualitative, system wide survey to U of M faculty, staff, students, and parents. The survey gathered information regarding the U of M's response to the COVID-19 pandemic—which practices, policies, or services should be continued or discontinued as well as innovations made by individuals, departments, colleges, etc.
The survey was administered over the course of two weeks in April 2021. A total of 75,501 individuals were invited to participate; 937 faculty, 4,872 staff, and 3,119 students responded resulting in a 12% response rate.
Over the following months, we used NVIVO and an inductive analysis approach to code more than 20,000 comments from the survey. The codes were organized into the following broad categories:
- Administration
- Campus facilities
- Collegiate life
- Health and safety
- Instruction
- IT
- Pandemic special programs
- Work-life fit
Results from the survey provided new insights and support for innovative policies regarding course instruction modality and resources, a hybrid work environment, campus services, and much more. The results were shared with Executive Vice President and Provost, Rachel Croson, who presented the findings to the Board of Regents during their October meeting.
The graphic below shows the topics that were mentioned most frequently by faculty, staff, and students. The topics are color coded so you can compare how the frequency of mentions vary by audience. The larger the circle the more frequently the topic was mentioned.
