HEDS Sexual Assault Campus Climate Surveys
HEDS offers three different campus climate surveys on sexual assault and sexual violence–one for undergraduate students, one for advanced degree students, and one for faculty, staff, and administrators. These surveys are designed for and have been used by public and private institutions, from community colleges to research universities. Institutions that administer to multiple populations will receive a discount on the additional surveys.
All three surveys ask respondents about:
- their perceptions of your campus’s climate;
- their perceptions of how your institution responds to sexual assaults; and
- whether they have experienced unwanted sexual contact or sexual assault.
The survey for faculty, staff, and administrators also asks:
- how well they know your institution’s procedures for reporting incidents of sexual violence;
- whether they’ve talked with victims of sexual violence; and
- whether they’ve reported these incidents.
Administering all three surveys will provide a full picture of your campus climate and the extent to which student, faculty, staff, and administrator perceptions align on key issues related to sexual violence. If you have state-specific requirements we will work with you to meet them. If your institution is in the state of New York, we have an existing module you can add at no cost, so that the survey satisfies the requirements of the State of New York Senate Bill S5965.
The surveys usually take less than 15 minutes to complete. Due to the surveys’ sensitive subject matter, responses for all three surveys are anonymous, and the surveys can only be administered to those 18 years of age and older. All three surveys are designed for people who spend a significant amount of time on campus, not for online students or for employees who work remotely.
Survey Updates – New questions
Starting in 2022, we’re collaborating with researchers at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin to examine how state policies, community environment, and institutional environment and policies relate to binge drinking and peer victimization, including racial, sexual, and gender minority victimization on college campuses. As part of that collaboration, we’ve added a small number of questions that support this research to the undergraduate and advanced degree HEDS Sexual Assault Campus Climate Surveys.
Click on the following questions to learn more.
You can administer these surveys for any 3–6 week period between October 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023.
As of October 21, 2022, we ask that you register at least four weeks prior to the date on which you plan to begin administering the survey.
Given the sensitive nature of the data from these surveys, your institution must agree to our secure data handling practices during registration in order to receive a data file. We also encourage you to work with your institutional review board (IRB) to help to assure your campus constituencies that your institution is treating the survey data and findings appropriately.
All participating institutions will receive the following for each version of the survey they administer:
- SPSS and Microsoft Excel files with your participants’ responses (some responses removed or combined with others when needed to prevent participants from being identified). We will review open-ended text responses and remove the names of anyone who identifies themselves or is accused of sexual assault and/or harassment, and send the open-ended text responses in a separate file. We typically send these files 8-10 weeks after your survey closes.
- Compilation of your responses to the open-ended questions at the end of the survey. We aim to send this file a couple of weeks after your data files. We review all of the open-ended responses on your survey to remove the names of anyone who identifies themselves or is accused of discrimination and/or harassment. Given the importance of this review, our timeline can change depending on the number and length of responses.
- A report that compares your institution’s results to those of all other participating institutions on all survey questions and indicators. We typically send this report in June.
YES! Here’s how:
- We insert your institution’s name at the top of each page of the survey and in the text of applicable questions
- You can add supplemental questions at the end of the survey
- You can customize the survey invitations and reminders
The base cost of one survey is $500 for institutions in HEDS and $2,100 for institutions not in HEDS. This includes up to 10 supplemental closed-ended questions. There are some other custom options for additional fees. Institutions that administer to multiple populations will receive a discount on the additional surveys.
To learn more about becoming a HEDS member, please visit our Join HEDS page.
Laura Palucki Blake, Harvey Mudd College
“The results of our HEDS Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey have helped us organize our efforts and focus attention around three major findings: education and outreach, the importance of susceptible situations and the experiences of susceptible populations.”
Contact at HEDS Member Institution
“The HEDS Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey helped our institution tell its story about the sexual assault climate. Moreover, it provided us with a baseline as well as allowed us to compare ourselves with other liberal arts colleges. It helped us dispel certain myths, and helped us identify areas we need to improve on.”
Erika Farfan, Kenyon College
“Kenyon first used the HEDS survey in 2015 to get a basic understanding of our campus climate around sexual misconduct. We hadn’t investigated sexual violence and harassment on our campus to such an extent and were in the midst of a Title IX policy change. We shared the results widely on our campus to help support transparent conversations about out campus culture. Two years later we’re hoping to get some data about the effectiveness of our previous policy changes and further support some of the difficult conversations that our students and employees have been having around sexual violence.”
Ellenor Anderbyrne, Beloit College
“The results of the HEDS Sexual Assault Survey drove the agenda for a senior capstone course that focused on how to improve the campus climate and reduce sexual assaults at Beloit College. The students in the course studied and analyzed the data, researched solutions, and created a prioritized agenda, which the college is now putting into action. For example, based on the recommendations of the capstone students, the college has put into a place a support group for students who have experienced sexual victimization.”
If you have any questions, please email us at SexualAssaultSurvey@hedsconsortium.org, and we will get back to you right away.
Downloads