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UNT University of North Texas

Resources

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PASD Resources is devoted to sharing sample instruments, common knowledge items and best practices within the UNT assessment community. It is our hope staff within the Division of Student Development turn to this area to improve their understanding and effective use of assessment tools.

Please note that this site will be continually enhanced with additional resources as they become available. If you discover an additional resource which you believe would be helpful to post here please email pasd@unt.edu with a sample of the resource and a short description of the tool and/or document.

UNT Peer Institutions

In benchmarking it is common practice to use a list of institutions of similar background, population and makeup. This list of institutions is helpful to UNT for over-arching comparisons. For specific departments within the Division of Student Development, additional institutions sharing closer comparable data may be included in benchmarking. It is the responsibility of the Director of each department to accurately determine specific instances when additional peer institutions should be considered. For a list of UNT Peer Institutions, please click here.

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Internal Resources

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External Resources

(see External Resources)

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Presentations

The following presentations are included here as a resource to enable the promotion and adaption of assessment related reports. If you intend to use any of the following presentations for official business, please email pasd@unt.edu so that we may track and collect information on usage and relevance.

Furthermore, if you intend to use specific slides from these presentations as part of a larger or new presentation please be sure to specifically quote the source of the presentation, the author and include the following phrase in the references section of your new presentation "Used with permission from the Division of Student Development Planning and Assessment Department."

Finally, to expand the resources under this section please send a final electronic copy of your new presentation to pasd@unt.edu so that we may include it within out library. Users understand that by sending a copy of the presentation they agree to allow others the right to utilize and disseminate this information.

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Research Tips

Quantitative and Qualitative research methodology consists of a long and diverse history. Numerous pitfalls, hurdles and researcher-based opportunities for error exist. It is our hope that this section will provide users with the tools and analysis to make better informed strategic decisions regarding their assessment projects at UNT. Whenever possible we have culled the best resources from diverse sources to aid you in your work. Our ultimate goal for the quality and integrity of our assessment activities at UNT is to be first class, we believe this section is an important tool in this success.

Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research

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Sample Surveys

National Survey Instruments

When discussing the results and outcomes of national survey instruments it is very helpful to be able to observe the original instrument. This section contains the latest samples of the surveys utilized by UNT students as part of our larger assessment strategies. Please remember these instruments are copyright protected and we are unable to edit, adapt or utilize them for other purposes beyond their original design.

UNT Survey Instruments

Secondly, starting from scratch on a new instrument is very time consuming. Therefore, the staff within the Planning and Assessment Department includes a list of internal studies below. It is an expectation that all instruments originating from a Division of Student Development Unit follow similar design standards, question formulations and scales. Please use these instruments below to build your new survey. The Planning and Assessment staff is open and willing to work with all members of the Division to design surveys. Please be sure to build time into your assessment calendar to enable this critical step to take place.

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Resources for Establishing Learning Outcomes

The following resources may be useful in guiding the establishment of student learning outcomes for services and programs offered through the Division of Student Development. If you discover or create additional learning outcomes tools which you believe would be helpful to post here please email pasd@unt.edu with a copy of the resource and a brief description.

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Institutional Review Board

Many of the studies undertaken by Student Development staff may offer professional development opportunities including journal publication, conference presentation and data for theses or dissertations. Please be advised that any research, including surveys and focus groups, conducted on human subjects that will to be published, presented external to UNT, or used in theses must be approved by the Institutional Review Board and require documentation of voluntary consent by participants. In addition, all researchers conducting studies involving human subjects must be certified through the free online NIH tutorial. More information about IRB, relevant forms, and NIH human subjects training can be found at the following links:

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Bibliographical References & Literature

The links below contain bibliographical sources, databases and reports that may be useful for literary reference or collecting data.

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Sample Size Calculators

These are free online sample size calculators to determine the sample size required to obtain statistically significant results when conducting quantitative survey research. The calculator websites listed below should all generate the same results, but have slightly different user interfaces, so select the one you prefer. In order to calculate your sample size, you must have a sense of your population size, confidence level and confidence interval. Alternatively, if you know your sample and population sizes, you can determine the confidence interval. Most survey researchers use a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 5%.

Click here for definitions of population, sample size, confidence interval and confidence level. Several of the sample size calculator sites also have definitions of these terms listed.

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Annual Reports

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