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Procedures for Collecting, Storing, and
Reporting SRI Data

SRI Program | SRI Reports to Academics | SRI Reports to Students
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Please refer to the Senate Policy and Procedures for Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) approved on June 13, 2011 for more comprehensive information about the University policy on SRI.

1. Schools and Departments designate a liaison person (usually a support staff member) who receives a preliminary list of the courses/professors to be rated and sends any corrections to Bruno Roy, SRI Program Administrator, Centre for Learning and Teaching. This stage occurs shortly after the last add/drop date in each semester.

2. CLT prepares an SRI package for each class containing questionnaires and delivers these to the department. There are two different questionnaires in each SRI package: one for collecting quantitative data (a scannable "bubble" form) and another for collecting qualitative data (written comments form). To faciliate form processing, each SRI package will contain two envelopes: one with the bubble forms and the other with comment sheets. Each envelope contains sufficient questionnaires (a set of bubble sheets in one envelope and a set of comment sheets in another envelope) for each registered student.

3. In cases where a class is taught by two professors, there will be an SRI package for each professor, and each professor will be rated separately. If the two professors teach different portions of the class, the SRI should be administered at the end of the relevant portion of the class. Please contact the SRI office to make these special arrangements.

4. There are strict requirements regarding the processing and distribution of students' written comments and a distinction is made between signed and unsigned comments.

  1. Unsigned comments are seen by the professor ONLY, are not used by others for any purpose in performance evaluation and are not available to academic administrators.
  2. Signed comments may be used for performance evaluation but in no case should students identities be revealed to the instructor.

5. Decisions about Students' Written Comments:
Typed versus not typed. To allay students' fears that an instructor may recognize their handwriting, some departments opt to type the comments. The department, not CLT, does this work. Different forms are provided by CLT for typed or untyped comments.

  • If unsigned comments are typed, comments are marked "unsigned" and provided to the instructor ONLY. The originals should be shredded. Untyped originals of unsigned comments may be given to the instructor if the students are advised this will happen.
  • If signed comments are typed, students' signatures are deleted and comments are marked "signed." Original forms with signatures are kept in a secure file (e.g., personal file) where students' identities will remain confidential from the instructor.
  • If signed comments are untyped, photocopies of the originals, with student names masked, may be given to the instructor. Original forms with signatures are kept in a secure file (e.g., personal file) where students' identities will remain confidential from the instructor.
6. Department versus CLT comment forms. Departmentally designed forms for students’ comments must provide clear direction to students about:
  1. The purpose for which the comments will be used.
  2. Who will have access to them.
  3. When the instructor will receive the comments (that is, not until after the final grades for the course have been submitted).
  4. How student identities will be kept confidential from the instructor.
7. The questionnaires are administered any time during the 11th and 12th weeks of the semester; precise timing is up to the instructor. Professors pick up their envelopes from departmental staff, take the envelope to the class, read the instructions to the class, appoint a student volunteer to oversee the process, and leave the room. The instructor is not permitted to be present when the data are being collected. If the department prefers, a designated administrative staff or student volunteers may oversee this process.

8. The designated administrative staff or student volunteers distribute the questionnaires, collect and count the completed questionnaires, and put all completed and unused questionnaires back into the two envelopes. To facilitate form processing, the bubble form must be placed in one envelope and the comment sheets must be placed in the second envelope. The envelopes are sealed, signed across the flap, and returned to the departmental office and not to the professor.

9. The Department Liaison person will:
  • Retain the envelopes with the comment forms and will keep the second envelope with the bubble sheet in a secure location until it is picked up by SRI staff from the CLT.
  • Check to see if the envelopes for all courses have been returned and follow up, if necessary.
  • Sort the signed and unsigned comment sheets. Refer to point 4 and 5 above for information about procedures related to signed and unsigned comment sheets.
10. The bubble questionnaires are scanned, results analyzed, and reports printed. Each professor will receive reports for his/her own classes. Each Director or Head will receive a report for each professor/class combination as well as a separate report that contains departmental means only. This latter department report will also be sent to the Dean.

11. The raw data and statistical analysis for each SRI annual cycle (September 1 to August 31) are electronically archived and can be accessed at a later date if necessary, in accordance with University policy. The original scannable questionnaires will be kept for 12 months after the August 31 end of the SRI annual cycle in which the forms were completed before they are shredded (e.g., forms completed in September 2009 to August 2010 will be shredded in September 2011). 12. Copies of the qualitative and quantitative questionnaires and a sample SRI report can be viewed on our website.

Please direct questions and suggestions to:
Bruno Roy, Centre for Learning and Teaching
Phone: 494-2706, Fax: 494-3767, Email: Bruno.Roy@dal.ca