The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been administered annually at selected Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE) institutions each spring since 2000. Participation is voluntary, and data sharing is coordinated by the University of Colorado Boulder. 34 AAU schools have used NSSE at least once between 2009 and 2019.

Spring 2013 was the first administration of NSSE 2.0, known here as v2, version 2. Participation averages 7-12 schools each year; most schools administer NSSE every 2, 3 or 4 years. 24 schools participated in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and/or 2019.

AAUDE-NSSE participation means two things: Use of AAUDE optional questions, and sharing response-level data. Participants can do questions only, or sharing only, or both. Most but not all do both.

List of institutions (Excel) with years participating, record of data-sharing status, record of optional-question use, plans.

AAUDE participation or data-sharing agreement (Word document): AAUDE institutions which have participated or are planning to participate in NSSE in any year are urged to complete the agreement and return to Colorado, which will submit them to NSSE. The agreement concerns data sharing only, and does not obligate signees to use the AAUDE optional questions or to administer NSSE in any year.

AAUDE optional questions: Learn more about signing up for AAUDE "consorium", questions, and/or sharing (Word document). See codebooks below, for versions.

As of December, 2016 shared data will be distributed as a zip file sent via large transfer file. Shared data are available only to authorized users at institutions sharing data. These users will receive email notice of their shared data eligibility. To receive the zip file please e-mail Blake.Redabaugh@Colorado.edu attaching the eligibility notice.

Recent release record and schedule

  • 1/6/2020, zip file with all 2019 updates available and eligibility email sent
  • Expected, 1/2021, datasets with all years through 2020.

FIles in shared data (and in the zip file) include

  • Institutional metadata dataset. Includes 2005 - most recently released population and sample counts, response rates, etc. Same info is in ResponseRates Excel also available in the the "For using NSSE/AAUDE data" section below. 
  • Base stats: 2013+ means and SD's by institution, survey year, class level, and item. Same dataset includes 2001-2012 stats from v1 data converted to v2 format.
  • Response-level data in v2 formats
    • Response-level data, all institutions, from 2013 - most recently released (nsseallyrs_v2)
    • Converted version 1 data to version 2 data. 2001-2012 response-level data, all institutions. Contains the 120 items from v1 that could be converted to a v2 item. Items have been renamed to the v2 name and values have been converted to v2 values. (convert_v1_v2) 
    • Response-level data of the topical module questions, all institutions, from 2013 - most recently released (nsseallyrs_v2_modules)
    • Response-level data of the open ended questions, all institutions, from 2013 - most recently released (nsseallyrs_v2_text)
  • 'Match' dataset used to assign formats and labels. For v2, with a map of the conversion of v1 to v2 variables (match_v2) 
  • V1 only datasets, with v1 variable names
  • SAS formats and code for use with v2 and v1_v2 data 
  • NSSE-issued frequencies and scales for all AAUDE schools combined, for most recent two years of administrations

  • User guide to the version 2 and v1_v2 data (Word). Contains key info, updated annually.
  • Codebooks, largely from NSSE. 2013 codebook is marked up for use with SAS datasets and formats and longitudinal analyses; includes info on AAUDE questions.
  • AAUDE optional questions
  • Variable list for the version 2 all-years response-level dataset. Contains variable names, labels, types, lengths, format names, and information from both NSSE and CU on v1 to v2 conversion. (MatchVars_V2 Excel) Much of the info in here is in the codebook as well.
  • Response rates and metadata (Excel, ResponseRates.xlsx) - 2005 to present, with plots and narratives and links to NSSE tables and studies of response rates. 
  • Counts of survey respondents in the comparison group by institution and year (2001-present). Not showing if institution has not participated in the last four years (Excel)
  • NSSE website - find all years' participants, instruments, etc. Includes the following:
    • NSSE common data recodes – how NSSE calculated first generation status, parent ed, estimated hours/week, and dichotomized responses
    • CIP crosswalk - for v2, based on what AAUDE did for v1. Provides up to 3 CIPs for each NSSE major code/label; e.g., 15, environmental science, 03.0104 and 26.1305, with CIP descriptions too.

Learn more about version 1

See also the AAUDE-member exchange item page (for AAUDE-authorized users)

Questions to analytics@colorado.edu