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Open-Ended Climate Survey Items

Included in the fall 2006 CU-Boulder Campus Climate survey are a number of questions to which students were asked to give a written response. Five of these open-ended questions required fairly short responses (e.g., providing a list of places where the student feels welcome and comfortable). The other four open-ended questions provided students with an opportunity to describe or explain their experiences, thoughts, and opinions about the campus climate or the larger Boulder community; many students wrote long comments in response to these questions.

The following report provides a brief description of the analysis of the open-ended items, a summary of general findings, and links to tables of data and results.

Short open-ended items

Findings from analyses of data from two of the short open-ended items--"group identity" and "disability status"--are described in the main report. Information on the other three short open-ended items is provided below. These items assessed places or groups off campus where the student feels welcome and comfortable, places or groups on campus where the student feels welcome and comfortable, and religious preference. A comprehensive Excel file of all the short open-ended responses provides all comments for every respondent plus demographic information. The Excel file, therefore, permits examination of responses by various subgroups (e.g. ethnicity, gender).

·         Off-campus places or groups in the Boulder-Denver area where students feel the most comfortable

This open-ended question was worded as follows:

o        You may have specific places or groups OFF-CAMPUS, in the Boulder-Denver area, where you feel especially welcome and comfortable. Please list UP TO THREE below. First list the specific name—e.g. First Baptist Church, the CJ softball team—then the location.

                  Specific Name                                             Location (city or town)

Almost half (46%) of the 570 survey respondents from the random sample answered this item. An unedited list of the off-campus places respondents mentioned is organized by ethnic group. The list includes, as well, the additional respondents from the convenience samples (solicited through the GLBT Center and the campus Disabilities Services office), for whom ethnicity data were not available. Not all respondents mentioned three places, and many of the same places were labeled in various ways by respondents, e.g., "St. Thomas Aquinas" and "St. Thomas Catholic Church." Consequently, multiple instances of the same places may not be listed together. The list provides a quick overview, however, of the various places students mentioned.

·         On-campus places or groups where students feel the most comfortable

This open-ended question was worded as follows:

o        If there are places or groups ON-CAMPUS where you also feel especially welcome or comfortable, please list UP TO THREE below. Please be specific—e.g., the Women’s Center, Cultural Unity Center, Men’s Ultimate Frisbee.

More than half (55%) of the 570 survey respondents from the random sample answered this item. An unedited list of the on-campus places respondents mentioned is organized by ethnic group. The list includes the additional respondents from the convenience samples (solicited through the GLBT Center and the campus Disabilities Services office), for whom ethnicity data were not available. As was the case for the previous open-ended question, not all respondents mentioned three places, and many of the same places were labeled in various ways by respondents, e.g., "BSA" and "BSA Center."

A two-page summary of these findings that describes further details of differences by ethnic groups for both on- and off-campus places is also provided.

·         Religious preference

This open-ended question was worded as follows:

o        What is your current religious preference?

§         No religious preference

§         Other (Please describe below.)

Forty-one percent of the 570 survey respondents listed a religious preference. Only 4%, however, considered their religious preference to be their main “group identity.”  All written responses for this item were categorized into different religious groups (e.g., Muslim, Jewish, Christian), and a table showing the number and proportion of respondents within each category was compiled.

Long open-ended items

There were four open-ended survey items that asked students to describe or explain their experiences, thoughts, and opinions about the campus climate or the larger Boulder community. The four questions were worded as follows:

Question 1

• In your opinion, how high of a priority should diversity be for the University?
  • Response options (check one) --  Not at all     Low priority    Somewhat    High priority    Highest priority  
• Please tell us why you say the above.  

--    Note:  In the password-protected Excel file that reports all responses to the four long open-ended questions (see below for link and more information), the above check-off responses for Question 1 are reported and listed alongside each of the comments to Question 1. This additional information provides a reference point for students' written remarks. 

Question 2

• Think of a situation or experience on campus or in the larger Boulder community this or last semester that made you uncomfortable. Please describe the situation and what made you feel uncomfortable.

Question 3

• Think of a situation or experience on campus this or last semester when someone helped to develop understanding between people of different backgrounds, lifestyles, cultures, etc. Please describe the situation or experience and how it made you feel.

Question 4

• Think of a situation or experience on campus or in the larger Boulder community this or last semester where someone made discriminatory remarks or performed discriminatory actions toward another person. Please describe the situation or experience and how it made you feel.

A brief report and table show the number and proportion of respondents, by ethnic and sampling groups, who answered each of these items. There were some differences across ethnic groups, as to which questions each group most often answered.

In addition, a password-protected Excel file of the long open-ended responses lists all comments made in response to these questions and includes some demographic information--sample group, race/ethnicity, class level, college/division, and gender). The Excel is intended for internal administrative use only.

Please direct any questions concerning the open-ended Climate Survey items to IR@colorado.edu.

Last revision 01/23/08