Guidance for completing the INSPIRES Index
Complete the INSPIRES Index efficiently, accurately, and thoroughly.
Access our new Survey Companion Document HERE!
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Access our new Survey Companion Document HERE! -
Index Overview
Survey structure
The INSPIRES Index is an opportunity to examine your institution’s efforts to create a welcoming campus for all students. The Index is composed of 53 items that map onto specific campus climate dimensions. Many of these questions are yes/no in nature and relate to departmental and university-wide structures, spaces, policies, and positions. The questions are organized by domains in the following order:
Introduction
Religious Accommodations
Institutional Behavior
Efforts to reduce negative behavior
Space for support and expression
Extracurricular engagement
Institutional structures
Academic engagement
Survey year questions and referral
Using INSPIRES to transform practice
The Index is an opportunity to assess current practice, to better understand how your campus compares to what students have expressed matters to them in feeling welcomed, and to set goals to improve the student experience.
Participation in INSPIRES can be used to raise awareness and support for religious, secular, and spiritual worldviews on campus. We recommend gathering a cross-divisional team to help complete the survey the first time, then reassembling the group to debrief the scores and identify areas for improvement. These may be linked to your student life, belonging, student success, or student experience goals as well as to core curricular efforts.
The INSPIRES Index is as helpful as you make it! Partner campuses become part of a community of practice. Your institutional representative will be invited to update the survey annually to demonstrate growth and your campus’ commitment to continuous improvement.
The role of the campus representative
The campus representative is the liaison with INSPIRES and the point person for this initiative on your campus, including gathering information needed to complete the survey. However, you do not have to know the answer to every question. It is okay if some pieces of data are not tracked or available for your institution, but do your best to answer all questions.
We encourage a team-oriented approach in which you invite relevant stakeholders to help gather the information needed. There is an opportunity within the survey to send sections to colleagues who may have specialized expertise or campus knowledge.
Survey items will include people, programming, spaces, and policy. Depending on the campus, the functional areas to consult or involve may include student affairs; spiritual life; residence life; academics; belonging, or student success.
Would certain offices, such as research and assessment, student life, or admissions, have access to helpful data?
Who in leadership needs to approve or be informed of participation, both for the instrument’s internal use (now) and for the public-facing Index (later)? An opt-out opportunity will be sent with scorecard distribution.
What might be the benefits of inviting certain leaders to join in at the early stage of the process?
What relevant voices are missing?
Completing the Survey
The INSPIRES Index is a comprehensive assessment of your campus climate for religious, secular, and spiritual worldviews. We expect it to take between 30-90 minutes to complete, depending on whether it is filled by an individual or in a group setting. It will likely be challenging to complete all of the items in one sitting if you have not gathered the information or knowledgeable stakeholders beforehand. We can provide a PDF of all the items to help you complete the survey incrementally (Email the inspiresindex@osu.edu), and the survey allows you to save progress and send sections to colleagues.
To ensure you receive a unique institutional link, please register your interest in becoming an INSPIRES partner school using this form. The INSPIRES survey opens annually in the Autumn and typically closes at the end of December.
Step 1. Review the items
Review the PDF version and companion document before you begin the survey online. Your institutional representative may request it from inspiresindex@osu.edu. The online version follows the same format as the PDF.
Step 2. Respond
Respond to the items you feel confident answering. You may be surprised how much you know about your campus.
Step 3. Reach out
Identify sections or questions that require input from another person/department and reach out to those whose input is needed.
Step 4. Meet Constituents
We strongly recommend gathering key leaders (faculty, admin, students) together to help fill the survey. This creates a team invested in improving the student experience.
Step 5. Review
Consider who may need to review the responses, which may be the person to authorize going public after scorecards are received.
Step 6. Submit
Once you are confident you have completed the survey, hit "submit!"
Going Public!
We encourage all participating institutions to share their responses on the public-facing INSPIRES Index website. This resource is designed to help prospective students and families make informed decisions about the higher education institutions they are considering. Participation demonstrates that your campus values students’ religious, secular, and spiritual worldviews and is committed to continuous improvement toward fostering a welcoming climate for all.
Your campus will have an opportunity to review your results before confirming participation in the public-facing Index, through an opt-out invitation for the public-facing component. Regardless of your decision, your institution will be able use the results of the Index internally.
If at any point you have questions, please contact the INSPIRES team by emailing us. We are excited to support your involvement with the INSPIRES Index!
Partner Campus Timeline
REACH OUT TO US!
We’re here to answer any questions.