Qualitative Analysis of Narrative Comments

Campus Climate Survey - Qualitative Analysis of Comments

Three groups consisting of Full - Time Faculty, Part - Time Faculty and University Staff were surveyed. The responses to open ended questions on the surveys were reviewed by members of the survey team (Dr. Kevin Ball, Ms. Becky Geltz, Ms. Joy Polkabla Byers and Dr. Sal Sanders) and common themes were identified.

The open response items from the surveys for full - time and part - time faculty and staff were:
  • Please share any additional concerns regarding campus climate and/or elaborate on your responses to survey questions.
  • What are YSU’s biggest challenges? What suggestions do you have to address these challenges?
  • Are there factors preventing you from doing your job at YSU? If yes, please list and provide suggestions for how they can be addressed.
  • In addition to the above items, staff surveys included an item requesting that they explain why faculty development opportunities were not offered to them if that was the case.
The comments were then coded into identified themes. More than 100 themes were identified. Some sub-themes were aggregated. Themes into which only a single item was coded were then recoded into the miscellaneous theme during the final analysis. This process resulted in 101 themes into which comments were coded. Table 1 indicates the number of items coded into each theme across all employee groups (full-time faculty, part-time faculty and staff). Table 2 indicates the top ten themes among full-time faculty members. Table 3 indicates the top ten themes among part-time faculty members. Table 4 indicates the top ten themes among staff.


Table 1: Overall Summary of Themes - Coding for all employee groups

Theme Number of Coding References
University Administration Aggregate 124
Facilities Aggregate 102
Leadership Aggregate 98
Communication Aggregate 90
Perceived Value Aggregate 85
Workload 79
Compensation Aggregate 78
Resources - Lack of sufficient resources 75
Morale Aggregate 74
Staff and Staffing Aggregate 71
Enrollment Aggregate 63
Miscellaneous 63
Technology Aggregate 57
Budget 49
Support Aggregate 44
Student Aggregate 38
Academics Vs Athletics 37
Procedures, Regulations – Negative 33
Recruitment Aggregate 33
University - Perception of 29
Collegiality 28
Unions 25
Transparency 24
Ethical and Legal Potential 23
Work Environment 22
Academic Integrity 20
Organizational Structure 20
Orientation and Training Aggregate 20
Resource Allocation 20
Strategic Planning 20
Fairness, Equity 19
Student Preparedness 19
Safety 18
Accountability 17
Supervisor 17
Board of Trustees – Judgment 16
Respect 14
Marketing 13
Perceived Mistreatment 13
Cost savings, Cut backs, Spending 12
Human Resource 12
Increasing Demands 12
YSU OEA Negotiations 12
Community Perception 11
Mentoring 11
Promotion and Advancement 11
Time 11
Change 10
Good Place to Work 10
Benefits 9
Cyberlearning - Courses Programs 9
Hiring Practices 9
Mission 9
Quality 9
Retention 9
Teamwork 9
Viability of the University 9
Admissions 8
Diversity 8
Faculty - FT PT Mix 8
Trust 8
Need 7
Qualifications 7
Faculty Performance 6
New Employee 6
No Obstacles to Doing Job Well 6
Student Success Aggregate 6
Bureaucracy 5
Customer Service 5
Employee Type 5
Engagement 5
Faculty and Administration Relations Tense 5
Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs 5
Recognition and Rewards 5
Athletics 4
Computer Center, Computer Services, IT 4
Enforcement of Policy Contract 4
Infrastructure 4
Politics 4
Stress 4
Computer or Technology as a Roadblock 3
Culture 3
Lack of Recognition, Rewards 3
Negotiations 3
Poor Place to Work 3
Predecessor 3
Tenure and Promotion 3
Apathy 2
Class Size 2
Course Offerings 2
Course Offerings - Poor Decision Making 2
Course Program Development 2
Decision Making 2
Destination University Aggregate 2
Evaluation 2
Faculty and Administration Relations – Positive 2
General Education 2
Graduation Rates 2
Grounds 2
Low Cost Education – Perception 2
Supervision 2

Table 2: Full-Time Faculty: Top Ten Themes (11 Including Miscellaneous)

Theme Number of Coding References
Facilities Aggregate 55
Workload 51
Resources - Lack of sufficient resources 41
Miscellaneous 37
University Administration Aggregate 34
Academics Vs Athletics 31
Perceived Value Aggregate 22
Recruitment Faculty/Student Aggregate 21
Resource allocation 17
Strategic Planning 17
Procedures, Regulations - Negative 16

Table 3: Part-Time Faculty - Top Ten Themes

Theme Number of Coding References
Compensation Aggregate 43
Perceived Value Aggregate 32
Facilities Aggregate 21
Enrollment Aggregate 14
Student Aggregate 10
University Administration Aggregate 9
Student Preparedness 9
Morale\Morale - Negative 9
Communication Aggregate 8
Support Aggregate 7

Table 4: Staff - Top Ten Themes

Theme Number of Coding References
Leadership Aggregate 83
University Administration Aggregate 81
Staff and Staffing Aggregate 71
Communication Aggregate 69
Budget 49
Morale Aggregate 49
Technology Aggregate 40
Enrollment Aggregate 34
Perceived Value Aggregate 31
Resources - Lack of sufficient resources 31