Telling Belmont's story through meaningful insights
The Institutional Research & Strategic Analytics Office supports internal decision-makers by collecting and presenting meaningful data in an understandable, digestible and actionable way. We provide detailed statistical analysis and predictive modeling to support decision-makers at all levels. IRSA partners closely with many units on campus to produce both annual and ongoing research products on a diverse array of topics including University Enrollment Projections, barriers to student success, and the early identification of students at risk of departing the institution.
Further research, presentations, and analyses can be found in the Research and Analysis community of the MyBelmont portal, where documents can be downloaded in either Excel or PDF format for internal use.
Statistical Analysis and Insights
Using advanced modeling techniques, IRSA analyzes data for meaningful, actionable insights that empower decision-makers across campus. Statistical insights help campus partners understand our community and make meaningful changes to improve the Belmont experience for student, faculty, and staff. Past analysis projects have included:
- Admissions yield analysis
- University enrollment projections
- Student financial aid leveraging
- Identification of key drivers of student success
- Survey data analysis
- Decision support for the internal taskforces and workgroups
Consultation
IRSA can help answer your questions regarding the Belmont community. In many cases, we already have data that can support campus initiatives including survey response analysis and institutional data in the Belmont Analytics system. If you need help finding data or designing a survey, reach out to us using the Data Request Form or email IRSA@Belmont.edu.
Peer Comparison
IRSA participates in a variety of professional organizations and data-sharing consortiums, several of which are listed below, which allow us to present decision-makers with peer comparison data to enhance the understanding of Belmont’s position within the higher education landscape.
American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium
New American Colleges and Universities (NACU)
Surveys
IRSA facilitates Belmont’s participation in several national surveys and designs and administers in-house surveys to gather feedback from students, faculty and staff. Survey results are presented in aggregated reports to university stakeholders. If necessary, IRSA may share individual survey responses to campus partners to provide additional support for students and to maintain health and safety on campus. If you have questions or concerns about the validity of a survey invitation email, please contact us at IRSA@belmont.edu.
Research, presentations, and analyses can be found in the Research and Analysis community of the MyBelmont portal, where documents can be downloaded in either Excel or PDF format for internal use.
Students regularly have the opportunity to provide feedback throughout their academic careers. IRSA administers the following surveys to students as part of Belmont’s initiative to measure student success, achievement, and satisfaction. We also partner with various departments across campus to facilitate support and analysis of survey data to create actionable reports to present to stakeholders and decision-makers.
| Internal | External |
|---|---|
| Admitted Student Questionnaire | CIRP (through fall 2023) |
| Advising Pulse | HEDS New Student Survey (Beginning Fall 2024) |
| Course Evaluations | HEDS Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey |
| New Student Pulse | National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) |
| Registration Pulse | |
| Student Perception and Experience Data Collection (SPEC) |
The Student Survey Lifecycle for Graduate students includes the Admitted Student Questionnaire upon admission and the SPEC survey in the fall and spring semesters as well as at graduation.
| Graduate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Admission | Fall | Spring | Graduation |
| Admitted Student Questionnaire | SPEC Survey | SPEC Survey | SPEC Survey |
The Undergraduate student survey lifecycle includes the Admitted Student Questionnaire upon admission, the CIRP Freshman Survey, New Student Pulse, and Advising Pulse in the fall, and the SPEC, Registration Pulse, and NSSE for Freshman and Seniors in the spring.
| Undergraduate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Admission | Fall | Spring | Graduation |
| Admitted Student Questionnaire | CIRP Freshman Survey New Student Pulse Advising Pulse |
SPEC Survey Registration Pulse NSSE (Freshman) |
SPEC Survey |
Any survey designed to be distributed to a large pool or the entire population of BU students, faculty or staff must be approved in advance by the Office of Institutional Research and Strategic Analytics. If you have a survey you would like to administer to a campus population, please complete the University Survey Request Form. All surveys must comply with guidelines set forth by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Belmont University Institutional Review Board (IRB), and any other relevant university, state or federal agency. Please be aware that if approved, the timing of your request may need to be adjusted based on this schedule. If you receive approval for a student-level survey, you may still be required to submit your proposal to the Belmont Institutional Review Board for review and final approval.
University course evaluations, supported by the vendor-provided product Explorance Blue, provide insight into learning and teaching through questions designed by the Faculty Senate and are administered to students each semester. The flexibility of the Blue system allows IRSA to create customized reports showing a wide range of comparative data points. Feedback data from course evaluations allow faculty to find meaningful ways to improve courses and help students learn.
IRSA administers surveys to faculty and staff to help institutional leaders gauge the opinions and experiences of the Belmont community. IRSA partners with various offices on campus to coordinate a regular cadence of faculty and staff surveys. For example, Human Resources will lead Belmont's participation in the "Great Colleges to Work For" survey in 2025 and the Office of the Provost will facilitate the "HERI Faculty Survey" in 2026. IRSA's coordination of these efforts maintains a balance between the need for ongoing longitudinal data collection, while remaining nimble enough to accommodate ad hoc requests to collect survey data of a time-sensitive nature.
Student Survey FAQ
Belmont University values each of our students and we want to hear your voice. The surveys that we administer are your way to provide feedback to faculty, deans and other administrators. These surveys ask about your experience at Belmont including academics, support services, community, and the health and safety of the campus. Survey results are presented in aggregated reports to university stakeholders.
The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics (IRSA) administers university-wide surveys on behalf of the university and coordinates surveys with external partners. Sometimes the survey invitation emails are sent directly from IRSA and sometimes they are sent on behalf of university leaders. For national surveys, the email invitation may be sent from an external partner. The reply to email is usually IRSA@belmont.edu so that we can centralize the process of monitoring and responding to questions. If you have questions or concerns about the validity of a survey invitation email, please reach out to IRSA@belmont.edu.
Two of the surveys we send to students —the CIRP Freshman Survey and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)—come from outside organizations and help measure Belmont’s atmosphere against other institutions across the country. Though these surveys may have some overlap, each performs a distinct function for a distinct audience.
The CIRP freshman survey and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) surveys are administered by outside partners. The survey links for these two surveys will take you to a website managed by these outside organizations. These surveys are safe and your information is still confidential. For more information, please visit their websites.
Belmont sends a limited number of surveys to students during the year, and we are working to space these out so that they don’t all arrive in your inbox at once.
Survey responses become the voice of the student body, and Belmont’s administration listens to that voice. For example, recent survey results have led to student input of space reallocation, changes to the general education BELL Core curriculum, course scheduling, increased cultural activities on campus, among other changes.