Surveys and research with students

Are you planning to carry out your PhD or Professional Doctorate research with OU students? Or do you think that you might be using surveys/questionnaires to collect your research data? If so, you’ll want to speak to us here in the CIO, Data and Student Analytics, SRPP and Surveys team. 

Research with OU students

Any research that targets an OU student (or graduate, or enquirer) needs to be reviewed by the OU’s Student Research Project Panel (SRPP). There is an application form to complete, which will be reviewed by a panel comprising of academics from across the university as well as representatives from Learning and Teaching Innovation, marketing and student services. The working group makes sure that any research will be of long-term benefit to OU students, as well as giving feedback and advice on methodology, instrument design and how to effectively recruit students to your project. 
We have put together a toolkit of exemplar applications and research materials to support you in your application.  
The working group reviews applications once a fortnight, so make sure you get your application into the mailbox in good time. 
All the information you need can be found on the Student research project panel webpage. 
If you have any queries, do get in touch: [email protected] 

Surveys

If you will need to collect data using surveys or questionnaires, you may be interested in an account on an online survey tool: Jisc’s online surveys is a powerful yet simple to use online survey tool that you can use to collect responses from a wide range of audiences. 
We recommend that students avoid free or third party tools (SurveyMonkey, QuestionPro) as the survey data is often stored outside the EU so wouldn’t be compliant with current guidance on secure data handling. With Jisc’s tool, you can be confident that the data is being securely hosted within the EU. 
To read more or request an account, visit our Bespoke Surveys page.

If you have any queries, do get in touch: [email protected] 

Research with any human participants 

Don’t forget that any research that involves human participants need to be carried out in accordance with high contemporary ethical standards. The Research Ethics website provides all the information that you need.

Data Protection / Information Asset Register

You also need to check whether you need to carry out a full Data Protection Impact Assessment, and if you need to register the data you are collecting on your departments Information Asset Register.  The Data Protection website provides all the information that you need.

Data Management Plans

The Open University Research Data Management Policy requires all research projects to have a Data Management Plan (DMP) in place before data collection commences. Please see guidance on the key policy requirements and how to comply, as well as Library guidance and templates for writing a Data Management Plan. The Library Research Support Team offers a DMP review service, please send your DMP for review to [email protected].