Challenges for Conducting a Computing Sciences National Study

Conducting a national study in the computing sciences is a process that requires detailed planning and a consistent effort by researchers to accomplish the study´s goals. This paper discusses the many challenges that were addressed when organizing and implementing a large study involving 50 colleges and universities from across the United States. Issues affecting both the coordinating institution, Xavier University of LA, and one of the participating institutions, the University of Cincinnati, are discussed. The issues include the survey administration details, confidentiality and security of the survey data, evaluation of survey software packages, recruitment and retention of the participating institutions, the processes for Institutional Review Board approvals, and recruitment and compensation of students. The lessons that were learned by the researchers at Xavier are organized into a suggested methodology for conducting surveys of this scope