The AACP Alumni, Graduating Student, and Faculty surveys were initiated and designed by the AACP/ACPE Task Force on Assessment and Accreditation in 2002. These surveys were intended to gather perceptions regarding curriculum quality. With the release of ACPE's Standards 2007, the Institutional Research Advisory Committee (IRAC) revised the three surveys and created a preceptor survey. The surveys can be used by the colleges and schools of pharmacy both as a curriculum assessment tool and to provide data during a self-study and accreditation review. These surveys will reopen in spring 2012. For more information please contact Danielle A. Taylor.
Principles of Good Use for the AACP Curriculum Quality Perception Surveys
What are the Curriculum Quality Surveys?A Graduating Student, Alumni, and Faculty survey were initiated and designed by the AACP/ACPE Task Force on Assessment and Accreditation in 2002. They were intended to gather information on student satisfaction with program issues and perceptions regarding curriculum quality. With the release of ACPE's Standards 2007, the Institutional Research and Assessment Committee (IRAC), AACP staff, ACPE staff and consultant Dr. Dora Marcus revised the three surveys and created a Preceptor survey. After the first administration (2007), the four surveys were analyzed by a sub-group of IRAC using Rasch analysis and provided recommendations for revisions. The same revision process occurred in the fall of 2008 following the second administration of the surveys. The entire committee was presented with the recommendations and used them to add, delete or reword items in each of the surveys. These surveys continue to be periodically reviewed by IRAC.
The intent of the surveys is for colleges and schools of pharmacy to use them as both a curriculum assessment tool and to provide data during a self-study and accreditation review.Back to top
How are the surveys administered?The four surveys can only be administered through AACP's online centralized survey system. Colleges/schools of pharmacy are not permitted to copy or disseminate the surveys.Back to top
When do the surveys open?The Graduating Student and Faculty surveys open the first Monday in March and close at the end of June. The Alumni and Preceptor survey open the first Monday in May and close at the end of August.Back to top
Are the colleges/schools notified when they are open?Yes, AACP sends an e-mail to the survey coordinator at each of the colleges/schools when the surveys are available for use. This e-mail includes the names of staff members that have been assigned to administer the survey in previous years. Survey coordinators are given approximately one week to add or delete staff members with access to the administration of the survey before an e-mail with survey instructions is sent to those assigned staff. At least one reminder e-mail of the survey closing date is also sent.Back to top
Are e-mail addresses required for each participant?Individual e-mail addresses are required for each person you want to survey. The online survey system creates a unique username and password for each participant, which is used to log into the survey. This assures that the participants complete the survey only once. Please include only one e-mail address per individual.Back to top
Do I have to type in each e-mail address for everyone I want to survey?The college/school survey administrator can manually type in each e-mail address or they can provide a comma delimited file to AACP to be imported. The import process takes approximately three business days. The comma delimited files should include first name, last name and e-mail address as separate fields.Back to top
What is done with the e-mail addresses that are uploaded into the system?Individual name and e-mail addresses are stored in the system during the administration of these surveys; however, AACP does not contact the individuals nor do we give, share, sell or transfer any individual-specific information to any party other than the college/school of pharmacy that provided the information. Name and e-mail addresses are deleted from the online survey system once AACP downloads the survey data to prepare summary reports.Back to top
Who administers the surveys?Each college/school of pharmacy administers the graduating student, alumni, preceptor and/or faculty survey. It is the responsibility of the college/school to administer the survey by determining a timeline, opening the survey, sending the invite and reminder emails and closing the survey. Invite and reminder e-mails are not sent by AACP; they are sent through the online survey system for which a valid college/school e-mail address must be provided. The e-mail that participants receive comes from that college/school contact.Back to top
How do I open the survey after AACP has uploaded my e-mail list?AACP will notify you via e-mail once your e-mail list has been uploaded into the survey system. At that time you can log into the system and use the "invite" link in order to open the survey and send e-mails to your participants. In the "from" line please include a university e-mail address that survey participants may e-mail with questions regarding the survey.Back to top
Can I personalize the invite and/or reminder e-mails?AACP provides standardized text for the invite and reminder e-mails; however, each school has the ability to change the text as needed.Back to top
What should I do if my e-mails to survey participants bounce back?If only a few e-mails bounce back, please double check the participants' e-mail addresses to make sure the addresses were correctly entered into the system.
If a large number of e-mails bounce back, your college/school's spam filter is most likely blocking the e-mails. Please refer to the following points below:
How should I respond to survey participants that are unable to log into the survey using their username and password?Because the username and password are alphanumeric, AACP recommends asking survey participants to copy and paste their login information into the survey portal in order to avoid mistakenly identifying a letter for a number or vice versa upon manual entry.Back to topWhy are some participants unable to view the questions properly and/or unable to save their answers?Your college/school's I/T firewall may limit the number of connections that can connect to the survey system at one time. If you are administering the survey in a group setting please check with your I/T department prior to administering the survey regarding the current firewall configurations.Back to top
Who should be participants for each of the surveys?
How long does it take to complete each of the surveys?It is estimated that the Graduating Student survey takes 30 minutes to complete. The Faculty, Alumni and Preceptor surveys take approximately 15-20 minutes.Back to top
Can I add additional questions to the survey(s)?An optional feature allows the survey administrator to add a link to the end of the AACP surveys requesting that participants answer additional questions relating specifically to the institution. The link will direct them to an online survey instrument developed by your institution using their own online survey tool (e.g. SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang). Please be aware that AACP is unable to link user responses from the AACP surveys with your college/school's online survey tool. If your institution chooses to ask participants additional questions, AACP requests that you send the additional questions to AACP's Research Manager. These questions will be reviewed to determine whether the question(s) should be added to the appropriate curriculum quality survey.Back to top
Will I receive any data reports once we finish administering the survey(s)?When the survey is closed by your institution you will be able to download a summary report and raw data report specific to your college/school. Demographic data for the Faculty survey is only provided in summary and will not be included in the raw data report. Data reports can be downloaded after closing the survey by using the "download raw data report" and "download summary report" links in the survey portal. Summary reports of all participating schools will be posted on the AACP Web site near the end of July for the Graduating Student and Faculty surveys and the end of September for the Alumni and Preceptor surveys. Peer comparisons consisting of five or more schools can be requested July 1 for Graduating Student and Faculty surveys, and Sept. 1 for the Alumni and Preceptor surveys by contacting Danielle A. Taylor.Back to top
What is the best way for me to use the information in the summary reports?A users guide that makes recommendations regarding suggested timing of surveys, data interpretation, peer comparisons and follow-up strategies is available at the top of this page.Back to top
For additional questions or comments please notify Danielle A. Taylor, Research Manager, at 703-739-2330 ext. 1005.