Frequently Asked Questions For Participating Students

Thank you for your interest in the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey. We have compiled frequently asked questions from students below. Please contact us if you have any additional questions.

Student FAQs

I want to complete the survey. How can I participate? Find out whether your institution is participating in the CCWS by contacting your institutional review board. If your institution is participating, you may be selected to receive an email invitation. Please monitor your email account to see if you are selected to participate.

I want to complete the survey, but do I have to answer all the questions? No. There are no forced responses in the survey. On the first page of the survey, students are instructed that they may skip any questions that they prefer not to answer or stop at any time. For some questions, we have also ensured that there is a 'I prefer not to answer' option to remind you that you do not have to answer the question.

I don’t want to participate. How can I remove myself from the email invitation list? You can contact your institutional survey administrator who signs off on the email invitation to remove yourself from the mailing list. You can also unsubscribe from the invitation email (if this option is available in the email).

I don’t have time to complete the survey. Can I complete it at a later time? Yes. Using the same survey link in your email, you are able to return to and complete the survey at a later time, as long as you do so before the survey close date. Responses in progress are recorded as partial responses when the survey closes, and are included in the data.

I want to change or remove my response to one of the questions. How do I do this if there is no back button? You can request to change or remove the answer to one of your questions by emailing your institutional survey administrator directly and providing the description of the question. Your institution will forward this request to the CCWS team who will manually make this change within Qualtrics.

I completed the survey but I don’t want my data to be included anymore. Is there a way to remove my answers from the data? In order to withdraw your data, you must email your institutional survey administrator who signs off on the email invitation to request that your data be removed. They will forward your request to CCWS. Note: as stated on the first page of the online survey, you only have the option to withdraw your data before it is de-identified and combined and stored with de-identified results from other Canadian institutions in the data registry (approx. 2 months after the survey closes). After de-identification, there is no way to identify your responses to remove them from the database.

Can my answers to the survey questions be used to identify me? No. Unique URLS are used to invite students to participate. The CCWS does not collect any personal identifiers (name, emails, student IDs). After your data is submitted it will be de-identified (unique URL removed) and added to a research database. Results of the survey will be reported in aggregated form only, without identifying individual students. No part of your response to the survey will become part of your student record.

How will the survey results be used? Why are my answers important? Your wellbeing has a significant effect on your post-secondary experience and it is a significant priority for your institution. Your responses will be used by your institution for quality improvement purposes. Your participation is important as it will provide crucial feedback to your institution about your experiences, and will help shape the programs, services and initiatives that support you and other students to succeed at your institution and beyond. It will also allow us to compare students’ experiences at your institution with the experiences of students attending other post-secondary institutions. Your results may also be used for research purposes.

I don’t go to campus (e.g., I do all my courses online [because of COVID-19 or otherwise] or am on co-op/practicum placement), is the survey relevant to me? Yes, if you were invited to participate in the survey, your institution wants to hear from you! Your institution is interested in knowing more about how they can support students’ wellbeing, including students who are not physically on campus.

Who will be able to access my data? Both the CCWS team and your institution will be able to access your de-identified data. However, at no point can your responses be linked to you by the CCWS team or your institution. Your data may also be made available to researchers or third-party organizations for research-related purposes. Individual student and institutional data that is shared will be de-identified to protect anonymity.

Will I receive anything for completing the survey? Depending on the institution you attend, some provide a prize draw for a specific number of students who complete the survey. If so, your unique URL link will be automatically entered into the prize draw and you will not have to enter your name or email address to be eligible. After the survey close date, a certain number of URLs are randomly selected and sent to your institution who will contact the winners. Please note that the URLs are not linked to the responses to ensure confidentiality. The names of prize winners will be kept confidential.