Office of Assessment
Welcome to the Assessment web site. The Office of Assessment is a service to all Student Affairs departments; we are here to assist you in continuous improvement. Our staff has expertise in a variety of research methods and statistical analyses that we employ to help you assess the effectiveness of your programs/services and processes. We are excited to do our part in helping you achieve your objectives.
Some questions you may have are:
What is Assessment?
Assessment is the systematic gathering, analysis, and interpreting of evidence regarding the quality of a program or specific service. Assessment data is used to improve the effectiveness of the service or activity, particularly as it impacts student learning and development.
Why do we need to do assessment?
Assessment is necessary if we want to answer the following kinds of questions:
- Does my department/organization provide quality services?
- How well does my department accomplish its mission or achieve its goals?
- What do others think about our activities?
- How do we measure up when compared to similar departments at other universities?
- What are we doing right? What can we improve upon?
If we want to get better at what we do, assessment is essential.
How do I get an assessment project started?
The following are steps you can take to start and complete an assessment project.
1) Give us a call or email, tell us your initial impression of what you need, and set up a meeting time with us. Our contact information is as follows:
C. Brian Peace, M.A., AEP
Research Associate
(662) 325-6610
BPeace@saffairs.msstate.edu
Dr. Leigh Jensen-Crawford
Director, Assessment & Testing Services
(662) 325-2218
LJensen@saffairs.msstate.edu
2) Complete the Pre-Assessment Worksheet. The worksheet will help you generate ideas/suggestions about your assessment project.
3) Meet with us, where we can:
a. Help you decide what kind of assessment instrument you need;
b. Help you design your instrument;
c. Help you refine an existing instrument;
d. Determine how to best administer the instrument (e.g. paper and pencil, web, focus groups) and who to administer it to.
4) Next, we can help you administer instruments and collect data.
5) We can also:
a. Conduct statistical analysis of the data;
b. Provide you with a report of the results;
c. Provide you with recommendations based on the results;
d. Deliver results via professional presentation to your department or organization.
