News & Notes: Fourth COMBO survey to be released by mid-July

The fourth survey of the Committee on Background and Opportunity will be released within the next few weeks, USG president Shawon Jackson ’15 said in an interview this week.

“The survey will probably go out by mid-July, and then we’ll probably keep it open for about a month with two to three reminder emails,” Jackson said.

Though a tentative timeline described in theApril 28USG Senate packet indicated that the survey would be sent out on Dean’s Date, Jackson explained thatthe committee overseeing the administration of COMBO IV decidedto postpone its release because it was “conscious of survey fatigue” that the student body might be feeling due tothe large number of surveys sent out at the end of the academic year.

The release of data for theCOMBO III surveylast fall was marked by heavy delays. Jackson and the COMBO committee emphasized at a USG Senate meeting last year that similar delays would not occur this time.

In order to avoid last year’s delays, the COMBO committee suggested a strict timeline at theApril 28Senate meeting that was distinguished by an early release date and a quick analytic turnaround.The latter feature was to be facilitated by a USG partnership with Data and Statistical Services, a part of the Social Science Reference Center in Firestone Library that offers statistical consulting services to members of the University. The analysis had been completed by students in the past.

“Our tentative date to send out the survey was by Dean’s Date based on what the COMBO team suggested to me,” Jackson said. “But that wasn’t anything set in stone, so we’re not behind schedule by any means and nothing was delayed.”

Jackson added that the survey “was already written and ready” in April.

The results of the survey are expected in September or October, according to the COMBO committee's tentative timeline.