Response rates: The overall response rate was 60%, although response rates varied from 46 to 74% among the seven departments. Seventy-seven percent of all instructors received responses from more than half the class. Communication with students appeared related to boost responses: whenever there was a message to students from R&R, there was a bump up in participation, and departments that also communicated with faculty and students throughout the process had higher rates.
Functionality: There were only 19 Help Desk calls out of 24,240 possible surveys and 14,647 participants. Most calls were about password or URL; none pointed to flaws in the system.
Data quality: Comparisons with the previous, decentralized system of evaluations are limited, because available data from the old system are incomplete and appear to include many errors. Looking at the new, online system as a whole, response rates could be more accurately computed, and sections and data could be properly aligned. All of the data needed for reporting arrived at the same time, assuring more accurate and timely reports.