Administering LSSSE
LSSSE staff handles all aspects of the survey, from the first invitation issued to your students to the delivery of custom tailored reports. We customize your survey administration to achieve valid, reliable data. Once your results arrive, we’ll help you translate data to action.
1. Register
Annual registration for LSSSE begins in September and closes in mid-January. By completing the registration process, you will signal your compliance with LSSSE’s participation agreement.
2. Prepare for Survey Administration
The LSSSE interface is a secure, online portal that allows schools to prepare for their LSSSE administration and monitor progress.
LSSSE will ask you to submit a student population file that includes basic demographic and contact information for all eligible JD and LLM students at your law school. You will also customize the email messages that we send to students inviting them to complete the survey.
3. Survey Administration
Once LSSSE has received these materials, we do the rest. Invitations and follow-up reminders are issued to students via email, and we collect the data electronically. Students will receive no more than 5 contacts from us. Once a student has completed the survey, or declined to participate, we send no further contacts. The survey takes students about 15 minutes to complete. You can track your survey administration and real-time response rates on the LSSSE interface while the survey is in the field. If students are slow to respond, LSSSE also provides promotional materials, webinars and tips to help generate interest in the survey.
4. Receive Reports
LSSSE analyzes your survey data and issues a detailed report along with user tools and guides in July. To see examples of the reports and tools schools receive click here.
LSSSE Participation Agreement
I. LSSSE Procedures and Safeguards
a. The Law School Survey of Student Engagement Participation Agreement (“Agreement”) is entered into between The Trustees of Indiana University on behalf of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (“LSSSE”) and Participating Institution.
b. The LSSSE Survey is designed to document the extent to which students, faculty, and institutions engage in empirically-proven educational activities and inform programs and practices that foster student engagement. The results of the LSSSE Survey will help Participating Institutions identify aspects of the law school student experience worthy of attention and discussion.
c. Participating Institution will provide LSSSE with student contact information, and LSSSE will contact individual students enrolled at Participating Institution to seek their voluntary participation in the LSSSE Survey. LSSSE will provide Participating Institution with a suite of reports and a data file.
II. LSSSE Procedures and Safeguards
a. LSSSE may use aggregated survey data for national and sector reporting purposes and other law school improvement initiatives. LSSSE may also make de-identified data available to researchers.
b. LSSSE uses public key encryption with an SSL connection to support the secure transmission of data across the Internet. Access by LSSSE staff to servers storing institutional data is controlled by user IDs and passwords.
c. Institutionally identifiable LSSSE results shall not be made public by LSSSE except by mutual agreement between LSSSE and Participating Institution, or in accordance with any applicable law, such as the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
d. LSSSE Survey administration protocol is approved by the Indiana University Institutional Review Board (IRB).
III. Participating Institution Procedures and Requirements
a. Participating Institution shall provide to LSSSE a student population data file containing contact information for all current law school students. Data files must meet LSSSE-defined parameters for the target population of eligible students, as specified in the Population File instructions.
b. Participating Institution shall comply with LSSSE Survey preparation deadlines, and maintain a minimum of two campus contacts with access to LSSSE’s Institution Interface. Participating Institution shall promptly inform LSSSE when staffing changes necessitate updates to campus contacts
c. Participating Institution must present the LSSSE Survey as a voluntary activity; no coercion can be used to increase participation.
d. Participating Institution shall not mislead students about the extent to which participation is anonymous or confidential.
e. Participating Institution must seek LSSSE’s approval of all student participation incentives (e.g., lottery drawings and guaranteed prizes) to ensure compliance with IRB requirements.
f. Unless an exception is made by LSSSE, Participating Institution shall not exceed five direct student recruitment messages, which will be sent by LSSSE.
IV. Use of Student Data
a. Participating Institution shall provide LSSSE with the following personal information concerning its students, which shall constitute “Participant Information” for purposes of this Agreement:
i. Required: (1) First and last name (2) Student ID number (NOT social security number) (3) e-mail address (4) Class level (5) Degree program
ii. Optional: (1) LSAT scores (2) Race/ethnicity (3) Gender (4) uGPA (5) Enrollment
b. The use of student data is regulated by the U.S. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), which covers how educational institutions may share student data with outside organizations conducting research and assessment for the purpose of improving instruction.
c. LSSSE understands that Participant Information is subject to FERPA and will exercise due care in handling and processing student data. Further, LSSSE agrees to:
i. Limit its use of personally identifiable information to the purposes of conducting studies that (1) improve instruction and student learning in higher education, or (2) evaluate the effectiveness of LSSSE Survey methods in order to improve future data collection;
ii. Only use student contact information for the purpose of inviting students to participate in the LSSSE Survey;
iii. Only provide access to personally identifiable information to Participating Institution as well as representatives of LSSSE/Indiana University who have legitimate interests in the information for the purposes described above;
iv. Destroy personally identifiable information within five years of completion of the LSSSE Survey.
d. As applicable, LSSSE will cooperate with Participating Institution in complying with Canadian or other foreign data privacy laws.
V. Use of Student Data LSSSE Pricing
a. Pricing for LSSSE is based on the size of total law school enrollment. Additional fees may be assessed for extra item sets added to the survey, or for unexpected costs associated with Participating Institution’s errors in survey preparations. Invoices are sent in March after all survey preparations have been completed.
b. Participating Institution shall pay LSSSE all applicable fees related to the survey within thirty (30) days of receipt of the survey invoice. Fees shall be charged in accordance with the pricing schedule.
c. Participating Institution agrees to pay any applicable withdrawal fees.
VI. Indiana Access to Public Records. Participating Institution understands and acknowledges that LSSSE, an auxiliary unit of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, is subject to Indiana’s open records law, the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (“APRA”), Ind. Code §§ 5-14-3-1 to -10, and that compliance with APRA shall not constitute a breach of this Agreement.
VII. Assignment. This Agreement shall not be assignable by either party without the prior written consent of the other party.
VIII. Force Majeure. Neither party shall be responsible or liable to the other party for nonperformance or delay in performance of any terms or conditions of this Agreement due to acts of God, acts of governments, wars, riots, fire, flood, or other causes beyond the reasonable control of the nonperforming or delayed party.
IX. Limitation on Liability. Participating Institution agrees that LSSSE, IU, and its trustees, affiliates, employees, agents, and contractors, shall not be liable to Participating Institution for any claims, liabilities, consequential or incidental damages, costs, or expenses relating to this Agreement for an aggregate amount exceeding the fees paid by Participating Institution to LSSSE.
X. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties regarding the subject matter described herein and supersedes any prior negotiations and agreements. This Agreement may not be modified or amended in any respect except by a written agreement executed by both parties. The terms and conditions of this Agreement shall extend to, be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of the heirs, administrators, representatives, executors, successors and assigns of the parties.