NCAA research is collaborating with Teamworks in a three-year agreement for survey distribution as part of the NCAA's continuous effort to elevate student-athlete voices and positively impact the personal, academic and athletic development of student-athletes.
Division I schools will be asked to permit student-athletes to participate in these surveys four to six times a year. Surveys will be capped at 20 questions and designed to take three to five minutes to complete. Each will include questions about topics related to the student-athlete experience, generated by the research staff or at the behest of NCAA committees, the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee or national office leadership.
"The NCAA research staff have historically designed student-athlete surveys to ensure NCAA committees are making well-informed decisions," said Lydia Bell, director of research and policy. "This collaboration with Teamworks is another means for us to ensure student-athlete perspectives are shaping decision-making. While we intend to continue our nationally representative, faculty athletics representative-administered comprehensive studies of student-athletes competing in all divisions, the turnaround time of the Teamworks confidential surveys from concept to completion will be four to six weeks, as opposed to the comprehensive surveys, which have 12- to 15-month timelines."
Increasing student-athlete voices has been at the forefront of NCAA efforts this year following the redesign of Division I governance, which highlights the importance of student-athlete feedback and more than doubles student-athlete representation on committees.
Surveys will be distributed only to student-athletes at schools that opt in to participate in each study, and participation will be voluntary. Student-athletes' names will not be included in survey responses, and each survey will need approval from the NCAA Research Review Board before it is distributed.
Reminders to take the survey will display on student-athletes' to-do lists in the Teamworks app during the brief window of time that the survey is open, and push notifications can be enabled to remind a student of the survey's availability.
"Teamworks is excited to expand our partnership with the NCAA through the use of our survey platform, giving student-athletes a stronger voice across the collegiate landscape," said Mark Morris, Teamworks senior vice president and general manager, North America. "Our innovative, user-friendly survey technology advances our mission to support athletes while enabling smooth, timely communication and actionable insights for the entire ecosystem — from the NCAA to member schools to student-athlete themselves."
The platform initially will be available for Division I survey distribution and may be expanded to Divisions II and III within the next couple of years. Research staff will continue to work with leadership in Divisions II and III to assist in gathering student-athlete feedback through multiple channels, such as partnering with faculty athletics representatives or SAAC leadership to distribute online survey links via email.
The first survey is anticipated to launch Sept. 30 and will include questions about performance technology use by student-athletes and other well-being items.
