Thank you for your interest! Please see our How to Participate page for next steps and key deadlines for upcoming deployments windows. 

Yes. The CCWS operates on a cost-recovery model with fees based on your total student enrollment (head count). The participation costs can be found in the Information Package that is included with the Service Agreement. To request these documents, please submit the interest form. 

The CCWS team offers support throughout the survey process, including pre-deployment planning, technical assistance during deployment, and post-deployment data cleaning and reporting. 

In the first cohort in BC the average response rate was 22.1% when incentives were provided and at least three reminders were sent. 

Yes. The CCWS has been conceptualized in taking a ‘whole campus approach’, and so is modifiable for use by students, staff and faculty, and campus community members. The employee version consists of the same core content as the student version.  

You should contact your institutional REB (or equivalent) to determine if they require a review of your participation. If required, we have provided a Research Ethics Template to assist with this process. After you submit the Interest Form you will be sent an Onboarding Package that includes this resource. 

The PI is the person at your institution who is deemed responsible for ensuring that the survey is carried out ethically. This may be an institutional research staff member or a member of your institution’s wellness portfolio. A member of the CCWS team is not the PI. 

Institutions are encouraged to participate in a two- or three-year cycle so that there is time to make policy and program changes before re-evaluating. If there is a specific need, such as for a research project or program evaluation, multiple deployments within a year can be discussed with the CCWS team. 

Yes, if you are interested in a specific comparison group and/or coordinated knowledge mobilization.   Our ultimate goal is to have established consortia (who wish to be compared to each other) deploy together – this could be assembled in a variety of ways such as provincially, U15 institutions, colleges, universities, eastern/western Canada, or Francophone institutions. Institutions can participate individually or as part of a consortium. Please contact the CCWS team if you are considering creating a consortium so that we can provide additional information. To encourage consortia, institutions participating in one may be given a discount. 

Yes. The default invitation and reminder templates include an option to unsubscribe. As long as this is included, participants can request to be removed from the mailing list. 

We recommend that the survey is available for at least 3 weeks with at least 3 reminders. However, institutions can set their own schedule to accommodate their specific needs. 

Institutions have the flexibility to choose their preferred deployment period. There is a Fall deployment, typically between September and December, and a Winter deployment between January and April. Data collection usually starts after the stable enrolment date and ends before the exam period. We recommend participating in the Winter to allow for more comparison options, but Fall deployments are available upon request.  

We recommend avoiding high-stress times such as exam periods in order to maximize student participation and have results that reflect experiences during the term.  

The CCWS team provides a communications toolkit that includes promotional materials, templates, and strategies for engaging students. Institutions are encouraged to use these resources to increase awareness and participation, and to follow their own best practices for promotion. 

The CCWS ensures participant confidentiality through several measures, including de-identifying data and using secure data transfer and storage methods. The CCWS analysts also obscure small cell identifiers (e.g., <5 responses for a demographic option) when preparing deliverables. Individual responses are not linked to personal identifiers in the reports. 

The CCWS team provides a comprehensive report via access to the Tableau dashboard, which offers interactive data visualization and analysis tools. Institutions are also sent a case-level dataset that they can choose to analyze. 

Institutions will receive their case-level dataset within 1 month of their survey closing, and access to the Tableau dashboard within 3 months after the survey deployment period ends.  Please see the Information Package included with the Service Agreement for additional details on deliverables. 

Participating post-secondary institutions will receive a customized dataset for their own institution and access to an interactive reporting tool (i.e. Tableau dashboard) to allow comparisons with data from other non-identified institutions. They will be able to examine health and wellbeing issues affecting the broader post-secondary population, explore differences between geographical areas, and potentially share policies and practices that can help create healthier campus communities. There is a video outlining some of the features of the Tableau Dashboard on the Why participate? section of our website.

Cohort files and case-level data for individual institutions are transferred using UBC's Microsoft (MS) OneDrive. MS OneDrive allows users to securely store, share, and synchronize files and folders from anywhere at any time. Data are stored securely and hosted in Canada and are encrypted at rest. OneDrive complies with Provincial and UBC security requirements.

Yes. Up to five institution-specific additional questions can be programmed into the institution’s version of the CCWS at no additional cost. These will be added as a block to the end of the survey.

No. Alterations to the core survey will not be permitted to ensure a common surveillance tool that allows for comparisons with other institutions. We understand that due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions, there may be suggestions for wording changes. The CCWS research team has taken great care with the sensitive demographic questions and has relied on the UBC Office of Equity and Inclusion to inform us how best to ask these questions based on current ‘best’ practice – that is rapidly evolving. However, we do appreciate any feedback that will be considered on an ongoing basis by the CCWS Technical Advisory Committee.

A French version of the survey is currently available. The Tableau dashboard is available in French upon request.   

We have received interest in different types of modules. Some have been added as optional modules, such as eco-anxiety and housing security. We would like to plan future modules based on institutional need, so please send us your ideas or proposals.