You may check your email inbox on Tuesdays and find an email from Quinnipiac’s Student Government Association (SGA). These emails are SGA’s Tuesday Two surveys that the organization sends out weekly to receive student input on various topics that relate to life on campus.
So where does all this information from surveys such as the Tuesday Two go?
“Every email is different,” SGA President Joey Mullaney said. “Throughout SGA, we’re all working on different things. We try to get data on those certain things.”
Mullaney explained that SGA deals with some of the data they receive from their surveys, while other data is handed over to administration to evaluate the desires of students on campus.
“We get the data, and there is a physical example that we give to administrators. We also have students that give us their opinions on certain initiatives that we’re working on and give us feedback that we take so when we meet with the administrators, we have what students say about the issue,” Mullaney explained.
Mullaney described the process behind the usage of the data SGA receives, citing a specific example of a survey he helped design.
“For example, (the recent parking survey) was (designed by) me and a senior (class representative), so we needed that data to take and give to administrators once we met with them,” Mullaney said. “Same with every Tuesday Two we get… some are for administrators, some are for us.”
As for the person directly dealing with the data collected, Mullaney explained that Vice President for Student Experience Ali Munshi is the one who takes on that task.
“Ali Munshi is the one in charge (of working with the data), but sometimes, someone else needs data on a certain topic for when they meet with administrators to see what the students want,” Mullaney said.
Munshi explained the exact process behind SGA’s collection of data and how they use the data they collect.
“The process basically starts with all of SGA coming together and identifying either problems that need to be addressed or initiatives that we want to explore and take a look at more closely,” Munshi said. “From there, the Student Experience committee meets at our regular Tuesday night meetings, and we work through how we can formulate questions around a given topic to start understanding what can be done about it.”
Munshi said that, following that process, the actual surveys go out to students.
“After the questions are decided upon, campus life and SGA work to edit the survey and send it out,” Munshi said.
Mullaney said that Tuesday Twos have become more prevalent in the past year.
“We really started getting Tuesday Twos going last year, so we’re trying to figure out the best way to use (the data collected),” Mullaney said.
Mullaney explained that SGA has improved in keeping students informed regarding the information collected in the surveys.
“Originally, (Tuesday Twos) were used just for us for data purposes, but the student body didn’t know that, so more and more you’ll see (SGA) putting the results on Facebook in order to be as transparent as possible,” Mullaney said.
Sophomore nursing major Piper Swinton has seen the various surveys but has never actually partaken in answering any of them.
“I just usually don’t have the time (to take the surveys),” Swinton said.
Mullaney made clear that SGA’s ultimate goal is to always act in the best interest of the students on campus.
“Recently, we asked questions such as, ‘How do you feel about your student government? Are they helping your needs?’” Mullaney said. “We got good feedback about things we have to work on, but mainly, it is for collecting data on the certain initiatives student government works on.”
