Evaluation Process

Depending on whether you are running an REU Site or you have an REU Supplement, we will use an evaluation method most appropriate for your awarded project and student population.

REU Sites

1. Four weeks prior to your REU start date, we will send PI instructions and a PI form. This form must be completed within 2 weeks.
2. Two weeks prior to your REU start date, we will send a suggested participant recruitment email and the pre-survey link for you to send to your REU participants. Participants will have until 1 week after the REU starts to complete this pre-survey (a total of 3 weeks). We will monitor that data collection and request reminders as appropriate.
3. On the last day of your REU, we will send you both the second PI form for you to complete and the post-survey link for participants to complete. These must be completed within 3 weeks after the REU ends. We will also monitor that data collection and request reminders as appropriate.
4. Approximately 2-3 months after data collection is complete, you will receive a report that summarizes your REU participants’ responses alongside a comparison group of REU participants at similar REU sites (depending on sample sizes).

REU Supplements

1. Four weeks prior to your REU start date, we will send PI instructions and a PI form. This form must be completed within 2 weeks.
2. Two weeks prior to your REU start date, we will send a suggested participants recruitment email and the pre-survey link for you to send to your REU participants. Participants will have until 1 week after the REU starts to complete this pre-survey (a total of 3 weeks). We will monitor that data collection and request reminders as appropriate.
3. On the last day of your REU, we will send you both the second PI form for you to complete and the post-survey link for students to complete. These must be completed within 3 weeks after the REU ends. We will also monitor that data collection and request reminders as appropriate.
4. Depending on the number of REU participants and our comparison group capabilities, we will use one of the following methods for reporting:
5. 1. You receive a full report summarizing your participants’ responses alongside a comparison group of other REU supplements.
   2. You receive a report that aggregates the participants in your department (multiple awards) together for reporting. Comparison group will include an aggregated sample of students at similar institutions.
   3. You receive a report that aggregates your participant(s) with participants from similar institutions. An appropriate comparison group will be determined at reporting.

Measures

Our REU Evaluation surveys include various measures tailored towards different experiences of students that participate in NSF CISE REUs. Below is a non-exhaustive list of measures included. 

Click here to request a copy of our participant surveys.

Previous REU experiences 

• Year, setting, and details of previous REUs that students have participated in

General attitudes and beliefs regarding computing

• Perceptions of abilities, skill sets, and accomplishments
• Levels of identification with computing and sense of belonging
• Perceived support from professional network and mentors

Future plans and career aspirations

• Highest degree intentions
• Employment and graduate school plans
• Future career interests
• Career values and perceptions of computing careers

Previous and current program details and experience

• Academic background (e.g. pre-college CS and Math courses)
• Enrollment information and reasons for matriculation and persistence
• Perceptions of degree program and institution
• Degree of involvement in curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular activities

Demographics

• Gender
• Race/ethnicity
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Marital status
• Socio-economic measures
• Parents’ education and career

If you are interested in having CERP evaluate your NSF CISE REU program, please complete our interest form. 

After you complete the interest form, you will receive an email from the CERP team (cerpreu@cra.org) within a few days confirming receipt of your form response. If you are preparing an NSF proposal for your REU, we will also provide you with a paragraph to include in your proposal.

IRB

Thank you for your interest in CERP’s evaluation of your NSF CISE REU project. While CERP has received IRB approval to conduct this evaluation, your institution’s IRB may require you to get separate approval to conduct the evaluation. CERP urges you to consult your institution’s IRB to determine whether they will require their own separate review.

Click here to request our IRB approved materials.

If you have any other questions or need any additional information to satisfy the requirements for a particular question on your local IRB forms, please contact us at cerpreu@cra.org.

Frequently Asked Questions about CERP REU Evaluation

What is the cost of working with CERP evaluation?

With funding through a contract with NSF, CERP’s evaluation services are free for NSF REU Sites and REU Supplements. PIs do not need to include a budget for CERP’s evaluation in their proposals. 

If I work with CERP, do I need to hire another evaluator?

CERP’s evaluation fulfills NSF’s evaluation requirement, so another evaluator is not necessary.

Will CERP collaborate with other evaluators?

While CERP is happy to provide other evaluators with the methodology and copies of the survey, CERP is not directly collaborating with other REU Site and Supplement evaluators for this project. 

Will CERP share data with other evaluators?

Due to privacy considerations, CERP does not share raw data collected through this project. PIs are encouraged to share the summary reports that CERP will provide each year (assuming  that there are enough participant responses) with other evaluators as needed.

When I signed up to work with CERP for evaluation, I received a proposal paragraph. How do I include it in my REU Site/Supplement proposal?

The proposal paragraph that we provide should be inserted directly into the required section of your proposal on evaluation. . As it is a general paragraph, please feel free to add minor modifications to the language so that the paragraph includes any project-specific language or institutional information.

As an REU PI working with CERP for evaluation, do I need to have my own IRB approval?

CERP will have IRB approval to conduct evaluation through Solutions IRB. As an REU PI, you are encouraged to contact your IRB office to determine whether additional oversight is required by your institution. Once we have our IRB-approved materials this upcoming spring of 2022, we will supply a copy of the approval letter and templates on our website that you can use to initiate that conversation.

Can I add site-specific questions to the CERP survey?

We have some limitations in our ability to change our surveys as our project requires approval of all study instruments by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), we can only include survey items we have submitted to them for approval. However, we will keep a record of any requested additions and will plan to review and submit changes for next year’s evaluation cycle.

Will surveys also be sent to mentors/staff?

Although official surveys for evaluation will not be sent to REU mentors and staff, CERP will collect information about the REU from PIs and other project leadership to better understand the structure of each REU. This data collection effort will be in service of providing appropriate comparison groups.

Who is responsible for administering the evaluation surveys to student participants?

Each REU project will be responsible for administering the evaluation surveys to participants. Prior to data collection, CERP will provide PIs (or the determined contact person) with all materials necessary for distribution, such as recruitment templates and the survey link. All communications from CERP will come from cerpreu@cra.org.