The Questionnaire

The starting point for the initial development of the Bielefeld questionnaire on study conditions and health is the Bielefeld questionnaire on working conditions and health, which is based on the theory of the social capital approach developed by Professor Dr Bernhard Badura and the ProSoB questionnaire ("Productivity and social capital in the workplace"). This was developed by the health management team at Bielefeld University in cooperation with the (BGM) consultancy Salubris as part of externally funded projects (UK-NRW funding from 2013-2016) and trialled nationwide (DGUV funding from 2016-2019). As part of the second funding phase, a first draft was developed for the target group of students based on the already tested Bielefeld questionnaire on working conditions and health.

This development process involved broad-based theoretical and research work and was designed with the involvement of professional assessments from experts from various application contexts (e.g. from the central student counselling service or the family service) as well as scientific expertise (e.g. from psychology or health sciences) and, last but not least, from the target group itself (student representatives and representatives from teaching). The various stages of development were also regularly presented to and discussed with the university network and the support group of the project ending date in order to ensure the greatest possible application relevance and fit of the instrument.

The questionnaire draft underwent initial pre-testing in December 2018 and January 2019. For this purpose, a total of 206 students (from various degree programmes and subject-related semesters) from a university and a University of Applied Sciences were surveyed with the instrument as well as with additional pretest questions to test common quality criteria as part of four courses. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative pretest data, a revised draft questionnaire was presented at the end of the project in summer 2019, which represents the starting point for the current news project. At the start of the current project, this draft was again subjected to a further revision, which focused on the significantly changed study conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but which also took up further suggestions from the network of interested universities, such as a clearer survey of diversity aspects or the addition of a topic block on "fear" in the impact section.

The result is an instrument that ...

• ... is application-orientated, i.e. suitable for deriving specific measures - for example by asking about the need for action.
• ... is relationship-orientated, i.e. focuses on the study conditions that can be influenced by the university.
• ... is optimised for online-based surveys and specifically tailored to the respective survey participants with filter conditions.
• ... is modular and can be combined with other (e.g. behaviour-oriented) instruments if required.

If required, the questionnaire can be supplemented with an optional (behaviour-oriented) short questionnaire on lifestyle and the prevention of risk behaviours at the university, which was compiled by the project team at the request of the university network.

In accordance with the common theoretical foundation, the Bielefeld questionnaire on study conditions and health is also structured similarly to the questionnaire on working conditions. Both instruments are divided into two parts:

In the (more comprehensive) part 1, the so-called "drivers", in this case the study conditions, are surveyed. These include, for example, topic blocks such as the spatial conditions or support from teaching staff, instructors, lectures. Some topic blocks cannot be meaningfully evaluated by all students and are therefore provided with filter conditions. For example, questions about starting their studies are only displayed to students who are in their first or second semester, while questions about coronavirus-related changes are only displayed to students in higher semesters who experienced a period before the pandemic and therefore experienced changes at all. A special feature that has already proven its worth in the questionnaire on working conditions is the additional query on the need for action, which gives respondents the opportunity to indicate the urgency with which they believe this topic should be addressed after each topic block from Part 1 (regardless of the assessment of the topic). A high need for action often, but not always, corresponds to a critical assessment of an issue and has established itself as a starting point for prioritising measures.

Part 2 of the questionnaire asks about the so-called "effects", i.e. the outcomes, e.g. with regard to study requirements / credits or the (mental) health of students. In accordance with the theoretical basis, it is assumed that the drivers influence the effects and, depending on the assessment, the study conditions surveyed are to be assessed as a "burden" or as a "resource" for mental health, for example.

The Bielefeld questionnaire on study conditions is a"learning instrument" that is to be continuously developed further, taking into account current challenges, practical experience and university developments. This ensures the best possible fit and applicability, which in turn benefit the concrete derivation of measures at the surveyed universities and also increases the motivation to participate. For this very reason, the instrument is always adapted to the individual circumstances (such as established terminology, the number of enrolled students, existing service offerings or current relevant developments and projects) of each surveyed university in the run-up to a survey. This process is supported by the project team in an intensive advisory capacity, as only a suitable instrument can lead to meaningful, interpretable survey results.

If you are interested in the complete instrument, please contact us - we will be happy to send you a so-called "trial link", which you can use to try out the (unadapted) survey and view the items it contains:

fragebogen-studierende@uni-bielefeld.de

Student surveys using the Bielefeld Questionnaire on Study Conditions and Health are generally flexible in terms of time and can be carried out at any type of university nationwide - however, in order to better reach the target group, surveys should take place during the lecture period.

• The student questionnaire can be used across all universities as well as for individual degree programmes, Faculties or student groups (e.g. first-semester students).
• The survey results and the subsequent (participatory) derivation of measures can be used as a basis for the establishment or (further) development of an SGM.
• The results of the survey are also suitable for the risk assessment of mental stress at study places due to their relationship orientation.
• The questionnaire can be used in its entirety, but also in modular form and combined with other instruments.
• In combination with other data sources (with programme-specific evaluation), the survey results can also be used for the quality management of teaching and learning.
• There are plans to create a nationwide benchmark to categorise the results and for cross-university research on study conditions and (mental) health.

During the course of the project, the standard evaluation of the surveys will be carried out by the co-operation partners at Charité Berlin. The participating universities will receive feedback on their own survey results in a summarised and easily interpretable form.

The support provided by the project team also includes individual counselling on communicating the results and initiating participatory formats for deriving measures. As soon as a sufficient number of universities have been surveyed, the averaged results of the other universities are also reported back in the form of an external benchmark - it goes without saying that all universities are anonymised in the preparation of this benchmark so that no conclusions can be drawn. In addition, it is also possible for universities to receive their own raw data set by arrangement, for example to carry out in-depth analyses themselves or to enable degree or qualification theses based on the data. However, this must be coordinated by the universities with the respective Data Protection Department and the student representatives and the use of the data must be communicated transparently in advance of the survey.

In order to achieve the best possible processes and meaningful survey results, a variety of preparations and coordination processes are required in the run-up to a survey, in which the project team and the university network are happy to provide advice. Interested universities are therefore asked to contact us as early as possible at fragebogen-studierende@uni-bielefeld.de - even if they are still in the decision-making process.

Follow this link to access the detailed process slides: Slides - Interview process (only available in German)