COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey

Yes, IU Bloomington first participated in the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey in 2005, and recent participations have been in 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2023. We generally follow a three-year cycle, as recommended by the COACHE team. The only exception was in 2023, when the survey was postponed by a year due to COVID. 

Participating in COACHE allows IUB to gather data on faculty job satisfaction over time, particularly since 2013, when the survey questions become comparable. It also allows us to compare IUB with peer schools. Both perspectives are important, especially given the major changes since 2019 – the pandemic, leadership transitions, and broader shifts in higher education. These comparisons help us distinguish what may be unique to IUB, and what is shared among our peers. COACHE remains so far the only national survey that allows us to examine faculty satisfaction at this level of depth, and it serves as a primary source of data-informed decisions within OVPFAA. 

First, COACHE handles all direct email communication with participants and compiles both the quantitative results and the open-ended responses. Before any data are returned to us, the COACHE team reviews all qualitative responses and redacts potential identifiers, such as names or departments. In addition, open-ended responses are provided only in aggregated, thematic form and are not included in the individual-level raw data. As a result, comments cannot be linked to individual records. While this does limit some contextual analysis, it is a deliberate safeguard to prevent re-identification. 

Second, once we receive the data and begin our internal analyses. We take additional steps to prevent re-identification by masking small cells. For example, if a unit has only two women full professors and both respond to the survey, we would not report those results using the combination of the two variables; instead, we would aggregate the data to a higher level. For instance, reporting the results by gender, or by rank, but not by gender and rank simultaneously. This allows us to use the data responsibly while maintaining confidentiality. 

Finally, in accordance with IRB requirements, the raw data are not shared with anyone other than the designated data file recipient. For IU Bloomington, it is the Director of Faculty Analytics at OVPFAA. Their access is permitted because they're not in a position to make or influence faculty personnel decisions, such as tenure and promotion. This provides an additional layer of protection of confidentiality. 

IUB uses COACHE results to inform decision-making in programs and initiatives related to faculty success and development. Here are some examples: 

• The Initiative for the Advancement of Women was established based on the committee review of the COACHE 2016 survey results, with the goal to promote professional development and social networking among women-identifying faculty. In partnership with the Institute for Advanced Study, the Recently Tenured Working Group program was created in response to associate professors’ need for support in advancing their careers after tenure. 

• Clarity of tenure policies and tenure expectations emerged as areas of concern in COACHE 2019 peer comparison results. In response, OVPFAA created the Promotion and Tenure workshops to address questions about the overall process and specific ranks. In COACHE 2023, these areas were identified as strengths.   

• To address the need for effective mentoring on campus, as reflected in COACHE 2023 results, the Methods and Practices to Succeed (MAPS) program was developed. This small-group program provides structure and accountability for faculty in developing and achieving their research, teaching, and service goals.

• In COACHE 2019, participants in the Scholarly Writing Program (SWP) reported a strong sense of belonging to IUB, reinforcing continued support for SWP to serve faculty across disciplines and at all career stages.

Aggregated, school-level results are shared with deans and associate deans. In addition, OVPFAA staff conduct special analyses at the department or program level, or by demographic groups, upon request, provided the sample size is large enough to avoid re-identification.

For example, special analyses have supported planning and programming at the Center of Excellence for Women and Technology and various school committees. Topical presentations have also been created for schools on subjects such as leadership development and service load inequalities.

In previous survey cycles, committees or working groups were typically formed after IUB received the data from COACHE to review the results. This time, in line with best practices in place at other institutions, IUB is establishinga campus committee before the survey is launched that will oversee a three-year cycle of promoting faculty engagement in survey participation, interpreting results, identifying priority areas for improvement, and implementing recommended actions. 

Summary reports, presentations, and a dashboard from the most recent survey cycles are available here. An IU login is required to access the dashboard.  

Access to the COACHE dashboard is limited to full-time faculty members at IUB, as they are the target population of the survey.

Across cycles, the overall response rate at IU Bloomington has been around 40%. This means for each participation more than 2000 faculty members were invited and approximately 900 responded. Detailed response rates by demographic characteristics are available in the online dashboard.

With an overall response rate of approximately 40 percent across survey cycles, findings should be interpreted with caution. In particular, it is important to consider both the representativeness of the respondent sample and the potential for self-selection bias. 

Representativeness of demographic groups: Analyses of response rates by demographic characteristics (college or school, rank, tenure status, gender, and race/ethnicity) from recent COACHE administrations (2013, 2016, 2019, and 2023) indicate overall representativeness, with slightly uneven participation across groups. Faculty of color tend to have lower response rates compared with other faculty groups at IU Bloomington, as well as compared with faculty of color at peer institutions. Men also generally exhibit lower response rates. 

Self-selection (volunteer) bias: Because participation in the COACHE survey is voluntary and confidential, self-selection bias cannot be completely eliminated. Assessing the representativeness of the respondents helps mitigate this concern to some extent. However, data on non-participants are not available, and it is therefore not possible to determine whether those who did not participate are more or less satisfied with their jobs.  

The COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey invites current faculty only. To understand the job satisfaction of faculty who have resigned, IU Bloomington has participated in another survey conducted by the COACHE team, the Faculty Retention and Exit Survey, since 2016. This survey follows a three-year data collection cycle. Academic Year 2025-2026 marks the second year of the second iteration of the Retention and Exit Survey. 

Beginning in 2025, OVPFAA also started conducting exit interviews with faculty members who have resigned. For more information on the Retention and Exit Survey and the Faculty Exit Interview study, please click the links below.

Retention and Exit Survey

Faculty Exit Interview study

The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) instrument is designed to survey the job satisfaction of full-time faculty members and does not include a module for part-time faculty.  

The survey focuses on the three core pillars of faculty life—teaching, research, and service—and many of its questions are not applicable to the professional experiences of postdocs or academic specialists. 

The COACHE team has a FAQ page that has information on data storage security and measures taken to ensure anonymity by the COACHE team.