Can UCUES responses be calculated over time to document trends in the undergraduate experience?
It depends on the items and the time period. Although early versions of UCUES date back to 1996, the core set of items has remained relatively fixed only since 2006. Some items go back before that time, while others do not. It has been long established that responses to survey items are highly sensitive to even small changes in the question wording or response options. For example: Sullivan, John L., James E. Piereson and George E. Marcus. 1978. “Ideological Constraint in the Mass Public: A Methodological Critique and Some New Findings.” American Journal of Political Science 22: 233-249. As a result, tracking non-identical UCUES items across years is unlikely to lead to valid comparisons and is not recommended. Currently there is no comprehensive database of which items appear in which administrations of UCUES, but the complete set of questionnaires to date is available at the UCUES main page.
