The Student Assessment Center staff can assist academic departments in formulating research questions of interest to faculty dealing with various issues such as student learning, motivation, satisfaction, program evaluation , etc.

Often due to the complex nature of the questions being posed, both quantitative and qualitative research methods may be used to best address the question being explored. As such, quantitative measures such as performance data on standardized tests can be used in conjunction with survey data and exploratory focus groups to formulate a comprehensive, independent analysis of the area of inquiry.

Each research study is designed and tailored to the special needs of the department, and the depth and scope of the project often depends on the past assessment activities of the department. For example, academic departments can request specialized reports regarding student learning such as longitudinal student learning data, analysis of standardized scores, focus groups regarding student satisfaction, etc. Departments may be required to purchase specialized reports from testing services or pay for transcription if focus group data is being analyzed.

In an effort to create useful information from which academic departments can make curricular changes and improvements, the Center also assists the departments with data interpretation and makes recommendations for change based on the assessment data gained from the research study. Departments are encouraged to include discussions of assessment activities and data interpretation as part of their regular academic meeting agenda, and the Center staff can facilitate discussion concerning the patterns of evidence found in the department's assessment data.

Due to the extensive resource demands for planning and implementing such reports at least one semester advance scheduling is necessary.