Carolina Collective survey data

Despite many innovative ideas generated in response to COVID-19, few
studies have examined community preferences for these ideas. Our study
aimed to determine university community members’ preferences for three
novel ideas identified through a crowdsourcing open call at the University
of North Carolina (UNC) for making campus safer in the pandemic, as
compared to existing (i.e. pre-COVID-19) resources. An online survey was
conducted from March 30, 2021 – May 6, 2021. Survey participants included
UNC students, staff, faculty, and others. The online survey was
distributed using UNC’s mass email listserv and research directory,
departmental listservs, and student text groups. Collected data included
participant demographics, COVID-19 prevention behaviors, preferences for
finalist ideas vs. existing resources in three domains (graduate student
supports, campus tours, and online learning), and interest in volunteering
with finalist teams. In total 437 survey responses were received from 228
(52%) staff, 119 (27%) students, 78 (18%) faculty, and 12 (3%) others.
Most participants were older than age 30 years (309; 71%), women (332,
78%), and white (363, 83.1%). Five participants (1%) were gender
minorities, 66 (15%) identified as racial/ethnic minorities, and 46 (10%)
had a disability. Most participants preferred the finalist idea for a
virtual campus tour of UNC’s lesser-known history compared to the existing
campus tour (52.2% vs. 16.0%). For graduate student supports, 41.4% of
participants indicated no preference between the finalist idea and
existing supports; for online learning resources, the existing resource
was preferred compared to the finalist idea (41.6% vs. 30.4%). Most
participants agreed that finalists’ ideas would have a positive impact on
campus safety during COVID-19 (81.2%, 79.6%, and 79.2% for finalist ideas
1, 2 and 3 respectively). 61 (14.1%) participants indicated interest in
volunteering with finalist teams. Together these findings contribute to
the development and implementation of community-engaged crowdsourced
campus safety interventions during COVID-19.