Skip to content

Confidential survey on academia/teaching - undergrad or grad including law school or medical school Copyright 2024, 2022 Jan Yager, Ph.D.

1.Are you currently an adjunct? (If you answered "no" to this question and are a student or a college graduate who has never been an adjunct, you can skip to these questions in the survey that pertain to you: questions 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17-22, 56-59. Thank you)
2.If you answered yes, how long have you been an adjunct?
3.What is your highest academic achievement? (If your choice is missing, or if the survey won't let you check off multiple answers, please add that information in the "Other" category/section.)
4.Have you ever been a fulltime faculty member?
5.If you answered "yes" to question 4, please share more details in the comment box below.
6.Please use the space below to share how you feel about adjuncting.
7.Please select the #1 reason you are (or were) an adjunct. (If YOUR reason is missing from the list below, please add it in the "Other" section.)
8.If you used to be an adjunct but you stopped, how long ago did you stop adjuncting? At that point, how many years had you been adjuncting?
9.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, WHY did you stop adjuncting?
10.You can remain completely anonymous or you can share your contact information for possible follow-up by e-mail, phone, or Zoom.
11.Please indicate that you give permission for your survey to be used anonymously.(Required.)
12.If there are other questions related to adjuncting that I should be asking, please indicate below.
13.Do you feel there is a stigma associated with being an adjunct (part-time) faculty versus fulltime?
14.Please explain your answer related to whether or not their is a stigma related to adjuncting (part-time teaching)..
15.Please share anecdotes related to your adjunct career, the good, the bad, and the ugly, as they say.
16.Please check off your academic discipline. If your discipline is missing, please add it in the "other" section.(Required.)
17.Please share as much as possible about yourself in the box below. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? If you have another job or career besides adjuncting, what is it? If there is anything you could change about adjuncting, what would it be? Do you see yourself adjuncting in 5 years? 10? 20? Are you single? married? Do you have children? If you are fulltime, please share about your experiences as a fulltime academic.
18.Gender(Required.)
19.What is your age?(Required.)
20.If there are any written materials -- journal or popular articles, blogs, or books -- related to adjuncting and/or teaching or academia that you recommend, please list below.
21.Race and/or ethnicity and/or religion (answer only what you want to share about)(Required.)
22.What is the #1 misconception about being an adjunct held by either the public or by others in academia including fulltime faculty, administrators, and/or students?
23.Do you belong to a union for adjuncts at one or more of the colleges or universities where you are currently teaching?
24.What's the most number of courses you have taught as an adjunct in any one semester?
25.How many courses do you teach as an adjunct in a typical semester?
26.Check off any of the following activities for adjuncts that your current college of university offers its adjuncts. (If the survey won't allow you to check off more than one, please add those activities in the Other section.)
27.
What is the biggest advantage, if any, that being an adjunct has over being fulltime faculty?
28.What is the biggest disadvantage of being an adjunct, if any, versus being a fulltime faculty?
29.Would you be open to any of your comments being used for attribution if the quote was checked out with you first?(Required.)
30.If you are currently an adjunct, what is the per 3 credit course rate at the college/university you are currently teaching at? (If the fee you note is for a course that is not 3 credit -- 1, 2, 4, 5, or more credits -- please note that in the OTHER section. You can also write the specific amount in the other section.)
31.In terms of size, what is the greatest number of students you have had in any one class that you adjuncted?
32.What is the typical class size for the courses you are an adjunct for?
33.Which of the following best describes your current relationship status?(Required.)
34.Do you have any children?(Required.)
35.If yes to the previous question, what are their ages and gender (including any stepchildren)?
36.Are you currently in graduate school getting an advanced degree?
37.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, what advanced degree are you currently pursuing? (If your response is missing from the list below, please add it in "Other" and/or any related comments.)
38.If you are currently an adjunct, at the college (university/law school/medical school) where you teach, what is the contractual teaching load for FT (full-time) faculty? 2/3, 3/3, 3/4, 4/4. 5/5. etc? (Use the comment box for your answer. If you don't k now, you can put "don't know.")
39.If the college/university where you are currently adjunct does not have a union, is there interest in forming one?
40.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, what's stopping the adjuncts from unionizing?
41.I will not refer to your specific college without written permission, but I would appreciate it, just for background research purposes, learning the names of any schools you currently or previously taught at as either an adjunct or fulltime.
42.This adjuncting survey is being distributed through a snowball sampling technique. Are you willing to forward the link to any colleagues, friends, or relatives who currently or previously taught who might want to complete it?
43.How did you learn about this survey? If you want to check off more than one option and the survey won't let you, please put any additional choices into the "Other" box
44.What can be done to improve an adjunct's job? Check off ALL that apply and if the survey won't allow you to check off more than one, put all your answers into the "Other" box
45.What is the typical per course FEE for a 3 credit course at the college or university where you are now or in the past are now adjunct? (If you want to share about the fee for a graduate course fee, or there are any extenuating circumstances, such as having a 4 credit course, please put your information in the "Other" box) Since the numbers below are rounded off, you can also include the exact gross amount per 3 credit course in "Other" box.
46.If you could input about what a book about adjuncting should include, what would you suggest it covers?
47.Have you ever had a course cancelled at the last minute because it had to be given to a fulltime faculty member instead?
48.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, what were the consequences of that cancellation and how did it impact you including financially?
49.Have you ever had a course cancelled at the last minute because of under enrollment?
50.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, what was the consequence to you when one or more courses you were planning to teach in a particular semester got cancelled due to under enrollment?
51.As an adjunct, do you find the lack of income that is typical for most adjuncts during the months of January, June, July, and August hard on you financially?
52.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, what do you typically do to make up for the lack of adjuncting pay during one or all of those months?
53.If you know of any resources that are especially interested in offering work to adjuncts in your field, please share any resources below.
54.This is completely confidential and will only be used for statistical purposes. but please list your gross income before taxes from teaching (as an adjunct or fulltime) during 2023
55.Use this space to add anything you want to share about your adjunct or fulltime current or previous experiences. Is there anything, in hindsight, you would have done differently in your teaching career? What is your advice to someone graduating with a Ph.D. about whether to pursue a career in academia? What are any of the strategies or relationships that you practiced that you think contributed to your success or the oppositer?
56.If you are currently a college or graduate student, or you are a graduate who has never been an adjunct, please share about whether or not when you have or had a course, you were aware if the person teaching the course was a full-time tenured professor, a full-time non-track professor, and/or an adjunct. (You can also add your comments in the Other section)
57.Reflecting now on the concept of fulltime versus part-time professors, do you have any comments or opinions about it?
58.If you answered "yes" to the previous question, please share your comments or opinions here.
59.As a current or former college or graduate (or law or medial school) student, is it important to you if you're taught (or were taught) by a fulltime faculty member versus someone who is part-time?
60.Please explain your answer to #59.
61.If you are currently an adjunct (part-time faculty member), who gives out the course assignment for the following semester?
62.If you are currently an adjunct, do you create your own syllabus?
63.Thanks for providing more details to your answer to Q62 about syllabus development.
64.Considering your very first teaching job as an adjunct (or as a full timer if you went right to full-time), how did you land that first job? (If your way is missing form the choices, please put it in the "other" section. You can also add additional comments there as well.)