Automatically Extract Key Themes from Faculty Feedback Surveys That Manual Coding Takes 40+ Hours to Find

Blocksurvey blog author
Written by Swathi Lakshmi
Jul 29, 2025 · 2 mins read

Still manually sifting through open-ended survey responses?

If you're part of a university's institutional research team, an academic department, or a quality assurance office, chances are you've seen it: faculty feedback forms come in by the dozens semester after semester, and someone on your team is stuck reading, categorizing, and coding every single open comment.

You’re spending hours trying to make note of what’s working and what’s not. Maybe it’s about course structure, faculty support, workload fairness, or communication gaps, but before you even start analyzing trends, you’re buried in qualitative responses.

It’s time-consuming. It’s repetitive.

From the operations side, it’s not less frustrating. Staff are spending full days just coding responses, checking for sentiment, grouping themes, and trying to produce something meaningful from it all. Meanwhile, valuable recommendations are delayed and decision-makers are left waiting.

It’s costing more than just time

Here’s the real issue: all that manual work is slowing down your potential to act on things that matter. Spending 40+ hours to manually break down faculty feedback is the time you could be using to improve academic programs or faculty support activities. Every hour spent tagging themes manually is costing you one hour of moving initiatives forward.

Worse, manual coding often leads to inconsistency across teams, missing trends, or misinterpreting what the faculty are really saying.

The AI-Powered Shortcut You’ve Been Waiting For

What if your feedback data could analyze itself?

That’s exactly what BlockSurvey’s AI-powered survey intelligence makes possible. Instead of coding hundreds of open-text responses manually, you can automatically extract key themes in minutes, accurately and consistently.

No more tagging words by hand. No more subjective judgments. Just clean, well-organized insights that are ready to present and act on.

Here’s how BlockSurvey helps:

Automatic Thematic Analysis

Whether you’re collecting feedback on curriculum, faculty workload, or department leadership, BlockSurvey’s AI reads every response, identifies core themes, and groups them intelligently. What usually takes 40+ hours, now takes minutes.

Data Privacy First

Your faculty feedback is sensitive, and you need a tool that respects that. BlockSurvey offers end-to-end encryption, no data selling, and a commitment to privacy that aligns with higher ed compliance standards. You’re covered.

Custom Surveys That Match Your Institution

Your branding matters, so do first impressions. With BlockSurvey, you can design surveys that reflect your school’s voice and identity. Branded, professional, and trust-building from the start. 

Insights You Can Use

All results are scored, organized, and easy to export. You can track changes over time, spot new patterns, and support your reports with real qualitative data without touching a spreadsheet.

Feature

Manual Coding

AI-Driven Analysis (BlockSurvey)

Time to Analyze

Hours to weeks

Instantaneous after submission

Consistency in Theme Identification

Varies by reviewer

High consistency across responses

Staff Effort Required

High – requires trained personnel

Low – automated processing

Scalability

Limited – becomes harder with more data

Easily handles hundreds to thousands of responses

Integration with Reports

Manual data transfer, formatting required

Clean, export-ready formats for reporting

Bias & Subjectivity

Higher risk of subjective interpretation

Minimizes bias using standardized processing

Real-World Use Cases

If you're working in institutional research, academic affairs, or any team that processes open-ended faculty feedback, here’s how BlockSurvey fits into your workflow:

  1. Feedback Surveys with Built-In Analysis
    Send your usual faculty feedback surveys/forms. As soon as responses are submitted, themes are extracted, organized, and ready to review.

  2. On-Brand, Professional Presentation
    Surveys come from your institution, not a generic third-party tool. Add your logo, colors, and custom messaging to build trust and increase participation.

  3. Ready-to-Use Reports
    Responses and key insights are stored in one place, cleanly exportable for accreditation reports, board presentations, or internal review meetings.

Final Thoughts

If you're still manually coding faculty feedback, it's time to stop wasting effort on what AI can now do for you. BlockSurvey helps you extract key insights quickly, accurately, and privately so you can focus on what really matters: improving programs, supporting faculty, and driving institutional growth.

Save 40+ hours per survey cycle, reduce manual error, and free up your team to focus on real analysis, not grunt work.

Try BlockSurvey today, made for higher ed professionals who value privacy, clarity, and their time.

Automatically Extract Key Themes from Faculty Feedback Surveys That Manual Coding Takes 40+ Hours to Find FAQ

What is BlockSurvey and how does it help with faculty feedback?

BlockSurvey is an AI-powered survey platform that automates the analysis of open-ended responses. Instead of spending hours manually tagging and summarizing qualitative faculty feedback, BlockSurvey quickly extracts themes, identifies sentiment, and organizes insights – all while maintaining strict data privacy standards.

How accurate is the AI in identifying themes and sentiment?

BlockSurvey uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithms trained on diverse educational feedback data to accurately identify themes and emotional tone. While no AI is 100% perfect, our thematic analysis has shown to be more consistent and faster than traditional manual methods.

How long does it take to analyze survey responses?

What traditionally takes 40+ hours can now be done in just a few minutes. Once responses are submitted, the platform automatically processes and categorizes them, delivering organized, ready-to-use insights.

Can I still customize my survey to match our institution’s brand?

Absolutely. You can fully customize your surveys with your institution’s logo, colors, fonts, and messaging. Your surveys will feel professional and familiar to faculty, which improves trust and response rates.

Is BlockSurvey compliant with higher ed data privacy standards?

Yes. BlockSurvey is built with privacy-first architecture. It uses end-to-end encryption, does not sell your data, and meets privacy compliance requirements often needed in higher education environments such as FERPA and GDPR.

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blog author description

Swathi Lakshmi

Swathi leads the Growth Team at BlockSurvey, ensuring the company reaches new heights. When away from the office, Swathi indulges in movies, enjoys a wide variety of music, and loves to travel to new and exciting locations.

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