Access and Success Questionnaire (ASQ)
What is the ASQ?
The Access and Success Questionnaire (ASQ) – formerly known as TASO’s widening participation questionnaire – is designed to help the higher education sector to better evaluate its access and student success activities by providing a set of validated scales that can be used to measure the key intermediate outcomes these activities aim to improve.
All scales have undergone a multi-stage process of testing and validation. The note on the validation process for the ASQ outlines these steps and our rapid evidence review (see below) highlights the strength of evidence behind each respective scale in terms of their association with access and success in higher education.
The prompts for each scale have also been tested. Where relevant, simpler wording is provided for use with younger learners, or any respondents you think will benefit from this.
You can download the ASQ and note on the validation process below.
Access the Access and Success Questionnaire (ASQ)
Download the validation process note for the ASQ
Download TASO’s rapid evidence review
Watch a short introduction to the ASQ and who it’s for below.
How do I use the ASQ?
Using the ASQ is simple. We provide more information and outline five, straightforward steps to help you use it in our user guidance below.
Download the ASQ user guidance
Watch a short video that will support you in using the ASQ below.
Are the ASQ scales the only scales I need?
The important thing is to use validated scales that align with the expected outcome of the student access or success programme being evaluated. This may be an ASQ scale, or it may be another validated scale. You can access some of the validated scales currently available below.
Download The Toolkit for Access and Participation Evaluation (TAPE)
Access The Education Endowment Foundation’s SPECTRUM database
Can I create my own scale?
Yes, you can design and validate your own scale. An introductory guide on how to do this is available below. However, we advise you only do so if the ASQ or any of the other currently available validated scales do not match your programme’s outcome. Scale validation is complex and therefore, wherever possible, using an existing scale is a much better option than validating one from scratch.
Download guidance on designing and validating your own scale