“Have you ever wondered whether your fellow students are as happy as they sometimes seem on the surface?”

So began an e-mail request to a randomly selected group of Stanford students urging them to complete the Healthy Minds Survey, administered by the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, in order to assess the mental health of college students nationwide.

According to lead researcher Daniel Eisenberg ’97 Ph.D. ’02, the survey seeks to assess students’ moods and emotions, mental and emotional issues, support received and social and academic lives. It takes about 15 minutes to complete, he said in an e-mail to survey takers.

Data collected from the survey have been used to publish a series of articles examining mental health issues, health help access and college social life.

The survey has been conducted annually since 2007, according to Scott Crawford, a researcher for the survey. However, this is Stanford’s first year participating.

About 4,000 students, both undergraduates and graduates, have received invitations. According to Ronald Albucher, director of Stanford Counseling and Psychological Services, 40 percent of students have already started the survey.

Albucher said that there is a “pretty high” completion rate — 90 percent. The survey allows students to start the survey, and then stop participating at any time for any reason, including discomfort with revealing the information.

“That shows that people didn’t find it too ridiculous to complete,” he said. “Most students didn’t stop midway.”

Students were urged four times through e-mail to complete the survey.

The study will be used to help the University figure out how to aid students in emotional distress, Eisenberg said. The results will be used to see how students are doing emotionally and figure out how student life can be improved.

The University plans to administer this survey only once until further notice. It costs $2,500 for Stanford to participate.

“We may repeat it at a future time,” Albucher said. “Right now, we’re doing it as a one-time experience to see how our students respond, and to see how valuable the information is.”

“It’s our hope that it would be valuable, and we want to test it out before we commit to any future participation,” he added.

Incentives for completing the survey include being entered into a sweepstakes for cash prizes up to $4,000. Winners will be contacted in June.

According to Crawford, data collection is still wrapping up, and will not be released until mid-summer.

“[Schools] will likely require some time to digest the results as well,” he said.

Albucher predicts that this survey will allow the University to understand Stanford students more effectively, and figure out how best to help them.

“It’s really trying to cast a broad net, so to speak, around this complex issue,” he said. “Hopefully, it will show whether or not students feel they have certain difficulties accessing certain services.”

“We’ll try to analyze the data to see if there are any areas [in health access] that we need to focus on improving,” he added.