North Carolina State University
2009 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey
Introduction, Methods, and Alumni Demographic Profile
Introduction
This series of reports presents findings from the NC State University 2009 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey. The on-line survey was conducted between January 12, 2009 and April 3, 2009. Information was gathered from alumni who received a bachelor's degree between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006. Alumni were asked about their satisfaction with their undergraduate experience, their preparation in and need for various skills and abilities in their current professional positions, post-graduation education and employment, and to what extent they value certain alumni services.
This introductory report describes the survey methods and provides a demographic profile of survey respondents in comparison to the population of NC State baccalaureates. Specifically, survey respondents and baccalaureate alumni who graduated between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006 are compared in terms of gender, race/ethnicity 1, academic unit, graduation year, and current residence. A separate report, 2009 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey: All Respondents, focuses on each individual topic in the Alumni Survey. Survey questions and detailed tables of responses by gender, race/ethnicity, and college are also available on the web.
Survey Methods
The survey population included baccalaureate alumni who graduated between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006. The final sample excluded alumni whose mailing addresses are unknown or classified as undeliverable by the U.S. Postal Service (1,047 of the 12,276 baccalaureate alumni, or 8.5%). Alumni in the sample were sent letters requesting they complete the 2009 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey on the web. The personalized letters were on the letterhead of the department from which they graduated, and signed by the current head of the department. Up to five follow-up reminders, (3 emails, 1 postcard, and one letter) were sent to non-respondents. As an incentive, the initial contact letter included an NC State University Alumni magnet with the survey URL. In addition, those who participated in the survey by February 18 were entered into a drawing in which eight alumni were randomly selected to each win $75. A second incentive (four $100 prizes) was offered to those who responded between February 18 and March 25. Each alumnus was assigned a unique ID and password that they were prompted to enter on the first page of the survey. In addition to allowing for the tracking of respondents, the unique identifiers eliminated the need to ask alumni various demographic questions that could be obtained from student data files.
After up to six mailings, a total of 2,933 surveys were completed for a 26.1 percent response rate (2,933 out of 11,229). The margin of sampling error for the Alumni Survey is low (±1.3) at a 95 percent confidence interval. That is, if 31.7 percent of the respondents said they received "excellent preparation" by NC State for their first full-time job, we can be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 30.4 percent (31.7-1.3) and 33.0 percent (31.7+1.3) if all alumni graduating between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006 had responded to the survey2. Because the margin of sampling error increases as the sample size decreases, statements for various subgroups, such as the separate figures reported for whites and African Americans, are less precise than statements based on the total sample.
Demographics of Summer 2003 - Spring 2006 Graduates, Final Sample, and Survey Respondents
The following sections compare demographic characteristics of the full population of eligible alumni, the final sample of alumni, and those who actually responded to the survey. As previously noted, 8.5 percent of the survey population of Summer 2003 through Spring 2006 baccalaureate graduates had unknown/undeliverable addresses, and were therefore excluded from the final sample. Analyses were performed to compare alumni with unknown/undeliverable addresses to those with deliverable addresses in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, academic unit, and year of graduation. These analyses indicate that there is no gender difference in the two groups. However, Asian (13.2%), Hispanic (11.2%), and Other (30.8%) alumni were more likely than White (7.9%), African American (9.4%), and Native American (6.4%) alumni to be excluded from the survey sample, due to unknown/undeliverable addresses. The percentage of alumni classified as unknown/undeliverable ranges from 4.5 percent in the College of Humanaties and Social Sciences to 12.7 percent in the College of Textiles. There was a slight difference in address deliverability across academic year of graduation, with alumni graduating more recently being slightly less likely to be excluded from the sample due to unknown/undeliverable addresses (7.7% in AY05-06, 8.5% in AY04-05, and 9.3% in AY03-04). Despite these differences, the final sample closely mirrors the demographic characteristics of the population.
Those responding to the survey vary somewhat from the full population in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, and college from which they graduated, but not in terms of the year in which they graduated. The differences, however, are not great enough to imply that the survey results would be appreciably different for the full population of baccalaureate graduates from Summer 2003 to Spring 2006. These reports are therefore based on the assumption that the results obtained are broadly representative of the population of NC State bachelor degree recipients between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006.
Gender and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 1 and 2)Women made up 45.3 percent of those who received bachelors' degrees from NC State between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006, but 49.5 percent of those responding to the survey. White respondents were slightly overrepresented among survey respondents, making up 85 percent of respondents, but only 82 percent of the alumni population. African Americans and non-African American minorities were slightly underrepresented among survey respondents, as compared to the full population (7.9% vs. 9.1% and 7.3% vs. 8.7%, respectively).
Table 1: Gender of Alumni Population, Sample, and Survey Respondents| Gender | Alumni Population | Alumni Sample | Survey Respondents |
Response Rate (N Respondents/ N Sample) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | % | |
| Female | 5,559 | 45.3% | 5,092 | 45.3% | 1,452 | 49.5% | 28.5% |
| Male | 6,717 | 54.7% | 6,137 | 54.7% | 1,481 | 50.5% | 24.1% |
| Total | 12,276 | 100.0% | 11,229 | 100.0% | 2,933 | 100.0% | 26.1% |
| Race/Ethnicity | Alumni Population | Alumni Sample | Survey Respondents |
Response Rate (N Respondents/ N Sample) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | % | |
| White | 10,091 | 82.2% | 9,294 | 82.8% | 2,486 | 84.8% | 26.7% |
| African American | 1,123 | 9.1% | 1,017 | 9.1% | 233 | 7.9% | 22.9% |
| Native American | 78 | 0.6% | 73 | 0.7% | 22 | 0.8% | 30.1% |
| Asian | 674 | 5.5% | 585 | 5.2% | 131 | 4.5% | 22.4% |
| Hispanic | 232 | 1.9% | 206 | 1.8% | 47 | 1.6% | 22.8% |
| Other | 78 | 0.6% | 54 | 0.5% | 14 | 0.5% | 25.9% |
| Total | 12,276 | 100.0% | 11,229 | 100.0% | 2,933 | 100.0% | 26.1% |
Academic Unit (Table 3)
Table 3 shows the college from which primary or first degree was received for the Summer 2003 through Spring 2006 alumni population, the final sample, and survey respondents. Graduates of the College of Management are slightly underrepresented among survey respondents, making up 14.5 percent of the alumni population, but only 11.7 percent of survey respondents. Other academic units are generally well represented in the survey, with similar proportions of survey respondents and alumni population members. For example, College of Design alumni represent about 3 percent of the population, 3 percent of the sample and 3 percent of survey respondents.
Table 3: Academic Unit of Alumni Population, Sample, and Survey Respondents| Academic Unit | Alumni Population | Alumni Sample | Survey Respondents |
Response Rate (N Respondents/ N Sample) |
Margin of Sampling Error |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | % | ||
| Agriculture and Life Sciences | 2,328 | 19.0% | 2,095 | 18.7% | 574 | 19.6% | 27.4% | ±3.0 |
| Design | 371 | 3.0% | 347 | 3.1% | 76 | 2.6% | 21.9% | ±8.8 |
| Education | 294 | 2.4% | 278 | 2.5% | 81 | 2.8% | 29.1% | ±7.7 |
| Engineering | 2,898 | 23.6% | 2,590 | 23.1% | 718 | 24.5% | 27.7% | ±2.6 |
| Natural Resources | 531 | 4.3% | 500 | 4.5% | 155 | 5.3% | 31.0% | ±5.4 |
| Humanities and Social Sciences | 3,234 | 26.3% | 3,087 | 27.5% | 762 | 26.0% | 24.7% | ±2.7 |
| Physical and Mathematical Sciences | 534 | 4.3% | 492 | 4.4% | 135 | 4.6% | 27.4% | ±6.1 |
| Textiles | 307 | 2.5% | 268 | 2.4% | 88 | 3.0% | 32.8% | ±7.0 |
| Management | 1,779 | 14.5% | 1,572 | 14.0% | 344 | 11.7% | 21.9% | ±4.1 |
| Total | 12,276 | 100.0% | 11,229 | 100.0% | 2,933 | 100.0% | 26.1% | ±1.3 |
Graduation Year (Table 4)
There are no significant differences between the alumni population, the sample, and survey respondents with respect to the academic year in which they received their bachelor???s degrees. Similar to both the alumni population and survey sample, about one-third of survey respondents graduated in each academic year represented in the survey.
Table 4: Graduation Year of Alumni Population, Sample, and Survey Respondents| Academic Year | Alumni Population | Alumni Sample | Survey Respondents |
Response Rate (N Respondents/ N Sample) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | % | |
| AY03-04 | 4,095 | 33.4% | 3,714 | 33.1% | 989 | 33.7% | 26.6% |
| AY04-05 | 4,123 | 33.6% | 3,771 | 33.6% | 985 | 33.6% | 26.1% |
| AY05-06 | 4,058 | 33.1% | 3,744 | 33.3% | 959 | 32.7% | 25.6% |
| Total | 12,276 | 100.0% | 11,229 | 100.0% | 2,933 | 100.0% | 26.1% |
Current Residence (Table 5)
Table 5 shows current residence for the alumni sample and survey respondents. Because the population includes alumni for whom we have no address and for whom we received returned, undeliverable mail, population figures are excluded from the following table. In addition, those with "unknown" residence who completed the survey after receiving survey announcements via e-mail are excluded. North Carolinians were slightly underrepresented among survey respondents, making up about 82 percent of the alumni sample and about 78 percent of respondents.
Table 5: Current Residence of Sample and Survey Respondents| Current Residence | Alumni Sample | Survey Respondents |
Response Rate (N Respondents/ N Sample) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | % | |
| North Carolina | 9,125 | 81.8% | 2,245 | 78.3% | 24.6% |
| Outside North Carolina | 2,037 | 18.2% | 624 | 21.7% | 30.6% |
1. The term "racial/ethnic" is used throughout these reports to recognize the potentially blurred distinction between the individual terms. In application materials students were requested to identify themselves using the following categories: Caucasian, African American or Black (not of Hispanic origin), Native American Indian or Alaskan, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish origin or culture, regardless of race). For analysis purposes, these categories were collapsed into "White," "African American," and "other minorities." (back)
2. A 95 percent confidence interval denotes the range of values which contains the true population value in 95 out of 100 possible samples of the alumni population. Margins of sampling error for individual questions are usually even smaller than the given margin of sampling error for the sample because the variance of proportions in each survey item is almost always less than the 50/50 figure used in calculating the confidence interval. Thus, the margin of sampling error given is conservative. (back)
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research
Office of Institutional Planning and Research
Box 7002
NCSU
Phone: (919) 515-4184
Email: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu
Posted: May, 2009
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