North Carolina State University
2002 First-Year Student Survey Data Tables:
Gender and Racial/Ethnic Comparisons of
Goals for Undergraduate Education

This document reports gender and racial/ethnic differences in the respondents' mean rating of their current development of and importance given to general education, personal development, and world view goals. Frequency distributions of responses by gender and race/ethnicity are available in "2002 First Year Student Survey: Frequency Distributions of Survey Item #18 (Goals)." For information about the survey and analysis methods, see " 2002 First-Year Student Survey: Introduction, Methods, and Student Demographic Profile." Exact question wording is available on the web or by clicking on the "Q" next to the table heading.

Current Level of Development | Level of Goal Importance | Scatterplots: Comparison of Goals Ratings

QCurrent Development

General Education Goals	Mean Rating Scale: 5="very high," 4="high," 3="average," 2="low," 1="very low"
	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Apply mathematics skills	3.77	3.61	3.90	3.66	3.78	3.86
Good listening skills	3.75	3.89	3.66	3.98	3.73	3.73
Broad general education	3.72	3.78	3.67	3.86	3.71	3.68
Plan/carry out project independently	3.71	3.86	3.60	3.84	3.70	3.63
Critically analyze info.	3.61	3.62	3.60	3.69	3.60	3.59
Understand scientific influence	3.61	3.41	3.75	3.62	3.61	3.58
Develop computer skills	3.61	3.48	3.70	3.81	3.58	3.64
Understand diverse cultures	3.60	3.76	3.47	4.13	3.49	4.00
Good reading comprehension skills	3.52	3.60	3.45	3.62	3.51	3.41
Communicate ideas orally	3.43	3.47	3.40	3.59	3.43	3.25
Apply scientific principles	3.37	3.19	3.51	3.28	3.38	3.42
Communicate in writing	3.35	3.50	3.24	3.51	3.34	3.24
Personal Development Goals	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Taking responsibility for behavior	4.21	4.34	4.12	4.40	4.20	4.16
Learning as a lifelong process	4.04	4.16	3.94	4.15	4.01	4.15
Acting upon ethical principles	3.95	4.05	3.88	4.07	3.93	4.00
Function as part of a team	3.89	3.96	3.83	4.10	3.86	3.85
Being independent and self-reliant	3.87	3.92	3.84	4.04	3.86	3.77
Understanding own abilities and interests	3.82	3.90	3.77	4.08	3.79	3.81
Having self-discipline	3.74	3.82	3.69	3.95	3.72	3.76
Realizing my potential for success	3.72	3.72	3.71	4.12	3.67	3.67
Clarifying personal identity	3.68	3.74	3.63	3.99	3.65	3.52
Having self-confidence	3.64	3.57	3.69	4.01	3.60	3.57
Commitment to health and fitness	3.61	3.62	3.61	3.79	3.61	3.48
Improving leadership/management skills	3.61	3.71	3.55	3.84	3.59	3.57
Coping with change	3.58	3.54	3.61	3.76	3.56	3.53
Handling stress	3.51	3.37	3.61	3.67	3.49	3.45
Managing my time	3.35	3.48	3.26	3.37	3.35	3.32
Involved with public/community affairs	3.27	3.47	3.13	3.57	3.24	3.20
World View Goals	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Valuing racial equity	4.18	4.35	4.05	4.49	4.13	4.36
Valuing gender equity	4.14	4.35	3.98	4.46	4.09	4.24
Interact with diverse people	3.88	4.02	3.77	4.30	3.80	4.19
Tolerance for different views	3.78	3.92	3.67	4.00	3.74	3.99
Appreciation of the arts	3.45	3.67	3.29	3.64	3.42	3.49
World problems/issues	3.39	3.29	3.46	3.58	3.36	3.48
Present as it relates to history	3.28	3.17	3.37	3.47	3.26	3.29

Frequency distributions: Gender/Ethnicity
(To view frequencies for a specific goal section, click on the section heading in the table above.)
Back to Top


Q Goal Importance

General Education Goals	Mean Rating Scale: 5=very important, 4=important, 3=moderately important, 2=of limited importance, 1=not important
	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Plan/carry out project independently	4.33	4.50	4.21	4.51	4.31	4.33
Broad general education	4.30	4.45	4.19	4.57	4.26	4.40
Develop computer skills	4.30	4.34	4.27	4.53	4.27	4.33
Good listening skills	4.25	4.44	4.12	4.68	4.20	4.24
Communicate ideas orally	4.24	4.40	4.13	4.55	4.20	4.28
Apply mathematics skills	4.18	4.14	4.21	4.38	4.16	4.18
Critically analyze info.	4.16	4.24	4.11	4.36	4.14	4.16
Good reading comprehension skills	4.13	4.29	4.01	4.61	4.07	4.07
Understand diverse cultures	4.04	4.35	3.82	4.58	3.96	4.22
Understand scientific influence	3.99	3.90	4.05	4.14	3.97	3.98
Communicate in writing	3.90	4.11	3.74	4.36	3.83	3.99
Apply scientific principles	3.83	3.72	3.91	3.83	3.83	3.87
Personal Development Goals	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Taking responsibility for behavior	4.54	4.72	4.41	4.78	4.51	4.56
Managing my time	4.53	4.71	4.40	4.77	4.49	4.58
Having self-discipline	4.50	4.66	4.39	4.77	4.47	4.49
Having self-confidence	4.48	4.63	4.38	4.72	4.45	4.49
Being independent and self-reliant	4.48	4.65	4.35	4.68	4.46	4.47
Handling stress	4.43	4.62	4.30	4.67	4.41	4.43
Realizing my potential for success	4.40	4.52	4.31	4.70	4.36	4.39
Understanding own abilities and interests	4.37	4.52	4.26	4.66	4.34	4.36
Improving leadership/management skills	4.34	4.45	4.26	4.64	4.30	4.36
Acting upon ethical principles	4.33	4.51	4.20	4.58	4.30	4.43
Commitment to health and fitness	4.32	4.48	4.21	4.50	4.31	4.25
Function as part of a team	4.32	4.44	4.23	4.61	4.28	4.33
Learning as a lifelong process	4.27	4.43	4.15	4.61	4.23	4.28
Clarifying personal identity	4.26	4.46	4.11	4.62	4.22	4.19
Coping with change	4.23	4.40	4.10	4.51	4.19	4.26
Involved with public/community affairs	3.93	4.19	3.74	4.31	3.89	3.91
World View Goals	All	Women	Men	Af. Am	White	Other
Valuing racial equity	4.40	4.62	4.23	4.76	4.34	4.49
Valuing gender equity	4.35	4.57	4.18	4.72	4.30	4.36
Interact with diverse people	4.30	4.51	4.14	4.69	4.24	4.43
Tolerance for different views	4.25	4.47	4.08	4.52	4.20	4.39
World problems/issues	4.13	4.28	4.02	4.34	4.10	4.22
Present as it relates to history	3.81	3.88	3.76	4.12	3.77	3.84
Appreciation of the arts	3.76	3.99	3.59	4.03	3.72	3.81

Frequency distributions: Gender/Ethnicity
(To view frequencies for a specific goal section, click on the section heading in the table above.)
Back to Top

Scatterplots: Comparisons of Goal Ratings

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (All Respondents)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (Female Respondents)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (Male Respondents)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (White Respondents)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (African American Respondents)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Goal Importance Ratings (Other Minority Respondents)

For more information on the 2002 First-Year Student Survey contact:
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research
Office of Institutional Planning and Research
Box 7002
NCSU
Phone: (919) 515-4184
E-mail: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu

Posted: April, 2003

Download a Microsoft Excel File of this report.

Return to 2002 First-Year Student Survey Table of Contents Page

Return to OIRP Survey Page

Return to OIRP Home Page