This document reports survey data on gender and racial/ethnic differences in the respondents' mean ratings 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 "1999 First-Year Student Survey: Frequency Distributions of Survey Item #17 (Goals)." Survey results for all respondents are provided in "1999 First-Year Student Survey: All Respondents." For information about the survey and analysis methods, see "1999 First-Year Student Survey: Introduction, Methods, and Student Demographic Profile."

Current Level of Development | Goal Importance | Comparison of Average Ratings for Importance and Development

Current Development

	Mean Rating Scale: 5="very high," 4="high," 3="average," 2="low," 1="very low"
Personal Development Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Taking responsibility for my own behavior	4.32	4.45	4.23	4.30	4.55	4.27
Viewing learning as a lifelong process	4.08	4.20	3.99	4.06	4.29	4.04
Recognizing/acting upon ethical principles	3.94	4.10	3.83	3.92	4.13	3.95
Improving leadership/management skills	3.63	3.72	3.57	3.61	3.94	3.50
Ability to function as part of a team	4.00	4.09	3.94	3.97	4.32	3.97
Being involved in public/community affairs	3.37	3.59	3.20	3.35	3.59	3.28
Understanding own abilities and interests	3.92	3.99	3.87	3.90	4.13	3.87
Developing a commitment to personal health and fitness	3.64	3.64	3.64	3.64	3.68	3.52
Having self-confidence	3.76	3.73	3.78	3.72	4.22	3.71
Realizing my potential for success	3.79	3.79	3.80	3.76	4.17	3.75
Clarifying personal identity	3.76	3.83	3.70	3.72	4.05	3.80
Coping with change	3.66	3.65	3.67	3.64	3.84	3.66
Being independent and self-reliant	3.97	4.01	3.93	3.96	4.09	3.92
Handling stress	3.59	3.46	3.68	3.57	3.78	3.52
Managing my time	3.38	3.50	3.28	3.38	3.46	3.28
Having self-discipline	3.80	3.88	3.74	3.78	4.03	3.72
General Education Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Acquiring a broad general education	3.75	3.82	3.69	3.72	3.97	3.73
Ability to communicate ideas in writing	3.44	3.55	3.36	3.44	3.61	3.21
Ability to communicate ideas orally	3.56	3.62	3.52	3.57	3.74	3.32
Developing good listening skills	3.83	3.98	3.72	3.81	4.05	3.74
Developing good reading comprehension skills	3.50	3.57	3.45	3.50	3.69	3.27
Ability to apply mathematics skills	3.75	3.59	3.87	3.76	3.59	3.93
Understanding how science and technology influence everyday life	3.65	3.47	3.78	3.65	3.64	3.74
Ability to apply scientific principles	3.39	3.22	3.52	3.40	3.28	3.43
Developing computer skills	3.53	3.34	3.66	3.50	3.67	3.70
Ability to critically analyze events, information and ideas	3.62	3.63	3.60	3.62	3.60	3.60
Ability to plan/carry out projects independently	3.77	3.91	3.67	3.78	3.78	3.69
Understanding diverse cultures/values	3.43	3.64	3.28	3.35	3.91	3.90
World View Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Understanding issues/problems facing the world	3.35	3.27	3.41	3.33	3.48	3.37
Understanding the present as it relates to history	3.29	3.19	3.37	3.29	3.41	3.21
Being able to interact/work w/ people from diverse backgrounds	3.84	4.01	3.71	3.77	4.26	4.17
Advancing my appreciation of the arts, music, and literature	3.47	3.68	3.31	3.45	3.58	3.52
Having a tolerance for different points of view	3.82	3.95	3.73	3.79	4.03	3.95
Valuing gender equity	4.16	4.40	3.98	4.11	4.48	4.33
Valuing racial equity	4.18	4.41	4.00	4.11	4.58	4.45

Frequency distributions: Gender/Ethnicity
(To view frequencies for a specific item or goal section, click on the item or section heading in the table above.)
Survey item #17 (exact wording)

Goal Importance

	Mean Rating Scale: 5="very important," 4="important," 3="moderately important," 2="of limited importance," 1="not important"
Personal Development Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Taking responsibility for my own behavior	4.64	4.77	4.54	4.63	4.75	4.61
Viewing learning as a lifelong process	4.35	4.47	4.26	4.34	4.50	4.34
Recognizing/acting upon ethical principles	4.33	4.51	4.19	4.32	4.46	4.26
Improving leadership/management skills	4.42	4.53	4.34	4.40	4.59	4.42
Ability to function as part of a team	4.44	4.51	4.39	4.42	4.61	4.48
Being involved in public/community affairs	3.99	4.24	3.80	3.96	4.27	4.03
Understanding own abilities and interests	4.47	4.61	4.37	4.45	4.67	4.47
Developing a commitment to personal health and fitness	4.33	4.48	4.22	4.32	4.48	4.25
Having self-confidence	4.61	4.72	4.52	4.58	4.80	4.65
Realizing my potential for success	4.48	4.64	4.36	4.45	4.75	4.52
Clarifying personal identity	4.33	4.56	4.16	4.31	4.55	4.28
Coping with change	4.33	4.51	4.19	4.31	4.51	4.34
Being independent and self-reliant	4.55	4.71	4.43	4.54	4.68	4.50
Handling stress	4.50	4.65	4.39	4.49	4.65	4.45
Managing my time	4.62	4.74	4.53	4.60	4.76	4.67
Having self-discipline	4.58	4.71	4.50	4.57	4.69	4.58
General Education Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Acquiring a broad general education	4.36	4.47	4.27	4.34	4.54	4.33
Ability to communicate ideas in writing	4.13	4.30	4.02	4.10	4.42	4.18
Ability to communicate ideas orally	4.44	4.55	4.35	4.42	4.59	4.47
Developing good listening skills	4.41	4.58	4.28	4.39	4.65	4.30
Developing good reading comprehension skills	4.26	4.42	4.14	4.22	4.57	4.31
Ability to apply mathematics skills	4.30	4.28	4.31	4.27	4.48	4.43
Understanding how science and technology influence everyday life	4.08	4.06	4.10	4.06	4.23	4.22
Ability to apply scientific principles	3.95	3.92	3.97	3.94	4.00	4.08
Developing computer skills	4.47	4.58	4.40	4.45	4.69	4.55
Ability to critically analyze events, information and ideas	4.20	4.31	4.12	4.18	4.35	4.30
Ability to plan/carry out projects independently	4.39	4.55	4.28	4.38	4.58	4.35
Understanding diverse cultures/values	3.89	4.20	3.65	3.81	4.43	4.08
World View Goals	All	Female	Male	White	Af. Am.	Other
Understanding issues/problems facing the world	4.07	4.23	3.94	4.05	4.20	4.06
Understanding the present as it relates to history	3.78	3.85	3.72	3.76	3.98	3.74
Being able to interact/work w/ people from diverse backgrounds	4.30	4.50	4.16	4.25	4.64	4.48
Advancing my appreciation of the arts, music, and literature	3.77	4.00	3.60	3.75	3.97	3.80
Having a tolerance for different points of view	4.32	4.52	4.16	4.29	4.53	4.37
Valuing gender equity	4.35	4.57	4.19	4.31	4.66	4.47
Valuing racial equity	4.41	4.62	4.26	4.37	4.73	4.53

Frequency distributions: Gender/Ethnicity
(To view frequencies for a specific item or goal section, click on the item or section heading in the table above.)
Survey item #17 (exact wording)

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Importance Ratings (Female Respondents)

1 Acquiring a broad general education	19 Understanding own abilities/interests
2 Ability to communicate ideas in writing	20 Commitment to health and fitness
3 Ability to communicate ideas orally	21 Having self-confidence
4 Developing good listening skills	22 Realizing my potential for success
5 Developing reading comp. skills	23 Clarifying personal identity
6 Ability to apply math skills	24 Coping with change
7 Understanding scientific influence	25 Being independent and self-reliant
8 Apply scientific principles	26 Handling stress
9 Developing computer skills	27 Managing my time
10 Critically analyze info.	28 Having self-discipline
11 Plan/carry out project independently	29 World problems/issues
12 Understanding diverse cultures	30 Present as it relates to history
13 Taking responsibility for behavior	31 Interact with diverse people
14 Learning as lifelong process	32 Appreciation of the arts
15 Acting on ethical principles	33 Tolerance for different views
16 Leadership/management skills	34 Valuing gender equity
17 Function as part of a team	35 Valuing racial equity
18 Involved with public and comm. affairs

Goal development/importance by rank order: Gender/Ethnicity
Back to Top

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

1 Acquiring a broad general education	19 Understanding own abilities/interests
2 Ability to communicate ideas in writing	20 Commitment to health and fitness
3 Ability to communicate ideas orally	21 Having self-confidence
4 Developing good listening skills	22 Realizing my potential for success
5 Developing reading comp. skills	23 Clarifying personal identity
6 Ability to apply math skills	24 Coping with change
7 Understanding scientific influence	25 Being independent and self-reliant
8 Apply scientific principles	26 Handling stress
9 Developing computer skills	27 Managing my time
10 Critically analyze info.	28 Having self-discipline
11 Plan/carry out project independently	29 World problems/issues
12 Understanding diverse cultures	30 Present as it relates to history
13 Taking responsibility for behavior	31 Interact with diverse people
14 Learning as lifelong process	32 Appreciation of the arts
15 Acting on ethical principles	33 Tolerance for different views
16 Leadership/management skills	34 Valuing gender equity
17 Function as part of a team	35 Valuing racial equity
18 Involved with public and comm. affairs

Goal development/importance by rank order: Gender/Ethnicity
Back to Top

Scatterplot Comparing Goal Development and Importance Ratings (White Respondents)

For more information on the 1999 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
Email: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu

Posted: April, 2000

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