North Carolina State University
2005-2006 Graduating Senior Survey:
Introduction, Methods, and Student Demographic Profile
Introduction
This series of reports presents findings from the 2005-2006 Graduating Senior Survey at NC State University. Students from eight of the nine undergraduate academic units who graduated in December 2005 or May 2006 (AY05-06) are included1. Survey topics include: student goals and intentions; academic environment and faculty contributions; campus climate; academic and non-academic services for students; NC State's contribution to student knowledge, skills and personal development; and student employment and involvement in extracurricular activities.
This introductory report describes the survey�s methodology and provides a demographic profile of survey respondents in comparison to AY05-06 graduates. Specifically, it compares the gender, race/ethnicity2, and academic unit of survey respondents with those characteristics of the AY05-06 graduates. A separate report, "2005-2006 Graduating Senior Survey: All Respondents," focuses on each individual survey topic. Links to tables with gender and racial/ethnic comparisons, as well as comparisons between colleges, are available in the "2005-2006 Graduating Senior Survey: Table of Contents."
Survey Administration
Students planning to graduate in December 2005 or May 2006 were eligible to complete the Graduating Senior Survey. The web survey was available from the start of the fall semester in mid-August, 2005, until graduation in mid-May, 2006. Individual departments were responsible for informing their students about the survey and for following up with non-respondents. Departments typically connected the survey to the Application for Degree process. Those graduating with more than one major could complete a survey only for their primary major, as defined by university records. As in past years, several colleges and most academic departments took the opportunity to include a departmental "insert" survey along with the AY05-06 GSS to gather information more specific to their individual assessment needs. Students could complete an insert survey for each of their majors. Results from insert surveys are not available on the web, but are provided directly to the respective departments.
Respondents (Table 1)
Of the 3,519 students who graduated in Fall 2005 (N=1,226) or Spring 2006 (N=2,293), 60.8 percent (N=2,140) completed and returned usable surveys. Overall, spring graduates were more likely than fall graduates to complete the survey (64.4% vs. 54.1%).
The margin of error for the senior survey is low � under 1 percent (+0.8) at a 95 percent confidence interval. That is, if 77.4 percent of the respondents answered a question saying "yes, they would choose NC State again," we can be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 78.2 percent (77.4 + 0.8) and 76.6 percent (77.4 - 0.8) if all graduating seniors had responded to the survey3. The margin of error increases as the sample size decreases, so 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.
Table 1: Response Rate and Margin of Error by Semester| Semester | Senior Class | Survey Respondents | Response Rate | Margin of Error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2005 | 1,226 | 663 | 54.1% | +1.7 |
| May 2006 | 2,293 | 1,477 | 64.4% | +0.9 |
| Total | 3,519 | 2,140 | 60.8% | +0.8 |
Gender and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 2 and 3)
Women are slightly overrepresented among survey respondents. Women make up 45.9 percent of the senior class population, compared to 50.7 percent of the survey respondents. There are no significant racial/ethnic differences between the AY05-06 graduating senior population and survey respondents. Among the senior population, 82.2 percent are white, 9.0 percent are African American, and 8.8 percent are other racial/ethnic minorities. Among survey respondents, 84.1 percent are white, 8.5 percent African American, and 7.5 percent are other racial/ethnic minorities.
Table 2: Gender of the Graduating Senior Class and Survey Respondents| Senior Class % (N) |
Survey Respondents % (N) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Male | 54.1% (1,903) |
49.3% (1,055) |
| Female | 45.9% (1,616) |
50.7% (1,085) |
| Senior Class % (N) |
Survey Respondents % (N) |
|
|---|---|---|
| White | 82.2% (2,894) |
84.1% (1,800) |
| African American | 9.0% (315) |
8.5% (181) |
| Native American | 0.8% (29) |
0.8% (17) |
| Asian | 5.8% (204) |
4.7% (100) |
| Hispanic | 2.0% (70) |
1.8% (38) |
| Other | 0.2% (7) |
0.2% (4) |
Table 4 shows enrollment of the AY05-06 graduating senior population and survey respondents by academic unit. Due to a very low response rate, survey results for the College of Design are not representative of the graduating senior population from that college and are therefore excluded from the survey population and all analyses. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering are slightly underrepresented among survey respondents, while the College of Humanities and Social Sciences is slightly overrepresented. With one exception, all other colleges are accurately represented in the survey, with similar proportions of survey respondents and graduating class members.
Table 4: Classification by Academic Unit| Academic Unit | Degrees Conferred % (N) |
Survey Respondents % (N) |
Response Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Life Sciences | 21.4% (754) |
16.4% (352) |
46.7% |
| Education | 2.6% (93) |
2.5% (53) |
57.0% |
| Engineering | 22.2% (781) |
16.9% (361) |
46.2% |
| Natural Resources | 5.2% (182) |
5.4% (116) |
63.7% |
| Humanities and Social Sciences | 28.0% (984) |
36.4% (780) |
79.3% |
| Physical and Mathematical Sciences | 4.1% (144) |
2.6% (56) |
38.9% |
| Textiles | 2.1% (74) |
2.1% (45) |
60.8% |
| Management | 14.4% (507) |
17.6% (377) |
74.4% |
| Total | 100.0% (3,519) |
100.0% (2,140) |
60.8% |
The data obtained from survey respondents were analyzed using standard statistical methods4. These reports attempt to provide a level of detail that makes the data more accessible and interpretable to the user. A primary purpose is to highlight patterns found in responses to related question items or between comparison groups. Such consistencies among items or between groups are usually more important for understanding the data than are the sizes of the differences between individual pairs of ratings or ranks or, to some extent, whether the differences are statistically significant. While some individual small differences might actually be statistically significant, they may not be substantively meaningful. On the other hand, when even relatively small differences yield consistent patterns within a similar series of questions, the results are potentially more telling.
Endnotes:
2. 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)
3. A 95 percent confidence interval denotes the range of values that contains the true population value in 95 out of 100 possible samples of the graduating senior population. Additionally, margins of error for individual questions are usually smaller than the given margin of 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 error given is conservative. (back)
4. In analyses not presented in these reports, responses were tested to determine whether there were significant differences between women and men, between white, African American, and other minority students, and between different colleges. Questions requiring categorical responses were analyzed with chi-square tests, and questions with numerically coded responses were analyzed with either T-tests or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparison procedure. Complete results are available from University Planning and Analysis upon request. (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: October, 2006
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