North Carolina State University
2008 Sophomore Student Survey:
Introduction, Methods and Student Demographic Profile
Introduction
This series of reports presents findings from the 2008 Sophomore Survey conducted during the spring semester 2008 at NC State University. Eligible sophomores had completed 45-59 credit hours, with at least 30 at NC State. Students from all 10 undergraduate academic units, including the First Year College, were included in the study.This introductory report describes the survey methods and compares survey respondents to the survey population on gender, race/ethnicity1, and academic unit. A separate report, "2008 Sophomore Student 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 online via the "2008 Sophomore Survey: Table of Contents.
Survey Administration
Respondents (Table 1)Students who had completed 45-59 credit hours, with at least 30 at NC State by the beginning of spring semester 2008, were eligible to complete the Sophomore Survey. The online survey was available from January 31 until May 12. A drawing was held to select five respondents who completed the survey online by February 19 to each receive $75. All students in the survey population were sent both a postcard via campus or U.S. mail, and an email inviting them to participate in the survey. Up to three email follow-up reminders were sent to nonrespondents. Students not completing the online survey by February 19 received a paper copy of the questionnaire from their advisors during the spring advising period. Students living on campus who had not completed the survey by April 29 were sent another copy of the paper survey (and a letter including a link to the web survey). Those students who completed the survey after this mailing and before May 12 were eligible for a second-round drawing to win one of three $25 prizes.
Of the 2,464 eligible sophomores, 54.9 percent (1,353) returned usable surveys — 1,223 online and 130 paper — yielding a margin of error of ±1.2 points at a 95 percent confidence interval. That is, if 44.5 percent of respondents rated library services overall as "excellent," we can be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 43.3 percent (44.5 - 1.2) and 45.7 percent (44.5 + 1.2), had all eligible sophomores responded to the survey 2. 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: Comparison of Online and Paper Respondents
| Sophomore Population |
Survey Respondents | Overall Response Rate |
Margin of Error | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web | Paper | Total | |||
| 2,464 | 1,223 | 130 | 1,353 | 54.9% | ±1.2 |
Demographics of the Sophomore Class and Survey Respondents
Gender and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 2 and 3)There were no significant racial/ethnic differences between the eligible sophomores enrolled at NC State in the spring of 2008 and those who responded to the survey. Women were slightly but significantly overrepresented among respondents, making up 48.5 percent of the sophomore population and 52.7 percent of survey respondents. Eighty percent of the sophomore students were white, 9 percent African American, and 11 percent other minorities (including multiracial respondents and those who preferred not to have their racial/ethnic group recorded). Among survey respondents, 81.2 percent were white, 7.2 percent African American, and 11.7 percent other minorities.
Table 2: Gender of Sophomore Class and Survey Respondents; Response Rates
| Gender | Sophomore Population % (N) |
Survey Respondents % (N) |
Response Rate | Margin of Error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 48.5% (1196) |
52.7% (713) |
59.6% | ±1.5 |
| Male | 51.5% (1268) |
47.3% (640) |
50.5% | ±1.9 |
Table 3: Race/Ethnicity of Sophomore Class and Survey Respondents; Response Rates
Academic Units (Table 4)
Table 4 presents enrollment of sophomore students and survey respondents by academic unit. There were no significant differences in classification between the sophomore class and the survey respondents. The largest percentages of sophomore students were enrolled in the College of Engineering (COE) followed by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), a pattern mirrored by the respondents to the survey.
Table 4: Classification by Academic Unit
| COLLEGE | Sophomore Population % (N) |
Survey Respondents % (N) |
Response Rate | Margin of Error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Life Sciences | 20.9% (515) |
19.0% (257) |
49.9% | ±3.1 |
| Design | 3.1% (76) |
3.2% (44) |
57.9% | ±6.2 |
| Education | 3.7% (91) |
3.9% (53) |
58.2% | ±5.6 |
| Engineering | 26.3% (647) |
27.9% (377) |
58.3% | ±2.1 |
| Natural Resources | 3.6% (88) |
4.0% (54) |
61.4% | ±5.2 |
| Humanities and Social Sciences | 16.3% (402) |
18.2% (246) |
61.2% | ±2.4 |
| Physical and Mathematical Sciences | 2.4% (58) |
2.7% (36) |
62.1% | ±6.2 |
| Textiles | 4.4% (109) |
3.7% (50) |
45.9% | ±7.5 |
| Management | 13.3% (328) |
13.3% (180) |
54.9% | ±3.3 |
| First Year College | 6.1% (150) |
4.1% (56) |
37.3% | ±8.2 |
Analyses
The data obtained from completed surveys were analyzed using standard statistical methods. These reports attempt to provide a level of detail that makes the data more accessible and interpretable to the novice data 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 significant3. While some individual, small differences might 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.Back to Top
Endnotes:
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 asked 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, Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish origin or culture, regardless of race), or multiracial. For analysis purposes, these categories were collapsed into "White," "African American," and "other minorities." Those very few students who refused to identify their race/ethnicity are included in the "other minorities" category.(back to Introduction) (back to Demographics)
2. A 95 percent confidence interval contains the true population value in 95% of the possible samples of a given size from the population. Margins of error for individual questions are usually even smaller than the overall margin of error 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)
3. In analyses not presented in these reports, responses were tested for significant differences between women and men, between white, African American, and other minority students, and between the different colleges. All questions requiring categorical responses were analyzed using chi-squared tests, and all 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 UPA on request.(back)
For more information on the 2008 Sophomore 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: May 2009
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