1999 Entering Transfer Student Survey:
Introduction, Methods, and Student Demographic Profile
(Report No. 2)

 

Introduction

This series of reports presents findings from the 1999 Entering Transfer Student Survey at NC State. Since 1995, entering transfer students have been surveyed each year during the New Student Orientation sessions conducted in June and August.

This introductory report describes the survey's methodology, and provides a demographic profile of survey respondents in comparison to the Fall 1999 Transfer Student class. Specifically, it compares gender, race/ethnicity,1 and academic unit of survey respondents with the Fall 1999 transfer student population. A separate report overviews the combined results from all students participating in the survey, "1999 Entering Transfer Student Survey: All Respondents." Summary statistics are presented for each survey topic, including student background characteristics, the application process, educational intent and interests, and goals for undergraduate education. The survey questions and detailed tables of responses by gender, race/ethnicity, and college are available on the Web.

Survey Methods

Respondents

A total of 790 transfer students attended orientation sessions and returned completed surveys. Of this total, 745 surveys were usable for this report. This figure represents 61.4% of the 1,213 entering transfer students who were still enrolled in classes 10 days into the Fall 1999 semester. As described below, there are no statistically significant differences between survey respondents and the transfer class with respect to gender, race/ethnicity, or academic preparation measures. Small but statistically significant differences do exist between the two groups in college enrollment. However, the differences are small enough and the proportion of entering transfer students returning completed surveys is large enough that survey results can safely be generalized to the Transfer Student class.

Analyses

The data obtained from the transfer student orientation sessions were analyzed using standard statistical methods. 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 the different colleges.2

Because the response rate is relatively high (61.4%) and the number of incoming students is large (1,213), the margin of error for these results is low -- slightly over one percent (1.38%) at a 95 percent confidence interval. That is, if 37.3 percent of the respondents say they were "very certain" of their college major, we can be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 38.68 percent (37.3 + 1.38) and 35.92 percent (37.3 - 1.38) if all transfer students had responded to the survey.3 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. For example, even given the similar response rate among African Americans compared with all respondents (59 of 99, or 59.6% of African Americans responded to the survey), the margin of error for this subgroup is ± 5.15% at the 95 percent confidence interval.

These reports attempt to provide a level of detail that makes the data more accessible and interpretable. 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.

Demographics of the Transfer Class and Survey Respondents

Gender and Race/Ethnicity (Table 2-1)

There are no noteworthy gender or racial/ethnic differences between the transfer students actually enrolled at NC State and those in the survey population. Women make up 45.3 percent of the transfer student population, compared to 48.9 percent of the survey respondents. White students make up 81 percent of the student population, 8.2 percent are African Americans, and 10.7 percent are other minorities. Among survey respondents, 83.2 percent are whites, 7.9 percent African Americans, and 8.8 percent other minorities.

Table 2-1: Demographics of Transfer Class and Survey Respondents
Ethnic Group
N
%

Transfer Class

Survey Respondents

Female

Male

Total

Female

Male

Total

African American

48
4.0%

51
4.2%

99
8.2%

28
3.8%

31
4.2%

59
7.9%

Asian

30
2.5%

54
4.4%

84
6.9%

19
2.6%

26
3.5%

45
6.0%

Hispanic

23
1.9%

15
1.2%

38
3.1%

9
1.2%

6
0.8%

15
2.0%

Native American

6
0.5%

3
0.2%

9
0.7%

4
0.5%

2
0.3%

6
0.8%

White

442
36.4%

541
44.6%

983
81.0%

304
40.8%

316
42.4%

620
83.2%

Total

549
45.3%

664
54.7%

1213
100.0%

364
48.9%

381
51.2%

745
100.0%

Note: Some percentage values do not sum to 100.0% due to rounding.
Note: Survey respondents are included in figures for the Transfer Class.

Academic Units (Table 2-2)

Table 2-2 shows enrollment of transfer students and survey respondents by academic unit. The largest proportions of transfer students enrolled in the College of Engineering (25.2%), the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (25.1%) and the College of Agriculture and Life Science (18.0%). The smallest proportions enrolled in the College of Textiles (2.2%), the School of Design (2.7%), and the Agricultural Institute (3.2%). Statistically significant differences in college enrollment between transfer students and survey respondents are largely a result of overrepresentation among the respondents of students from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and underrepresentation of students from the Agricultural Institute. The one respondent from the Agricultural Institute has been excluded from the analyses presented in this series of reports so that responses reflect the views and circumstances of students pursing baccalaureate degrees.

Table 2-2: Classification by Academic Unit

Academic Unit

Transfer Class

Survey Respondents

n

%

n

%

Agriculture and Life Science

218

18.0%

159

21.3%

Design

33

2.7%

21

2.8%

Education and Psychology

66

5.4%

35

4.7%

Engineering

306

25.2%

189

25.4%

Forest Resources

70

5.8%

49

6.6%

Humanities and Social Sciences

305

25.1%

183

24.6%

Management

103

8.5%

63

8.5%

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

46

3.8%

33

4.4%

Textiles

27

2.2%

12

1.6%

Subtotal

1174

96.8%

744

99.9%

Agricultural Institute

39

3.2%

1

0.1%

Total

1213

100.0%

745

100.0%

Academic Preparation Measures (Table 2-3)

Table 2-3 presents academic statistics for the 1999 Transfer Class and survey respondents. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups. Transfer students had a mean SAT total score of 1153.2, compared with 1124.0 for the survey respondents. Mean Admissions Index scores and high school grade point averages were identical for the two groups at 2.5 and 3.7, respectively.

Table 2-3: Academic Preparation Measures

Academic Preparation Measure

Transfer Class

Survey Respondents

Mean

Mean

SAT Verbal

574.3

559.8

SAT Math

578.9

564.2

SAT Total

1153.2

1124.0

Admissions Index

2.5

2.5

High School GPA

3.7

3.7


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 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. 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 Duncan's multiple comparison procedure. Complete results are available from UPA on request.(back)
3. A 95 percent confidence interval denotes the range of values which contains the true population value in 95 of 100 possible random samples of the first-year student population. The margin of error given in the text is conservative since it was calculated assuming a 50/50 response distribution for all questions. Margins of error for individual survey items are likely to be even smaller because response distributions are rarely symmetrical.(back)


For more information on the 1999 Entering Transfer 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

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