Introduction

This series of reports presents findings from the NC State University 2006 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey. The on-line survey was conducted between January 6, 2006 and March 15, 2006. Information was gathered from alumni who received a bachelor's degree between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003. Alumni were asked about their satisfaction with their undergraduate experience, their preparation in and need for various skills and abilities in their current professional positions, post-graduation education and employment, and to what extent they value certain alumni services.

This introductory report describes the survey methods and provides a demographic profile of survey respondents in comparison to the population of NC State baccalaureates. Specifically, survey respondents and baccalaureate alumni who graduated between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003 are compared in terms of gender, race/ethnicity ¹, academic unit, and graduation year. A separate report, 2006 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey: All Respondents, focuses on each individual topic in the Alumni Survey. Survey questions and detailed tables of responses by gender, race/ethnicity, and college are also available on the web.

The survey population included baccalaureate alumni who graduated between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003. The final sample excluded alumni whose mailing addresses are unknown or classified as undeliverable by the post office (1,363 of the 11,221 baccalaureate alumni, or 12.1%). Alumni in the sample were sent letters requesting they complete the 2006 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey on the web. The personalized letters were on the letterhead of the department from which they graduated, and signed by the current head of the department. Up to two follow-up mailings were sent to non-respondents. The initial contact letter included an NC State University Alumni magnet, with the survey URL, as an incentive. In addition, alumni were offered a lottery-type incentive (six $200 prizes) for participating in the survey. Each alumnus was assigned a unique ID and password that they were prompted to enter on the main page of the survey. In addition to allowing for the tracking of respondents, the unique identifiers eliminated the need to ask alumni various demographic questions that could be obtained from student data files.

After three mailings, a total of 3,230 surveys were completed for a 32.8 percent response rate (3,230 out of 9,858). The margin of error for the Alumni Survey is low (+1.2) at a 95 percent confidence interval. That is, if 94.7 percent of the respondents said they would recommend NC State to a friend, we can be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 93.5 percent (94.7-1.2) and 95.9 percent (94.7+1.2) if all alumni graduating between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003 had responded to the survey². Because the margin of error increases as the sample size decreases, 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.

The following sections compare demographic characteristics of the full population of eligible alumni, the final sample of alumni, and those who actually responded to the survey. As previously noted, 12.3 percent of the survey population of Summer 2000 through Spring 2003 baccalaureate graduates had unknown/undeliverable addresses, and were therefore excluded from the final sample. Analyses were performed to compare alumni with unknown/undeliverable addresses to those with deliverable addresses in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, academic unit, and year of graduation. These analyses indicate that there is no gender difference in the two groups. However, Hispanic (20.4), Native American (19.7%), and Asian (17.9%) alumni were more likely than African American (12.5%) and White (11.6%) alumni to be excluded from the survey sample, due to unknown/undeliverable addresses. The percentage of alumni classified as unknown/undeliverable ranges from 8.2 percent in the College of Design to 16.5 percent in the College of Textiles. There was no significant difference in address deliverability across academic year of graduation. Despite these differences, the final sample closely mirrors the demographic characteristics of the population.

Those responding to the survey vary somewhat from the full population in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, and college from which they graduated, but not in terms of the year in which they graduated. In general, because of their relatively high response rates, there are slightly more whites and women among the survey respondents than among the full population of alumni. The differences, however, are not great enough to imply that the survey results would be appreciably different for the full population of baccalaureate graduates from Summer 2000 to Spring 2003. These reports are therefore based on the assumption that the results obtained are broadly representative of the population of NC State bachelor degree recipients between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003.

Gender and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 2-1 and 2-2)

Women made up about 43 percent of those who received bachelors' degrees from NC State between Summer 2000 and Spring 2003, but 47 percent of those responding to the survey. Similarly, while 83 percent of the graduates in the survey population were white, 87 percent of survey respondents were white. African Americans are slightly underrepresented in the results, making up about 7 percent of survey respondents, but 9 percent of the alumni population. Asian alumni are also slightly underrepresented.

Table 2-1: Gender of Alumni Population, Sample, and Survey Respondents

Gender Group N %	Alumni Population	Sample	Survey Respondents	Response Rate (N Survey Resp/N Sample)
Women	4,863 43.3%	4,283 43.4%	1,521 47.1%	35.5%
Men	6,358 56.7%	5,575 56.6%	1,709 52.9%	30.7%
Total	11,221 100.0%	9,858 100.0%	3,230 100.0%	32.8%

Table 2-2: Race/Ethnicity of Alumni Population, Sample, and Survey Respondents

Racial/Ethnic Group N %	Alumni Population	Sample	Survey Respondents	Response Rate (N Survey Resp/N Sample)
White	9,352 83.3%	8,275 83.9%	2,824 87.4%	34.1%
African American	968 8.6%	848 8.6%	218 6.8%	25.7%
Native American	66 0.6%	53 0.5%	19 0.6%	35.8%
Asian	605 5.4%	499 5.1%	115 3.6%	23.0%
Hispanic	230 2.1%	183 1.9%	54 1.7%	29.5%
Total	11,221 100.0%	9,858 100.0%	3,230 100.1%	32.8%

Academic Unit (Table 2-3)

Table 2-3 shows the college from which primary or first degree was received for the Summer 2000 through Spring 2003 alumni population, the final sample, and the survey respondents. Graduates of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences are slightly overrepresented among survey respondents, while graduates of the College of Engineering are slightly underrepresented. College of Agricultural and Life Sciences graduates made up about 18 percent of the alumni population and about 21 percent of survey respondents. College of Engineering graduates made up about 26 percent of the entire alumni population and 24 percent of the survey respondents. Other academic units are generally well represented in the survey, with similar proportions of survey respondents and alumni population members. For example, College of Education alumni represent about 2 percent of the population, 2 percent of the sample and 2 percent of survey respondents.

Graduation Year (Table 2-4)

There are no significant differences between the alumni population, the sample, and survey respondents with respect to the academic year in which they received their bachelor???s degrees. Similar to both the alumni population and survey sample, about one-third of survey respondents graduated in each academic year represented in the survey.

Back to Top
 

For more information on the 2006 Baccalaureate Alumni 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, 2006

Download a Microsoft Word Version of this document.

Return to 2006 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey Table of Contents Page

Return to OIRP Survey Page