PAPER OR PC?
DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION,
AND SUCCESS
OF A
MIXED-MODE SURVEY

Nancy Whelchel, Coordinator for Survey Research
North Carolina State University

Ephraim Schechter, University Director of Assessment
North Carolina State University

Poster Presentation for the 56^th annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research,

Survey Background

• Annual survey of NCSU spring graduates since 1995
• Web survey option first available in 2001, scannable paper survey only in earlier years
• Survey in field early September through end of June
• Optional college/department insert surveys included in odd-numbered years.

Graduating Senior Survey

Population: NCSU May 2001 graduating seniors

Proxy Measure: Those completing the Application for Degree process by May 7, 2001**

Sample: NA (Census of population)

Sample Frame: Academic department lists of graduating seniors

• All graduating seniors have email
• All graduating seniors have internet access
• All graduating seniors must submit "Application for Degree" materials in person to their department

** The final 2001 May graduation file will not be available until mid-July, so the results presented here are preliminary. A small number of students who have not already applied to graduate may do so before graduation (May 19,2001), and some students who had applied to graduate will not actually graduate. In addition, some students will submit the survey past the May 7 deadline for this presentation.

Survey Administration

• Coordinator for Survey Research (CSR) tasks
• Centralize survey process
• Coordinate with college/department survey contacts
• Finalize Graduating Senior Survey questionnaire
• Consult on college/department insert surveys
• Prepare paper survey packets and distribute to department contacts
• Write programs for Graduating Senior Survey and nested college/department surveys for the web
• Maintain web survey(s) on local file server
• Respond to respondent and survey contact queries
• Process web and paper survey returns bi-weekly
• Provide college/department contacts with bi-weekly lists of respondents

Marginally significant race difference, especially on web survey

	Web (n=1125)	Paper (n=182)
Total number of possible responses (n items [77] * n respondents)	86,625	14,014
Total number of missing values	652	47
Item non-response rate	0.3%	0.8%
N items with missing values	77 (100.0%)	28 (36.4%)
Items with greatest number of missing values
Q18. Did your major include a co-op, internship, practicum, student teaching, or other field experience?	59 (5.2%)	6 (3.3%)
Q29b. If you could start all over would you choose the same major field of study?	29 (2.6%)	6 (3.3%)
Q30. Would it be okay for us to contact you in the future if we would like more information about your responses to this survey?	22 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)
Q11c. (Rate) Research support: research support overall	21 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)
Q27b. All things considered, how would you rate the quality of instruction overall?	20 (1.8%)	2 (1.1%)
Q14_12. (Rate college education contribution towards your) exercising public responsibility and community service.	20 (1.8%)	1 (0.6%)
Q14_33. (Rate college education contribution towards your) personal growth.	8 (0.7%)	3 (1.6%)