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to identify graduate program strengths and areas for improvement
as indicated by recent graduates; |
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to track the career and continuing education trends of recent
OSU graduates; |
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to assess achievement of learning outcomes as perceived
by alumni from individual graduate programs; |
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to accomplish the State Regent's mandate for assessing student
and alumni satisfaction. |
Population. The target population for this survey was OSU graduate degree
recipients who graduated in 1995 and 1999 (i.e., alumni who
were
approximately 1- and 5- years post-graduation). Only alumni from
departments and colleges that elected to participate in the
alumni
survey were included in the target population. The total number
of OSU alumni of graduate programs in the target population was
1,835.
Instrument
Design. The Assessment Council and the individual academic
departments that participated in the survey developed the survey
instrument. The Common Questions were developed by the Assessment
Council and were given to all alumni. These questions focused
on current employment, continuing education, and general satisfaction.
Program-specific questions were developed by each participating
academic unit and were only given to alumni of that unit.
Survey
Administration. The survey was administered as a telephone
interview. The OSU Bureau for Social Research conducted the survey
telephone interviews in January and February 2001 and coordinated
data collection. The Office of University Assessment coordinated
the development of the survey instruments, efforts to obtain accurate
alumni telephone numbers, data analysis, and report preparation.
The Office of Institutional Research provided telephone numbers
from the University's student database; these phone numbers were
the numbers that were listed in the student records at the time
of graduation. The OSU Alumni Association provided assistance
in updating some of the phone number information.
Response
Rate. A total of 677 alumni telephone interviews were completed,
resulting in an overall response rate of 37%. Out of the initial
target population of 1,835 alumni, 813 alumni could not be reached
because the number was deemed
'unreachable' (i.e., wrong number, disconnected, cell phone,
no phone or not qualified), the number was a callback, the
number
led to an answering machine, there was a language barrier, the
line was busy, there was no answer, the number was a fax
line,
or the alumnus' refusal to complete the survey. After accounting
for these 'unreachable' alumni, the overall adjusted response
rate was 66%.
Out of the total population of survey respondents,
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32% were alumni from the College of Education |
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22% were alumni from the College of Arts & Sciences |
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18% were alumni from the College of Business Administration |
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11% were alumni from the College of Engineering |
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9% were alumni from the College of Agricultural Sciences and
Natural Resources |
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7% were alumni from the College of Human Environmental Sciences |
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2% were from interdisciplinary degree programs |
