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National Survey of Student Engagement: CU-Boulder 2000
Respondents versus non-respondents
Response rates by various respondent characteristics were examined to determine if certain groups of students were more or less likely to complete a questionnaire than other groups (see Table below). The table below shows demographic and academic characteristics for the total sample and for respondents and nonrespondents. The last column shows the response rate for each demographic/academic category (e.g., the response rate was 40% for freshmen males and 34% for senior males).
| Spring 2000 NSSE Survey -- University
of Colorado at Boulder Sample and Survey Respondents and Response Rates by Demographics |
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| Sample | Respondents | Response rate by demographic | |||
| Freshmen | Seniors | Freshmen | Seniors | ||
| Total Number | 2,300 | 346 | 572 | 43% | 38% |
| Male | 51% | 45% | 46% | 40%* | 34%* |
| Female | 49% | 55% | 54% | 47%* | 43%* |
| Student of Color | 14% | 14% | 16% | 47% | 40% |
| White | 86% | 86% | 84% | 43% | 38% |
| Graduated Spring 1998 | 36% | 0% | 57% | 40% | |
| Did not graduate | 64% | 100% | 43% | 36% | |
| Arts&Sciences | 61% | 64% | 55% | 41% | 36%* |
| Business | 17% | 11% | 18% | 37% | 34% |
| Engineering | 12% | 18% | 15% | 50% | 54%* |
| Journalism | 3% | 6% | 45% | ||
| Music | 3% | 3% | 3% | 69%* | 43% |
| Arch & Planning | 3% | 5% | 3% | 67% | 34% |
| Low GPA (below median)^ | 51% | 45% | 44% | 38% | 33%* |
| High GPA (above median) | 49% | 55% | 56% | 49% | 43%* |
| Note: Freshmen cannot enroll in
Journalism * = respondents and nonrespondents differ significantly ^ Median fall 1999 GPAs were 2.94 for freshmen sample and 3.07 for senior sample |
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For both freshmen and seniors, respondents are less likely to be male and are more likely to have a higher cumulative grade point average (GPA). In addition, among freshmen, respondents are more likely than nonrespondents to be enrolled in the College of Music and among seniors, respondents are more likely than nonrespondents to be enrolled in the College of Engineering and less likely to be enrolled in Arts and Sciences.
Higher response rates for females and higher GPA students fit with our previous experience in administering student surveys. The fact that engineering majors are overrepresented among senior respondents may have resulted from the use of a web-only survey format, though even with prior paper surveys we have found a slightly higher response rate for engineering students.
Further analysis of GPA revealed weak, but significant relationships with several items on the questionnaire. For both freshmen and seniors, higher GPA students were more likely to:
- Ask more questions or participate more in class discussion
- Tutor other students
- Interact with faculty (e.g., discuss career plans, work on a research project)
- Spend more time preparing for class
However, less than 5% of the variance in responses can be attributed to GPA. Because the relationship between GPA and questionnaire items is weak, we have not weighted the data to correct for over-representation of high-GPA students among the respondents.
Last revision 04/26/02
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cb - l:\ir\survey\nsse\00\report\respvnon.doc last updated 1/24/01