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Senior Survey, Spring 2008

Questionnaire Design

The 2008 Senior Survey questionnaire addresses two general areas:

• Quality of the undergraduate experience:  These items focus on seniors' attitudes about, and satisfaction with, their major program and other CU-Boulder programs and services.
• Graduation and after-graduation plans:  These items focus on seniors' post-graduation plans for employment, further education, etc., and on their opinions about what, in retrospect, they might do differently if they were starting over at CU-Boulder.

The questionnaire consists of 100 questions:  97 multiple-choice or short-answer items and 3 extended-response items.

This year's questionnaire is generally similar to the 2004 web-based questionnaire. Modifications include omission of some items used in 2004, addition of new items, and some minor wording changes.

Removed items

Six items were removed from this year's questionnaire to reduce the number of extended-response items and to make room for new items (please see below). Removing these items reduces the response burden on survey participants and helps ensure that the survey can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.

• The two "Dear CJ" items that addressed time to graduation (a multiple-choice item and an extended-response item) were removed. The first of these items asked seniors to indicate whether they would be taking "four years" or "longer than four years" to graduate. The second item asked them to "write a letter to a friend" in high school ("Dear CJ"), explaining why they were taking either four years or more than four years to graduate. These two items were included in the 1998 and 2004 Senior Surveys and in the 1993 Advising Survey.
• "We'd like to know what you think you'll be doing once you leave CU-Boulder. At any time between leaving the University and the end of 2005, how likely is it that you will be...." (four response options, covering graduation and employment)
• "What is the highest degree you ultimately plan to earn?" (six response options, from a bachelor's degree to a doctoral/professional degree)
• "If you are planning to be in a graduate or professional program sometime in 2004 or 2005, please list information on the program you most likely will be in and the current status of your application" (consists of two short-answer questions and two multiple-choice questions)
• "If you are planning to have a full-time paid position sometime in 2004 or 2005, please list information on the position you will most likely be in and the current status of your application" (consists of two short-answer questions and two multiple-choice questions)
• "What is the ZIP code of the place you are living in this term?"

New items

• Eleven new items were added to the "Future Plans" section of the survey-- ten from the AAUDE Senior Survey, designed by the American Association of Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE) and one item from the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA). These items replaced some of those described above and expanded the section on future employment and education. The AAUDE items will permit comparisons with peer institutions. The VSA item is required for "College Portrait," a new Web-based source of college information for prospective students and their parents. CU-Boulder administrators elected in fall 2007 to participate in this project and, at the time of this posting (June 2008), we are preparing materials for that undertaking.
  • "What is most likely to be your principal activity upon graduation?" This question has nine response options referring to pursuit of graduate school or employment, including a choice of "other." Respondents who choose "other" are asked to list their likely activity. (from the VSA)
  • "Which of the following best describes your current state of plans for employment immediately after graduation?" (five response options, from search for employment to having already accepted a position)
  • "If you have accepted a position, in what type of organization or sector will you work?" This question has two parts: five response options and a short answer item for those who selected "other".
  • "Is your prospective position related to your undergraduate field(s) of study?" (four response options, e.g., "same field as major")
  • "Is your prospective position related to your undergraduate minor(s)?" ("not related," "related," or "not applicable")
  • "Which occupation category best describes the position you have accepted or are seeking?" This question has two parts: 23 occupational category choices and a short-answer question for those who selected "other."
  • "Which, if any, degrees do you plan to pursue either immediately upon graduation or at any time in the future? (Please mark all that apply in both columns)." The list of degrees is the same for each column:  The first column is titled "Immediately upon graduation," and the second, "Future Plans." (six response options, from a second bachelor's degree to doctorate/professional degrees)
  • "In which fields do you plan to pursue a master's degree or doctorate degree? (Select one primary field from both lists below.)" (41 response options)

• Five other AAUDE Senior Survey items added to the CU-Boulder Senior Survey assessed race/ethnicity and the value-added benefits of seniors' undergraduate experience and degree program. The race/ethnicity items were included at the end of the survey in the demographic section, and the others were included immediately before the "Future Plans" section.
• "How well do you think CU-Boulder has prepared you for the job market?" (six response options from "very inadequately" to "very well")
• "At the time you graduate, approximately what will be the total amount borrowed to finance your undergraduate education that you are personally responsible for repaying?" (eight response options, from "none" to "$50,000 or more")
• "Reflecting back, do you now think that the benefits you have received from attending CU-Boulder were worth the financial costs to you and your family?" (five response options from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree")
• Race/ethnicity items: These were similar to the AAUDE Senior Survey item, but were listed as two separate items to match the format used by the US Census Bureau and the Department of Education.
• "Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?"
• Ethnicity: "Select all that apply" (five response options)

• Four other items were added:
• In the section on satisfaction with the major, one item was added that asked seniors to rate their satisfaction with their major's "program space and facilities."
• In the demographic section:
• "With which gender do you identify?" (male, female, or transgender)
• "What is your citizenship status?" (US citizen, US permanent resident, or neither)
• "In what state do you expect to be living a year from now?"

Minor wording changes

• A number of minor changes were made to office/unit names in the "Awareness/Use and Satisfaction with Services" section. Several of these reflected University organizational changes occurring between 2004 and 2008.
• For "Academic records & transcripts," the parenthetical notation "in registrar's office," was changed to "both on-line & in-person services."
• For "Career Services," the location was changed from "Willard garden level" to "Willard 1st floor."
• The name for the "Cultural Unity Center" on the 2004 survey was updated to its current name: "Center for Multicultural Affairs (CMA)."
• The name for the "NightRide/NightWalk (as a user or escort)" service was changed to its current name: "Night Ride, including VanGO (as a user or escort)."
• "Parking services" was changed to: "Parking and Transportation Services."
• "Police Department" was changed to: "Police Department -- CU."
• The parenthetical notation for Registration was changed from "in registrar's office" to "on-line & in-person; not course availability."
• The order of the two UMC (University Memorial Center) items was reversed so that the item "UMC - excluding food services" came first. This was done so that respondents would be better able to differentiate these items.

Last revision 06/20/08