ERIC Number: EJ1035442
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0260-2938
EISSN: N/A
From Study to Work: Methodological Challenges of a Graduate Destination Survey in the Western Cape, South Africa
du Toit, Jacques; Kraak, Andre; Favish, Judy; Fletcher, Lizelle
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, v39 n7 p853-864 2014
Current literature proposes several strategies for improving response rates to student evaluation surveys. Graduate destination surveys pose the difficulty of tracing graduates years later when their contact details may have changed. This article discusses the methodology of one such a survey to maximise response rates. Compiling a sample frame with reliable contact details was most important, but may require using additional sources of information other than university records. In hindsight, graduates should have been contacted prior to the survey to introduce it and stress its importance, while email and postal reminders appeared to have a limited effect on non-respondents. Due to varying response rates between participating universities, online responses were augmented with a call centre administering the survey telephonically to non-respondents. Although overall differences between online and telephonic responses appeared to be small, certain question items may need to be treated with caution when conducting telephonic surveys.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Telephone Surveys, Response Rates (Questionnaires), Education Work Relationship, Information Sources, College Graduates, Online Surveys, Comparative Analysis, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A