| Popis: |
Colleges and Universities have a long history of surveying students after they graduate (Dickmann, Cooner, and Durgan, 2007). In the United States, the use of alumni surveys grew rapidly at the end of the 20th Century (Cabrera, Weerts, and Zulick, 2003). A review conducted by Pace (1979) identified only ten studies that focused on the use of alumni surveys in the United States between 1937 and 1976. In 2003, Cabrera, Weerts, and Zulick,conducted another review which identified over 270 sources that studied the use of alumni surveys. Despite growth in available technologies and changes in student populations, the authors of this report were unable to identify a comprehensive review conducted since 2003 that explored mechanisms used to increase the response rates for Alumni Surveys in detail. Institutions of higher education need high quality data from alumni surveys to understand program and institutional outcomes and to maintain accreditation and access to Title IV federal funds. Unfortunately, while these institutions invest significant resources each year administering and analyzing alumni survey data, low response rates often limit the validity, and thus the usefulness, of their results. Consequently, numerous mechanisms – including monetary incentives, text message reminders, follow-up phone calls, and variations in questionnaire format, item wording, and message source -- have been used over the years in efforts to increase the response rates of graduates to these surveys. Increasing survey response rates enables colleges and universities to better connect with recent graduates and "meet them where they are”. Knowing how to improve this connection is particularly relevant now, because high quality alumni data are essential, both for understanding alumni satisfaction and for determining how well current educational programs are preparing students to respond to today’s rapidly evolving workforce needs. To do that, we must explore ways to increase alumni survey response rates so that institutions can learn from alumni’s critical points of view. This review will be conducted to identify and describe the existing literature, published over the past 25 years, on mechanisms that have been used to increase response rates for post-secondary education alumni surveys. |
