Use of an Online Survey to Measure an Equine Program's Alumni Satisfaction

NACTA Journal, Jun 2007 by Denniston, David J, Russell, Mark

Abstract

Enrollment in the Colorado State University (CSU) Equine Sciences program has steadily increased since 1986. Currently (fall 2006), the College of Agricultural Sciences reports 417 Equine Science majors with approximately 100 students graduating each year. Since the program's inception in 1986, little information has been collected regarding alumni satisfaction. Additionally, the Equine Sciences Program's curriculum virtually remained unchanged until fall 2006. A CSU Equine Sciences Advisory committee consisting of prominent and successful individuals from the equine industry was formed in September of 2004. The committee reviewed the current curriculum and made recommendations for change. One of the resulting recommendations was to better monitor the status and satisfaction of alumni. More specifically, the committee recommended gathering information on the job placement of graduates, the effectiveness of specific classes within their educational program, income level after graduation, and their overall satisfaction with their earned Equine Sciences degree. To address the committee's recommendations, an online survey was conducted during the summer of 2005. The Equine Sciences administration, faculty and staff found the online survey to be an effective tool for measuring the satisfaction of alumni within an undergraduate degree program.

Introduction

The U.S. horse industry has a direct economic effect of $39 billion annually and employs more than 700,000 people (American Horse Council, 2005). Serving as a major support for this growing industry is the Colorado State University (CSU) Equine Sciences program which is currently the largest equine program at any land grant university in the United States and the largest student programs in the University's College of Agricultural Sciences. The mission of education is to prepare students for the future (Gonyea, 1998). As an industry changes, so does the nature and number of prospective occupations. To best prepare our graduates for a successful future, educational programs must be current in industry technology, trends and needs. Per the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, the CSU Equine Sciences Program conducted a survey of its alumni to determine their level of satisfaction with their education. For simplicity and cost effectiveness, an online survey was developed and utilized.

While traditional "paper and pencil" research methods will always play an important role in many fields of research, they suffer from serious weaknesses, drawbacks, and risks to data integrity (PsychData, n.d.). The need for improvements to these traditional methods becomes very clear when one considers the significant role that data from social science research plays in the development of public policy, theory, and practice. If data are not accurate, secure, and reliable, then a survey's ability to make an important contribution can be severely compromised. In addition, paper and pencil research methods are surprisingly expensive when labor costs associated with developing, mailing, unpacking and entering data from paper surveys are totaled.

The development of the Internet has had a profound effect on the survey research industry and could soon replace traditional methods of survey data collection. One of the greatest strengths of an online survey is the ability to collect large amounts of data in an extremely short amount of time and also eliminate the need for a researcher to manually enter the information into a database. Online surveys are relatively fast, easily accessible and inexpensive (Smith and Leigh, 1997). After creating a survey questionnaire, placing it online and recruiting the subjects, most of the work is done. Within a matter of days, many participants can complete the survey with the results automatically saved to a database for later evaluation. Web-based data collection can also be more flexible than traditional methods. Online survey programs can randomize the order of questions and create skip question patterns. Researchers can also tailor each question of an online survey to fit an individual participant. For example, if one is interested in only a certain population of survey respondents answering a particular question, the online survey can be programmed such that all other participants never see that particular question (i.e. the question is "skipped"). Additionally, if a researcher is interested in international populations, web-based surveys allow you to quickly draw responses from all over the world. Finally, if a survey contains sensitive questions, the online survey makes it easier and more comfortable for an individual to respond honestly while maintaining complete anonymity (McDowell, 2001).

While there are many advantages to utilizing an online survey, a researcher must consider whether the targeted participants will have opportunity to respond. According to a National Geographic Society study (1999), respondents to online surveys are younger, more highly educated, and more likely to be white than the general U.S. population. However, since 1999, the demographics of the Internet are ever changing and among certain subpopulations, Internet usage may already be nearly universal (Internet World Statistics, 2006). In 1995, only 30% of college bound high school seniors were reported to be active on the internet (Art and Science Group, Inc.). Only five years later, 94% of college-bound seniors were reported to have access to the Internet (National Geographic Society, 1999). Thus, an online survey can provide researchers with high quality information from a sample of participants who are likely to frequent the Internet, such as college students or recent graduates. However, for researchers interested in non-white or older populations, the online survey may not be the source for them.