UND Alumni, Employees, Students and Minority Students
Survey Results
Introduction
In April 2000, President Charles Kupchella created a commission "to help the University study the issue of the Fighting Sioux nickname." He asked the commission to a) find the missing information he needs to make a decision, b) provide education for each other and all interested in the issue, c) examine the experiences of UND and other universities that have wrestled with nickname changes, and d) outline alternative courses of action, indicating how negative impact s of each can best be reduced.
To provide valid and reliable information, the commission requested the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at the University of North Dakota to conduct surveys of four UND constituent groups. The groups included UND Alumni, emplo yees, students, and minority students.
Survey Subcommittees
For each constituent group, three commission members formed a subcommittee and were asked to lend their perspective and expertise in designing the survey. The respective subcommittee members and group assignments included:
Alumni Subcommittee
UND Employee Subcommittee
UND Student Subcommittee
UND Minority Student Subcommittee
Survey Methods
Alumni Survey. A list assisted random telephone survey of UND Alumni was conducted June 9 through 17, 2000. The UND Alumni Office provided SSRI with the Alumni sample. Surveys were conducted with 601 alumni, which yield a margi n of error1 of +/- 3.8 percent.
UND Employee Survey. A survey was sent October 3, 2000 through intracampus postal delivery to 3,241 UND employees. The UND Payroll department provided SSRI with a departmentalized list of all individuals receiving a paycheck. S urvey returns were accepted through October 20, 2000. Of the 3,241 surveys mailed out, 1,518 were returned complete, yielding a response rate of forty-seven percent.
UND Student Survey. A list assisted random telephone survey of UND students was conducted October 4 through 12, 2000. The UND Registrar’s Office provided SSRI with a random sample of UND students. Surveys were conducted with 603 UND students, which yield a margin of error1 of +/- 3.8 percent.
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1
This means that one can be 95 percent confident that the mean response for any question in the survey will not vary any more than 3.8% in either direction from the actual mean for that response if all persons in the res pondent group were surveyed. Margin of error is the amount by which the survey results are likely to be wrong. For example if the number of positive results is 70%, then the real number of responses (which you are likely to get if you survey every adult ) ranges from 66.2% to 72.8%, which is 70 +/- 3.8%.UND Minority Student Survey. A list assisted census telephone survey of 550 UND minority students was undertaken October 2 through 20, 2000. The UND Registrar’s Office provided SSRI with a list of UND students who indica ted their race/ethnicity as American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black/Non-Hispanic American, Asian or Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American based on voluntary, student reported information. Surveys were conducted with 447 UND minority students. O f the remaining minority students, thirty could not be contacted, sixty-nine did not have a valid telephone number, and four students refused to participate.
At least ten attempts were made on different days and different times to reach each student selected so hard-to-reach students would not be under-represented. In addition, a production supervisor contacted first time respondent refusals two days after the initial contact to persuade students to be a survey participant. SSRI staff members also contacted Qwest directory information for all students with disconnected telephone numbers.
Survey Data Comparisons
The four constituent groups’ survey results are presented in tabular format on pages 4 though 9. The employee and minority survey results were further divided into sub-groups for comparison purposes. The employee results were separated into two groups, faculty and other employees, while the minority results were separated into American Indians and other minority students. The faculty and other employees and the American Indians and other minority student results are pres ented in tabular format on pages 10 through 14.