Publication Details

Abstract

Survey nonresponse poses a significant challenge to the validity and reliability of research findings. In higher education, nonresponse warrants special attention because higher education institutions often make decisions based on empirical research. Nonresponse has been increasing in surveys of general populations, and survey researchers across various social science disciplines have observed a steady decline in survey participation over time. This trend has also impacted higher education research, as we can see in the reductions in response rates in national surveys, such as the Cooperative Institutional Research Program surveys and the National Survey of Student Engagement. We report data from two national surveys of directors of institutional research that we conducted, and we highlight demographic disparities in response rates. We demonstrate that improvement in response rates and representativeness reduces variations between sample and survey populations by gender and race. In the same way that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” an improving survey response rate lifts the representativeness and thus the value of the results. We bolster our national survey findings with case studies of surveys of first-year and senior students at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. We find that disparities in gender and race are very low when the overall response rate reaches 50% or more of all students. We offer actionable solutions for researchers to enhance response rates and reduce nonresponse. Finally, in an institutional case study, we demonstrate how these actionable solutions significantly increased response rates and improved sample representativeness. Our key finding is that male and non-White participants have lower response rates overall, compared with female and White participants, but that, with concerted efforts within a college campus, male and non-White participants’ response rates can be improved.

Keywords: high-risk courses, retention, higher education, logistic regression

Authors:

• Sanjeewa Karunaratne
• John D. Nugent

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