Teacher-Education Graduate Surveys: Variables Related to Response Rate

Abstract

Follow-up surveys of graduates are frequently conducted by educational institutions to collect program evaluation data, but little research on survey methodology in this context has been reported. Representatives from 226 teacher-preparation programs completed Teacher Preparation Follow-up Survey Practices Questionnaires describing characteristics of their teacher preparation programs and follow-up survey designs. Response rate correlated significantly with the number of attempts to reach the graduates and marginally with the number of graduates. Programs reporting high-survey response rates differed from those with low-response rates on some methodological variables but not on others when Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests were applied.