During winter term 2000, the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (OIRP) collaborated with the Office of Graduate Studies and Research (OGSR) to collect information on graduate students’ experiences at Portland State University. Students enrolled in Telephone Survey Research Methods (USP 510) under the direction of Dr. Margaret Neal, Institute on Aging and Director of the PSU Survey Research Laboratory (SRL), conducted the project, helping to design the instrument, conducting the telephone interviews, and providing a preliminary analysis of the results. Students conducted the interviews in the SRL using the Lab’s Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) software.

The purpose of the effort was to assess student satisfaction and identify ways in which the University could provide graduate students with additional support. The design of the survey instrument was built on the findings of focus groups conducted with graduate students during fall 1998.

During fall 1999, 4,445 graduate students were enrolled at PSU, representing 28% of the student body. For the purposes of this survey, we were interested in talking with graduate students who had attended PSU long enough to have formed opinions of many aspects of their educational experience. Therefore, the population consisted of 1,015 admitted graduate students who enrolled for at least 3 credits during Winter 2000 term and had previously completed at least 21 graduate credits. We randomly selected 763 of these graduate students for inclusion in the sample. Although the telephone interviewers reached 402 graduate students, only 368 (48%) agreed to the interview and met the sample criteria. In general, respondents were representative of the sample and population from which they were drawn.

Respondents rated their satisfaction with specific aspects of their experience at PSU, as well as their overall satisfaction, using a 5-point scale (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied). The mean overall rating of satisfaction was 3.90. The questions concerning students’ satisfaction with specific aspects of graduate study at PSU covered six areas: information and services, financial aid, the library, course logistics, quality of instruction, and thesis or dissertation support. In addition, respondents answered an open-ended question, "What single change would you recommend to improve the graduate experience at PSU?" The responses to this question were analyzed for emerging themes and are reported where relevant below.

Graduate students were satisfied with the PSU home page as a source of information (M = 3.98) and the services offered by the Career Center (M = 3.84). Although only 14 respondents had used any of the childcare services offered at PSU, they reported high satisfaction (M = 4.71). Only 38 respondents (10%) had submitted an application to the Human Subjects Research Review Committee, but they rated the process favorably (M = 3.82). The Center for Academic Excellence also was rated as satisfactory (M = 3.68); however, 44% of respondents had not heard of it, and an additional 47% had never used the Center’s services.

Graduate students also were satisfied with the information they received from their department or program (M = 3.77) and with the advising they received from their assigned departmental advisor or center (M = 3.64). They were less satisfied with the information they received from the Office of Admissions and Records (M = 3.54) and the Office of Graduate Studies (M = 3.34).

Graduate students commented that improving access to computers would enhance the graduate student experience. In particular, they would like more computers dedicated to graduate student use; more computers installed in classrooms; extended hours in the computer labs, especially on weekends and vacation breaks; and more qualified assistants staffing the labs. They also recommended disseminating more widely information to graduate students on the location and hours of computer labs.

Two-thirds of the respondents (67%) had sought information about financial aid from PSU. Of these, 79% sought the information from the PSU Financial Aid Office. These respondents were very satisfied with the information they had received from the PSU Financial Aid Office (M = 3.94). Similarly, 66% of respondents had sought information from their department or program, and an additional 1% had not sought it but received departmental financial aid information. These students were satisfied with the financial aid information they had received from their departments or programs (M = 3.84).

Students received financial support from a variety of sources, but less than half of the respondents reported receiving funding from any of the sources shown in Figure 2.

The majority of respondents (64%) reported that they had incurred debt in order to attend school. Their estimates ranged from $1,000 to $110,000 (M = $27,260, Md = $25,000). An additional source of funding for some respondents was through their employers. Of those respondents who worked off campus or both on and off campus, 36% of their employers paid for part of their tuition, ranging from 2% to 100% (M = 74.2%).

Students were most satisfied with Internet access to the library (M = 3.90) and the interlibrary loan service (M = 3.97). They were least satisfied with the quality of the collections; the mean rating was between neutral and satisfied (M = 3.40). Students who discussed the library in their response to the question concerning how the graduate experience at PSU could best be improved suggested longer loan periods for books; extended hours of operation, especially on weekends and during vacation breaks; more staff on duty; cleaner facilities; and expanding the collections, especially Music and History (beyond European and American Studies).

Respondents were neutral to satisfied with the variety of courses available in their programs (M = 3.30) and how often required courses were offered (M = 3.33). In comparison, they were more satisfied with the time of day that their needed or desired courses were scheduled (M = 3.85).

Graduate students were satisfied with the overall quality of instruction in their programs of study (M = 3.73). More specifically, they were satisfied with the testing and grading practices in their courses (M = 3.92) and the degree to which community-based learning opportunities were included in their program (M = 3.88). They were less satisfied with the use of technology in their classes (M = 3.46).

Few students were far enough along in their programs to rate faculty supportiveness during the thesis or dissertation process, but the 52 students who were indicated they were satisfied (M = 3.90). Respondents who commented on the thesis or dissertation process when responding to the question, "What one change would you make to improve the graduate experience at PSU?" suggested that receiving more support during the research phase and assistance from alumni would have improved their experience.

Respondents indicated their level of agreement with four statements about the climate for graduate students at PSU using a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Figure 3 shows their agreement with these statements. In general, they agreed more strongly that they are treated with respect whereas they agreed less strongly that they have experienced a sense of belonging or community in their department or program.

Some respondents’ answers to the question, "What one change would you make to improve the graduate experience at PSU?" were related to the climate at PSU. Students suggested organizing more regular gatherings of their program cohorts and faculty and more community-building activities outside of class; creating more departmental student lounges; paying more attention to students’ needs; establishing mentoring programs; and conducting formal orientations specifically for graduate students.

We used multiple regression to predict overall satisfaction at PSU from respondents' ratings of the quality of their program, instruction, and advising and their ratings of the climate at PSU. Together these predictors accounted for 48% of the variance in overall satisfaction ratings (based on the adjusted regression coefficient, p < .05). In particular, satisfaction with the overall quality of instruction in students' programs and with testing and grading practices were significant predictors of overall satisfaction with the graduate student experience at PSU.

In addition, we conducted hierarchical multiple regression to investigate whether respondent characteristics contributed to the prediction of overall satisfaction. Gender, student level (Masters or Doctoral), and status (full- or part-time) were not significant predictors of overall satisfaction.

We used t-tests to identify group differences in ratings of satisfaction with various aspects of the graduate experience and those concerning the climate at PSU. We compared satisfaction and climate ratings by student level, status, and gender. The results reported were statistically significant at a minimum significance level of p < .05.

As shown in Figure 4, masters and doctoral students differed with respect to their satisfaction with advising from departmental advisor or center; doctoral students indicated more satisfaction than masters students on this item. Likewise, doctoral students’ satisfaction with the variety of courses available in their program was significantly higher than masters students’ satisfaction. Overall satisfaction with the graduate student experience at PSU, however, did not differ significantly by student level. Although this suggests that, in general, masters and doctoral students were similar in their levels of satisfaction with PSU, another possibility is that the small size of the doctoral student sample (n = 41) may have attenuated the power of the t-test to detect differences.

Masters and doctoral students differed significantly in their ratings of the PSU climate. Doctoral students (M = 3.62) were significantly more likely than were masters students (M = 3.55) to say that they felt a sense of community among faculty and graduate students. Doctoral students (M = 3.90) were also significantly more likely than masters students (M = 3.80) have experienced a sense of belonging in their department.

Part-time students (M = 36.14 years of age) were, on average, four years older than full-time students (M = 31.73 years of age). As one would expect, part-time students worked significantly more hours for pay (M = 34.35 hours per week) than full-time students (M = 21.87 hours per week). Part-time students’ ratings of overall satisfaction with PSU were higher than those of full-time students (M = 4.03 and 3.80 respectively).

Part-time students were more satisfied than full-time students with the information they received from their departments or programs (M = 3.96 and 3.62 respectively) and the consistency of information they received from various sources (M = 4.11 and 4.06 respectively).

Full- and part-time students also differed in their levels of satisfaction with course logistics. Part-time students were significantly more satisfied with the variety of courses available in their programs of study. They were also significantly more satisfied with the time of day their courses were offered. (See Figure 5.)

Although full- and part-time students did not differ significantly in their ratings of satisfaction with the overall quality of instruction in their programs of study, part-time student (M = 3.61) were more satisfied than full-time students (M = 3.33) with the way technology was used in their classes.

As shown in Figure 6, men were significantly more satisfied than women were, both with their overall experience at PSU and with the overall quality of instruction in their programs. Men also were more satisfied than women were with the variety of courses available in their program. Similarly, men were more satisfied than women were with the availability and accessibility of library materials. In contrast, women were considerably more satisfied than men with the PSU Career Center services and childcare services.

This telephone survey provided a new and useful source of information about graduate students and their experiences at PSU. In general, graduate students expressed satisfaction; however, these results should be interpreted cautiously. We surveyed only graduate students who were currently enrolled; therefore, any graduate students who had left PSU due to dissatisfaction would have been excluded from the respondent pool. In addition, also due to the sampling criteria, the results reflected the experiences of graduate students who had considerable experience attending PSU; the initial experiences of new graduate students might be different. Future studies of new graduate students and graduate students who stop out or do not complete their degrees should be conducted to provide a more complete picture.