ERIC Number: ED456789
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2001-Jun
Pages: 34
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
How Do Academic Departments Impact Student Satisfaction? Understanding the Contextual Effects of Departments. AIR 2001 Annual Forum Paper.
Umbach, Paul D.; Porter, Stephen R.
Using multilevel modeling to analyze survey data from 1,532 alumni from a large research university, this study proposes to examine the impact that departments have on student satisfaction. Controlling for individual characteristics, researchers found that characteristics of departments such as size, faculty contact with students, research emphasis, and proportion of female undergraduates had a significant impact on satisfaction with education in the major and the perceived impact that college had on skill development. Grade point average (GPA) was a significant predictor of satisfaction with education in the major, but there appears to be no relationship between GPA and the perceived impact of college on skill development. Findings inform policy and practice in two areas. First, they suggest that individual attributes matter, and second, the study provides evidence of the impact of organizational attributes on student outcomes. (Contains 6 tables and 55 references.) (SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Institutional Research (41st, Long Beach, CA, June 3-6, 2001).