Nursing Education and Alumni Evaluation Employment Rates and Profiles for Outcomes Evaluation
Alumni Evaluation Employment Rates and Profiles in Nursing Education
Alumni Evaluation Employment Rates and Profiles in Nursing Education
There are multiple avenues for obtaining alumni data. One approach is to survey students who are about to become alumni. The exit survey is a method of determining product satisfaction with a program just completed. At this point, students’ perceptions are fresh in their minds.
Through the exit survey, it is possible to learn which students have found employment at the time of graduation, follow up on entry data collected for comparison purposes, and identify students’ perceptions about the strengths and weaknesses of the program they have just completed. An online survey generally has a higher return rate than a survey sent through the regular mail.
The exit survey is usually done within 10 days of graduation and has the advantage of a higher return rate than surveys sent at a later time. A disadvantage is that the exiting students may not have an opportunity to apply their education in a work setting, which may change their perceptions. Another method commonly used for exit data is the focus group.
A focus group provides an opportunity for a representative group of students in the graduating classes to reflect in more detail about their experiences. Selection of the moderator is important to the collection of rich and valid insights (Nestel et al., 2012; Wilson et al., 2013). A first concern is that the moderator be skilled in group process and listening.
The moderator should have several questions prepared to guide the group discussion yet be able to respond to and facilitate group discussion when other relevant issues arise. In an end-of program focus session, more open-ended questions encourage free flowing responses and invite the participants to provide the amount of information they wish. If specific types of information are desired, the questions may be more structured.
The more structured the question, the more reliable the data, but the trade-off may be less richness of data. One may find it useful to begin with open and broad questions and follow up with more structured questions as the discussion unfolds.
If the focus group is conducted by someone the students view as a neutral person and if that person is able to facilitate equally the expression of opposing points of view, the participants are more likely to be open in their comments and the content is likely to be more valid.
Focus groups have the advantage of providing qualitative data in more detail than is usually obtained in a written survey, but they have the disadvantage of being a representative group that may or may not provide the range of data that a full group survey would provide.
Use of both a survey and a focus group may resolve this issue, but students may be reluctant to participate in more than one end-of-program evaluation effort when they are in the process of final examinations and end-of-semester evaluations.
Timing is important in this effort. Alumni surveys may be conducted at regular intervals to obtain long-term data about the products of an educational program. Data can be collected in a nonthreatening way and they are relatively inexpensive to administer.
When such surveys are conducted depends on the data desired, the size and complexity of programs in the school, and the cost–benefit ratio of the survey effort. It is common to complete at least 1-year and 5-year surveys. The information sought depends on the level of the program and the outcome measures for which data are sought.
Alumni surveys can involve the use of a tool developed by the nursing program or can be done using a standardized tool such as that developed by Educational Benchmarking, Inc. The advantage to a standardized tool is the ability to make comparisons to other schools nationwide and to accreditation standards.
One approach is to provide a two-part survey in which one part is devoted to broad outcome measures and the graduates’ perceptions of their general education experience on the campus.
Questions on this survey may relate to perceptions about the extent to which they acquired skills such as critical thinking and effective written and oral communication; gained an understanding of different cultures and philosophies; and developed a sense of values and ethical standards, leadership skills, an appreciation of the arts, an ability to view events and phenomena from different perspectives, and an understanding of scientific principles and methods.
One can also learn about the alumni’s view of services available across the campus and opportunities to interact with students and faculty across disciplines. An advantage to this survey is the opportunity to compare the responses of students across disciplines to determine relative experiences and perceptions.
The second component of an alumni survey is usually discipline specific. In addition to general demographic data, the survey seeks information about positions held (title, location, population served, salary), the extent to which alumni believe they were prepared to practice according to the program outcomes, their general satisfaction with the program and activities related to scholarship such as publications, presentations, certifications, and entering advanced educational programs.
Graduate programs find data related to the scholarship of alumni to be particularly valuable. When surveys are conducted, the questions should be considered carefully in terms of data that will be used in decision making. If surveys are concise and questions are clearly stated, responses are more likely to be received. As a rule, response rates will be improved if the survey does not exceed four pages.
A high response rate increases the credibility of the data in reflecting the perspectives of the population surveyed. The survey can be sent through regular mail or online. Online surveys have better response rates and are cheaper to send. It is sometimes helpful to follow up with a paper survey after an online survey has been sent. With the volume of e -mails sent, the message may be lost or ignored.
Follow-up of nonrespondents via e-mail or paper is helpful in increasing response rates (Grava-Gubis & Scott, 2008). Either way, the cover letter is an important element of the survey. The letter should be concise yet spell out the importance of the data to the educational program and the value placed on the input received from graduates.
The more personalized the letter and the more professional the survey tool, the more likely it is that alumni will respond. The letter should also include a statement about confidentiality and the use of pooled or aggregate data in reports of survey findings to protect the anonymity of the respondents.
Although it is useful to have several open-ended questions to obtain qualitative data, the simpler the tool is to complete, the more likely it is that respondents will complete the task. Well-designed questions, for which the respondent can check or circle an item or provide a number as a response, are more likely to be answered. Multiple mailing is another method of improving the return rate.
There are several opinions about the best mailing sequence. One method is to send a second mailing or e-mail within 2 to 3 weeks of the first, with a second survey tool included in case the first mailing has been misplaced. If the survey is being sent through regular mail and cost is an issue, a reminder card may be sufficient.
A third mailing in the form of e-mail or a postcard should occur between 10 days and 3 weeks after the second mailing, depending on the nature of the survey. Rewards can sometimes help with response rates. A small monetary reward or an opportunity to be entered into a lottery are commonly used strategies (Grava-Gubis & Scott, 2008).