2 Major Surveys of the American Public and College Presidents
Download both surveys as .PDF files: Presidents | The Public
How the Surveys Were Done
The findings shown on these pages came from two surveys by the Pew Research Center—one of college chief executives, conducted in association with The Chronicle, and one of the public. Pew collected responses from 1,055 college leaders from mid-March to mid-April, almost all of whom took the survey online. They included heads of public, private, four-year, two-year, and for-profit institutions. Pew’s survey takers contacted those leaders using a list of names and e-mail addresses supplied by The Chronicle.
The list comprises degree-granting institutions with total enrollments of at least 500 in the fall of 2009, and which a recognized accreditor had accredited or given pre-accreditation status. Pew refined the list to exclude leaders of institutions in U.S. territories, military institutions, graduate-only institutions, system offices, and for-profit parent companies. Presidents of institutions who oversee multiple eligible locations and branches were included but were asked to complete the survey only once.
Pew contacted a total of 3,324 college and university leaders who met those conditions. A total of 1,055 completed the survey, for an overall response rate of 32 percent. The rate was considerably lower among leaders of branch campuses of for-profit colleges: Only 75 of the original 652 contacted completed the survey, a response rate of 12 percent. To correct for nonresponse, their answers, along with those of leaders from all sectors, were weighted according to their proportion in the original list of 3,324. Pew also weighted the total results to make them nationally representative by geographic region.
The breakdown by type among the 1,055 respondents’ institutions, before this weighting was applied, was four-year private nonprofit, 39 percent; two-year public or private nonprofit, 30 percent; four-year public, 24 percent; and two-year or four-year for-profit, 7 percent.
The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points for results based on all college leaders who responded. Margins for results in specific sectors are higher. Pew asked the public similar questions in a survey conducted by telephone in March. The organization obtained results from a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults age 18 and older. The margin of error in that survey is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for results based on the total sample.
Further details about Pew’s methodology are available in its report about the survey findings, at www.pewsocialtrends.org.