Department of Sociology, Social Work, & Anthropology

Quantitative Evidence Regarding Sociology Undergraduate Outcomes Data

The American Sociological Association surveyed students in Sociology at USU in 2005. The results for USU students are compared to students nationally. The ASA data, which is extensive, is documented at the PDF below.

ASA Sociology Undergraduate Program Survey Outcomes Data (575K)

2005 Survey of Graduating Seniors

In addition to the focus groups, the American Sociological Association (ASA) sponsored a survey of sociology graduates, conducted in summer of 2005.  The USU Sociology program volunteered to participate in this study. Twenty USU Sociology graduating seniors responded to the survey, (out of 33, for a 61% response rate).  Below we highlight some selected survey results.

Selected Findings from 2005 ASA survey of USU graduating seniors (N=20)
As part of my major I learned:	% indicating ‘somewhat’ to ‘strongly agree’
To create a hypothesis with independent and dependent variables	100%
To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods	100%
To gather information to make an argument based on evidence	95%
To interpret the results of different types of data gathering	95%
To identify ethical issues in sociological research	100%
Current sociological explanations about a variety of social issues	100%
Basic theoretical perspectives or paradigms in sociology	100%
Basic concepts in sociology	100%
Important differences in the life experiences of people	100%
To view society from an alternative or critical perspective	95%

2008 Follow up Survey of the Class of 2005

The 2005 group of students has been followed with a 2008 survey of the same graduates. Results for this panel of students have not been reported to the individual universities from which the students graduated. However, aggregated results from the survey are available at http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/leftnav/research_and_stats/bacc_survey.

Key findings from the follow-up survey indicate the following.

•Nearly 60% of respondents reported working and not attending graduate school, a 30% increase from their pre-graduation plans.

•While 20% of seniors planned on exclusively attending graduate school, just over 10% were enrolled in a graduate program in December 2006.

•There is a significant relationship between majors' reported use of the research skills they learned as undergraduates and the reported closeness of their post-graduate jobs to their sociological studies. Closeness of the job to the major also significantly impacts job satisfaction.

•Those majors who identify, name, and single out their skills with potential employers are more than twice as likely to use them on the job.

•Having an educated mother and participating in extra-classroom activities significantly increases the likelihood of obtaining a job that is close to sociology.

In 2009, the same panel of graduates was surveyed in the spring. Analysis for 2009 results is not yet available. Data will be posted as they are processed.  

Quantitative Evidence Regarding Sociology Graduate Student Outcomes

The graduate program in sociology produces approximately two masters students for ever Ph.D. student completed as can be seen in the Table 3 below.

For the masters students who have completed their degrees in the past nine years (a total of 46), 48% have continued into Ph.D. programs either at USU, or at other universities, including University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania State, and the University of Pennsylvania. Of the 22 Ph.D. students who have completed in the past nine years, twelve are working in tenure-track academic positions, including five at state universities; one is employed at the Centers for Disease Control; one is working for a consulting firm; three are employed in national government positions in Thailand and in Korea; one is in a faculty position at Seoul National University; two are employed in a Postdoctoral research positions at Research I universities; one is employed at the U.S. Census Bureau; and one is working for USU’s Center for Persons with Disabilities.

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