The Chronicle Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education consisted of 1,000 telephone interviews, of 20 minutes each, with a random selection of men and women between the ages of 25 and 65. It was conducted from February 15 to March 17, 2003. The survey was designed by George Dehne, in conjunction with The Chronicle, and the interviews were conducted by TMR Inc., of Broomall, Pa. The data were collected and analyzed by GDA Integrated Services, a marketing-and-research company based in Old Sayville, Conn.

The sample was generated using random-digit-dialing methodology. For a randomly obtained sample of 1,000, a conservative estimate of the margin of sampling error for 95-percent confidence intervals is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Figures may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

Fifty-one percent of the respondents were women, and 49 percent were men. All states except Alaska and Hawaii are represented in the sample. Twelve percent of the respondents are African-American, accurately representing the U.S. population, but because of language barriers, only 5 percent are Hispanic, about 8 percentage points below the national proportion. In all other ways, including the geographic distribution of respondents, their religious and political affiliations, and their household income, the sample mirrors the U.S. population.