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University of Massachusetts Amherst
SARIS - Student Affairs Research, Information & Systems
Homecoming Survey (S00-G)
Executive summary: Seventeen percent of the undergraduates surveyed had a family member visit them at UMass during Homecoming weekend in 1999. First year students were more likely than sophomores, juniors or seniors to have had a visit from a family member that weekend. Two-fifths of respondents reported having attended the Homecoming football game against Hofstra, whereas only small proportions of students said they had attended other Homecoming events. When asked their level of interest in attending specific types of events during Homecoming 2000, students expressed the greatest level of interest in a live music concert held at the Mullins Center, the Homecoming football game against Villanova, and the possibility of gathering with other students and alumni to break a world record. Interest in attending specific types of Homecoming events varied by sex, and tended to decrease with academic class.
On Tuesday, May 2, 2000, Project Pulse conducted a survey for the Alumni Association
to assess current students’ interest in Homecoming activities. Pulse
interviewers attempted to contact 1061 undergraduate students who had been
randomly selected by computer from the University’s database. Interviewers
successfully contacted 605 of these students and 468 (77.4%) agreed to be
interviewed. The response rate for the survey was 46.8% and the sampling error
is plus or minus approximately five percentage points. The final disposition
of the sample is presented in Table 1 and a demographic summary of the respondents
is presented in Table 2.
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Table 1. Final disposition
of the sample
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|||
|
|
N
|
% of Total
|
% of Contacted
|
| Response rate (In & cooperated) |
468
|
44.1
|
77.4
|
| In, declined interview |
137
|
12.9
|
22.6
|
| Not in |
456
|
43.0
|
|
| Totals |
*1,061
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
* Excludes 50 sampled
students with unobtainable phone numbers.
|
|||
|
Table 2. Demographic
summary of the respondents
|
|
|
|
%
|
| Female |
52.7
|
| Male |
47.3
|
| First-year |
33.8
|
| Sophomore |
23.6
|
| Junior |
22.0
|
| Senior |
20.6
|
| Live off campus |
29.8
|
| Live on campus |
70.2
|
First, respondents were asked whether they were students at UMass in the fall
of 1999. The 26 who were not students during the fall semester were thanked
and asked no further questions.
When asked whether any family members had visited them at UMass on Homecoming Weekend last year (the first weekend of October), 16.6% (n=73) of the students said “yes.” Having had a family member visit during Homecoming Weekend varied by academic class: 29.5% of freshmen, 11.5% of sophomores, 11.3% of juniors and 6.6% of seniors reported having family guests that weekend (c2=41.35, p=.000).
Next, students were asked a battery
of questions exploring whether they had attended various events associated
with Homecoming 1999. The Homecoming football game against Hofstra had attracted
the most attendees: 41.1% (n=181) of respondents had attended and 30.9% (n=56)
of these students had been joined by a family member. Figure 1 details the
proportions of students surveyed who took part in various Homecoming events
in 1999.
Figure 1. Participation in Homecoming activities in 1999
Students also were asked their level of interest in attending specific types
of events during Homecoming 2000. Students expressed the greatest level of
interest in a live music concert held at the Mullins Center, the Homecoming
football game against Villanova, and the possibility of gathering with other
students and alumni to break a world record. Figure 2 illustrates the proportions
of respondents who expressed interest in attending various Homecoming 2000
events. Women were significantly more likely than men to express interest
in attending a formal dance (61% vs. 49%, c2=6.38,
p=.012), Homecoming Park (52.4% vs. 39.8%, c2=6.92,
p=.009), and helping to build a parade float (38.5% vs. 22.4%, c2=10.60,
p=.001).
Figure 2. Interest in attending various types of Homecoming
events
Interest in attending Homecoming events tended to decrease with academic class. Figure 3 presents a comparison of the proportions of first-year students, sophomores, juniors and seniors who expressed interest in specific types of Homecoming events. Statistically significant differences are noted.
Figure 3. Interest in attending various types of Homecoming events, by academic class
-- Meg Kluge
