University of Minnesota Duluth Anthropology Senior Seminar Alumni Ethnography 2000

Methodology

Three Different Forms of Collecting Data on UMD Alumni:

I. Surveys

• 121 total surveys were sent out with valid addresses.
• Of those 121, we received 41 back, making the response rate 34 percent.
• Surveys consisted of mostly qualitative questions, and many of the answers to these open-ended questions were compiled into 5 nominal categories wherever  possible.
• Quantitative questions were also asked, and these responses consisted of Likert-scale choices or ordinal-scale ratings.
• Along with the survey, respondents received a postcard asking them if they would be willing to be further interviewed either by email or face-to-face about, in
  particular, the public perception of anthropology.
• Interview contacts were sorted by year of graduation and by a balance of gender represented.
• Years of graduation for alumni who responded to our survey ranged from 1975 to 1999: five alumni from the 1970s, four alumni from the 1980s, and the
  remaining twenty-six alumni graduated in the 1990s. Of those twenty-six, more than half (18) graduated between 1995 and 1999, with 1999 having the
  largest number (9).

II. Email Interviews

• Of those respondents who agreed to an email interview, we contacted 10.
• Of those 10, we received 5 responses.

III. Face-to-Face Interviews

• Of those respondents who agreed to a face-to-face interview, we contacted 5 who lived within the Duluth area.
• Of the 5 researchers conducting this study, each participated with a different research partner in a total of 2 face-to-face interviews.
• In addition to interviewing alumni, we interviewed 6 resident experts or faculty anthropologists to get their views on the public perception of anthropology.