Exit Survey of Doctoral Recipients
Principal Investigator: John A. Gonzalez, Ph.D.,
Director of Rackham Institutional Research
Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan
Congratulations on reaching the final stages of completing your doctoral degree!
All doctoral students who complete their degree are invited to participate in this exit survey.
Purpose of this study
Each year the Graduate School solicits the views of those students completing their doctorate to learn of the quality of their academic and student life. The data have proven useful to the Graduate School in our efforts to improve graduate education. Your response will provide feedback to programs and help identify successes and challenges you might have faced. These responses will help Rackham promote improvement of the graduate student experience across departments.
Important information about this study
The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and you may skip any questions. You may exit the survey at any time. The survey is not designed to be mobile device friendly. Although you may not directly benefit from participating, the information you provide will benefit Rackham’s understanding of your graduate program and your student experience. This study involves minimal risk.
What will happen if you take part in this study
You will have to authenticate using your U-M account to access the survey. If you choose to participate, your responses with be linked to institutional records to draw information from the U-M data warehouse on your doctoral program, dates of candidacy attainment and degree completion, gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, and other similar data. In addition, if you have participated in the Michigan Doctoral Experience Study, we may link these data using an anonymized identifier that removes any linkage to your identity. These data will be used to complement responses to questions found in both surveys.
What will be done with the information collected
The data collected are used for both Rackham Program Review and for research. The summary reports created for Program Review aggregate responses by program. Information on each survey question is only reported when there are 5 or more responses.The summary reports are for senior administrators and staff of the Rackham Graduate School. The reports are shared with programs as part of the program review process. Research data may be used, on the aggregate, to create reports, journal papers, and conference presentations.
Protecting and sharing research information
The data are being collected by the Rackham Institutional Research Office. Your responses are held confidential. Only the Rackham Institutional research team will be able to access any identifying information about respondents. Data will be stored in a repository for future reporting needs and research. Some of the data from this survey may be shared with other institutions for comparison purposes through the Association of American Universities Data Exchange. No information that would identify survey participants will be shared.
We utilize many safeguards to keep your data confidential. However, there are instances in which we could be compelled to release data to appropriate authorities. These instances include complying with a request from the university’s general counsel due to a court order and if you provide information that makes us believe that you or others have been or may be harmed.
Contact information
If you have questions about the survey, please contact Dr. John Gonzalez, Director of Rackham Institutional Research by email (rack-exitsurvey@umich.edu). If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or wish to obtain information, ask questions, or discuss any concerns about this study (HUM00021682) with someone other than the researcher(s), please contact the University of Michigan Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board, 2800 Plymouth Rd. Building 520, Room 1169, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2800, (734) 936-0933, irbhsbs@umich.edu.