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Pan-Canadian Study of First Year College Students - Report 1 Student Characteristics and the College Experience - August 2007

3. Survey Sample and Limitations

This section provides an overview of the samples from both the Survey at College Entry and the End of First Term Survey and explains the limitations of this study.

3.1 Survey at College Entry

A total of 28,932 students completed the Survey at College Entry, from 102 participating colleges and institutes. Table 1 shows the distribution of student records by national region as defined by ACCC. The full list of college and institutes which participated in the Survey at College Entry is provided in Appendix 2.

3.2 End of First Term Survey

A total of 17,642 students completed the End of First Term Survey, from 92 participating colleges and institutes. Table 2 shows the distribution of student records by national region as defined by ACCC. The full list of colleges and institutes which participated in the End of First Term Survey is provided in Appendix 3.

Table 1. Distribution by Region of Responses to the College Entry Survey 2005
Region	Number	Percent
British Columbia and Yukon Region	2,444	8
Alberta and Northwest Territories Region	2,013	7
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut Region	841	3
Ontario Region	19,892	69
Quebec Region	1,052	4
Atlantic Region	2,663	9
Missing	27
TOTAL	28,932	100
Source: College Entry Survey 2005

Table 2.Distribution by Region of Responses to the End of Term Survey 2005
Region	Number	Percent
British Columbia and Yukon Region	1,345	8
Alberta and Northwest Territories Region	1,168	7
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut Region	456	3
Ontario Region	11,480	65
Quebec Region	625	3
Atlantic Region	2,566	14
Missing	2
TOTAL	17,642	100
Source: End of Term Survey 2005

3.3 Limitations of the Study

While a large sample of students enrolled in their first year of college was polled in this survey, more than two-thirds of the respondents were from Ontario. Indeed, the Ontario sample represented all public colleges and constituted 25 percent of the total first-year student population in that province. While a substantial number of institutions and respondents were obtained from the Atlantic Provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, those in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia were under-represented. For this reason, overall project findings should not be viewed as representative of first-year college students nationwide. However, until a future study captures a more nationally representative sample, the current findings are the best and most comprehensive description of first-year students in Canadian colleges, institutes, cégeps and university-colleges achieved to date.

Throughout this report there are tables which compare the results of both the College Entry and End of Term Surveys for questions which were common to both survey instruments. However, it is important to note that the data in these tables cannot be considered to be longitudinal data as the College Entry Survey respondents were not all the same as respondents to the End of the Term Survey. An actual longitudinal analysis will be done with the over 6,000 common records of respondents who completed both surveys. This analysis will be documented in the third report in this series on the determinants of first year outcomes.

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