Download - Delving Deeper into the Graduate Experience
David Carroll, Research Associate
National survey of higher education graduates conducted since 1972
Current iteration is known as the Australian Graduate Survey (AGS)
Comprises:◦ Graduate Destinations Survey (GDS)◦ Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) or Postgraduate
Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ)
Graduates surveyed approximately four months after the completion of their studies
Total of 119,447 responses received in 2008 (56.4 per cent response rate)
Key findings disseminated through a series of annual research reports produced by GCA
Examination of work and study activities of new graduates
Current AGS and time series
Compares relative proportions of graduates in discrete categories (e.g. % in FTE vs. % seeking FTE)
Postgraduate Destinations report also produced
Examination of earnings of recent higher education graduates
Current AGS and time series
Median starting salaries of bachelor degree graduates, along with comparative salary figures from other groups
Widely used for strategic decision making
Reports focus on descriptive statistics
Diverse readership meant keeping reports as ‘accessible’ as possible
Concern that additional analyses would limit their use as communication tools
How best to incorporate new analyses into these reports to complement and enhance the analyses contained within…
Without reducing their usefulness as non-technical communication tools
Graduate Salaries 2008 selected as a test case for the addition of new analyses◦ Do they provide additional value?◦ Possible within already tight timelines?
Three criteria for new analyses:◦ Methodologically appropriate◦ Complement and enhance◦ Easily understood and interpreted
Adjustment for Inflation
Statistical Significance Testing
Inflation refers to the sustained increase in the overall price level in an economy
Inflation is caused by:◦ Growth in the money supply (long term)◦ Supply and demand pressures (short term)
Important to consider impact of inflation when examining values of money over time
Necessary to consider the real value of median starting salary to understand the practical implications for graduates.
Calculated based on annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Dollars base = Dollars data (Annual CPI base / Annual CPI data)
This approach was chosen because:
◦ Familiar concept
◦ Widely accepted methodology
◦ Publicly available indices
Emphasis in these reports placed on differences between groups of interest
Descriptive statistics (of AGS sample)
Can between group differences be inferred to exist in the overall graduate population?
Significance tests incorporated into Graduate Salaries 2008 to address this question
Non-normal distribution confirmed by graphical and statistical examination
Selected tests needed to fit within existing report structure to ensure continuity
Results (and their interpretation) needed to be meaningful to a wide audience
Mann-Whitney U (Wilcoxon Rank-Sum)
Kruskal-Wallis
Differences flagged as:◦ Significant at the 5 per cent level (*)◦ Significant at the 1 per cent level (**)◦ Not statistically significant (n.s.)
All p-values provided in an appendix
Results of these tests discussed in the report in practical terms:
The largest difference in median salary by gender was in the field of optometry ($8,000), which was statistically significant at the 5 per cent level. This basically means that there is less than a one-in-twenty chance that this gender difference does not occur in the overall graduate population.
(Adapted from Graduate Salaries 2008)
Statistical significance
vs. practical significance
State/Territory of employmentMales
($, ‘000)Females($, ‘000)
Apparent difference in
GSS ($)
Diff. in GSS by gender
NSW 50.0 45.0 $5,000
WA 50.0 45.0 $5,000
Qld 46.0 44.0 $2,000
Vic. 45.8 44.0 $1,800
Tas. 44.1 43.1 $1,000
ACT 48.0 47.1 $900
NT 50.0 49.9 $100
SA 45.0 45.0 $0
State/Territory of employmentMales
($, ‘000)Females($, ‘000)
Apparent difference in
GSS ($)
Diff. in GSS by gender
NSW 50.0 45.0 $5,000 **
WA 50.0 45.0 $5,000 **
Qld 46.0 44.0 $2,000 **
Vic. 45.8 44.0 $1,800 **
Tas. 44.1 43.1 $1,000 n.s.
ACT 48.0 47.1 $900 n.s.
NT 50.0 49.9 $100 n.s.
Field of educationDiff. in GSS
by gender
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS
by gender
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Earth Sciences† $10,600 Biological Sciences $1,600
Optometry $8,000 Mathematics $1,500
Dentistry $6,000 Social Sciences $1,500
Arch. & Building $5,000 Veterinary Science $1,300
Art & Design $4,900 Agricultural Science $1,000
Economics, Business $4,000 Education $1,000
Medicine $3,000 Engineering† $1,000
Social Work† $2,400 Law $1,000
Computer Science $2,000 Physical Sciences $900
Humanities $2,000 Pharmacy $800
Paramedical Studies $2,000 Accounting $0
Psychology $1,900
† Female median GSS larger than male median GSS.
Field of educationDiff. in GSS
by gender
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS
by gender
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Earth Sciences† n.s. $10,600 Biological Sciences n.s. $1,600
Optometry * $8,000 Mathematics n.s. $1,500
Dentistry n.s. $6,000 Social Sciences n.s. $1,500
Arch. & Building ** $5,000 Veterinary Science n.s. $1,300
Art & Design * $4,900 Agricultural Science n.s. $1,000
Economics, Business ** $4,000 Education * $1,000
Medicine * $3,000 Engineering† n.s. $1,000
Social Work† n.s. $2,400 Law n.s. $1,000
Computer Science n.s. $2,000 Physical Sciences n.s. $900
Humanities ** $2,000 Pharmacy n.s. $800
Paramedical Studies ** $2,000
Psychology n.s. $1,900
† Female median GSS larger than male median GSS.
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Pharmacy $13,500 Economics, Business $7,000
Education $13,000 Social Sciences $7,000
Art & Design $11,100 Computer Science $6,500
Optometry $10,000 Paramedical Studies $6,500
Humanities $9,500 Agricultural Science $5,500
Accounting $9,400 Mathematics $5,500
Psychology $9,000 Biological Sciences $5,300
Arch. & Building $8,900 Earth Sciences $5,000
Engineering $8,900 Law $5,000
Dentistry $8,500 Medicine $3,000
Physical Sciences $7,500 Veterinary Science $0
Social Work $7,500
† Aust. Govt, State Govt, Public Health, Prof. Pract. Ind./Com., Schools, Tert. Ed.
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Pharmacy ** $13,500 Economics, Business ** $7,000
Education ** $13,000 Social Sciences * $7,000
Art & Design ** $11,100 Computer Science n.s. $6,500
Optometry n.s. $10,000 Paramedical Studies ** $6,500
Humanities ** $9,500 Agricultural Science n.s. $5,500
Accounting ** $9,400 Mathematics n.s. $5,500
Psychology ** $9,000 Biological Sciences ** $5,300
Arch. & Building ** $8,900 Earth Sciences n.s. $5,000
Engineering ** $8,900 Law n.s. $5,000
Dentistry n.s. $8,500 Medicine ** $3,000
Physical Sciences n.s. $7,500
Social Work ** $7,500
† Aust. Govt, State Govt, Public Health, Prof. Pract. Ind./Com., Schools, Tert. Ed.
Graduate Destinations focus on relative proportions of graduates within categories
Two proportion z-test proposed to examine two subgroups of interest:◦ Proportion of graduates engaged in particular activities◦ Proportion engaged in particular activities in different
years
Graduates in full-time employment
p1 p2 Sig. z-score
Bachelor Honours * Bachelor Pass 85.5 85.1
Bachelor Grad Entry * Bachelor Pass 85.5 85.1
Masters Coursework * Masters Research 88.7 87.6
Masters Coursework * G/PG Diploma 88.7 89.0
Graduate Certificate * G/PG Diploma 95.1 89.0
2008 * 2007 85.2 84.5
Males * Females 85.5 85.0
Graduates in full-time employment
p1 p2 Sig. z-score
Bachelor Honours * Bachelor Pass 85.5 85.1 0.484 n.s. 0.70
Bachelor Grad Entry * Bachelor Pass 85.5 85.1 0.516 n.s. 0.65
Masters Coursework * Masters Research 88.7 87.6 0.503 n.s. 0.67
Masters Coursework * G/PG Diploma 88.7 89.0 0.562 n.s. 0.58
Graduate Certificate * G/PG Diploma 95.1 89.0 0.000 ** 11.04
2008 * 2007 85.2 84.5 0.004 ** 2.87
Males * Females 85.5 85.0 0.156 n.s. 1.42
Kruskal-Wallis Test indicates that at least one pair of groups are different
No multiple comparison tests for Kruskal-Wallis included in Graduate Salaries 2008◦ Recommended that readers compare medians to identify
extreme groups (after Dytham, 2003)
Considering adding multiple comparison tests in Graduate Salaries 2009
Multiple comparison procedure for Kruskal-Wallis when sample sizes are not equal
Minimises Type I errors (falsely rejecting H0) when performing multiple pairwise comparisons (Q statistic)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Pharmacy ** $13,500 Economics, Business ** $7,000
Education ** $13,000 Social Sciences * $7,000
Art & Design ** $11,100 Computer Science n.s. $6,500
Optometry n.s. $10,000 Paramedical Studies ** $6,500
Humanities ** $9,500 Agricultural Science n.s. $5,500
Accounting ** $9,400 Mathematics n.s. $5,500
Psychology ** $9,000 Biological Sciences ** $5,300
Arch. & Building ** $8,900 Earth Sciences n.s. $5,000
Engineering ** $8,900 Law n.s. $5,000
Dentistry n.s. $8,500 Medicine ** $3,000
Physical Sciences n.s. $7,500
Social Work ** $7,500
† Aust. Govt, State Govt, Public Health, Prof. Pract. Ind./Com., Schools, Tert. Ed.
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Field of educationDiff. in GSS by industry†
Apparentdifferencein GSS ($)
Pharmacy ** $13,500 Economics, Business ** $7,000
Education ** $13,000 Social Sciences * $7,000
Art & Design ** $11,100 Computer Science n.s. $6,500
Optometry n.s. $10,000 Paramedical Studies ** $6,500
Humanities ** $9,500 Agricultural Science n.s. $5,500
Accounting ** $9,400 Mathematics n.s. $5,500
Psychology ** $9,000 Biological Sciences ** $5,300
Arch. & Building ** $8,900 Earth Sciences n.s. $5,000
Engineering ** $8,900 Law n.s. $5,000
Dentistry n.s. $8,500 Medicine ** $3,000
Physical Sciences n.s. $7,500
Social Work ** $7,500
† Aust. Govt, State Govt, Public Health, Prof. Pract. Ind./Com., Schools, Tert. Ed.
Industry Group
RA
Aust. Govt 926.43
Prof. Pract. 892.54
Public Health 880.50
Tert. Ed. 844.82
State Govt 820.02
Schools 810.10
Ind./Com. 533.23
Q 533.23 810.1 820.02 844.82 880.5 892.54 926.43 RB
Ind. / Com.
SchoolsState Govt
Tert. Ed.Public Health
Prof. Pract.
Aust. Govt
Industry Group
Industry Group
RA
Aust. Govt 926.43
Prof. Pract. 892.54 0.72
Public Health 880.50 0.11 0.41
Tert. Ed. 844.82 0.30 0.75 1.19
State Govt 820.02 0.35 0.54 1.48 1.92
Schools 810.10 0.19 0.52 0.63 1.87 2.28
Ind./Com. 533.23 7.57 6.78 5.32 3.27 11.87 9.89
Q 533.23 810.1 820.02 844.82 880.5 892.54 926.43 RB
Ind. / Com.
SchoolsState Govt
Tert. Ed.Public Health
Prof. Pract.
Aust. Govt
Industry Group
QCrit = 3.038 (p < .05; k = 7)
Industry Group
RA
Aust. Govt 926.43
Prof. Pract. 892.54 0.72
Public Health 880.50 0.11 0.41
Tert. Ed. 844.82 0.30 0.75 1.19
State Govt 820.02 0.35 0.54 1.48 1.92
Schools 810.10 0.19 0.52 0.63 1.87 2.28
Ind./Com. 533.23 7.57 6.78 5.32 3.27 11.87 9.89
Q 533.23 810.1 820.02 844.82 880.5 892.54 926.43 RB
Ind. / Com.
SchoolsState Govt
Tert. Ed.Public Health
Prof. Pract.
Aust. Govt
Industry Group
QCrit = 3.038 (p < .05; k = 7)
Inflation adjustment permits salaries over time to be examined on a common base◦ Practical implications for graduates
Statistical significance tests allow for more reliable inferences to the overall population
Even more robust and comprehensive understanding of graduate outcomes
David CarrollGraduate Careers [email protected]+61 3 9605 3700
www.graduatecareers.com.auwww.graduatecareers.com.au