National Survey of College Graduates

The 2019 NSCG retains the four-panel rotating panel design that began with the 2010 NSCG. As part of this design, every new panel receives a baseline survey interview and three biennial follow-up interviews before rotating out of the survey. The 2019 NSCG includes approximately 147,000 sample cases drawn from the following: - Returning sample from the 2013 NSCG who were originally selected from the 2011 ACS - Returning sample from the 2015 NSCG who were originally selected from the 2013 ACS - Returning sample from the 2017 NSCG who were originally selected from the 2015 ACS - New sample selected from the 2017 ACS

Approximately 81,000 cases were selected from the returning sample members for one of the three biennial follow-up interviews that are part of the rotating panel design. For the baseline survey interview, about 66,000 new sample cases were selected from the 2017 ACS.

• Mixed or multi modes
• Survey (self- or interviewer-administered)

Year-to-year comparisons can be made among the 1993 to 2019 NSCG survey cycles because many of the core questions remained the same. Small but notable differences exist across some survey years, such as the collection of occupation and education data based on more recent taxonomies. Also, because of the use of different reference months in some survey cycles, seasonal differences may occur when making comparisons across years.

There is overlap in the cases included in the 2013 NSCG, 2015 NSCG, 2017 NSCG, and 2019 NSCG. This sample overlap consists of cases that originated in the 2011 ACS, 2013 ACS, or 2015 ACS. The overlap among cases allows for the ability to conduct longitudinal analysis of this subset of the NSCG sample. To reduce the risk of disclosure, longitudinal analyses can be conducted only within a restricted environment.

The NSCG uses a trimodal data collection approach: Web survey, mail survey, and computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI). The 2019 NSCG data collection effort lasted approximately 7 months. The data collected in the NSCG are subject to both editing and imputation procedures. The NSCG uses both logical imputation and statistical (hot deck) imputation as part of the data processing effort. Every sample case in the NSCG has a final sample weight that reflects the portion of the overall population the case represents. This final sample weight reflects weighting adjustments that were conducted to account for the following:

Sample selection Nonresponse Trimming procedures to eliminate extreme weights Raking procedures to ensure the sampling weights agree with sampling frame estimates Overlap procedures to convert weights that reflect the population of each individual frame (2011 ACS, 2013 ACS, 2015 ACS, and 2017 ACS) into a final sample weight that reflects the 2019 NSCG target population

The final sample weights enable data users to derive survey-based estimates of the NSCG target population.

School Code . Unspecified Respondent Location

• State name
• Other (see Linkage Capabilities description)