What question did this study set out to answer?

Determine satisfaction ratings of various groups attending a university's commencement exercises.

December 20, 2025

Satisfaction Survey of a University’s Commencement Exercises

Key Points

Determine satisfaction ratings of various groups attending a university's commencement exercises.
Conducted a satisfaction survey using a six-item Likert scale questionnaire.
Utilized one-sample T test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test for analysis.
Tested group differences and relationships between satisfaction ratings and recommendations.
Overall satisfaction rated significantly beyond satisfactory on the scale.
Significant differences identified among groups attending the commencement.
Almost all groups recommended the same venue for the next graduation.

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the satisfaction rating of 11 groups (graduates from nine Colleges, parents, and faculty) who attended a University’s Commencement Exercises. A six-item, 1-5 Likert scale (1-Very Poor, 2-Poor, 3-Satisfactory, 4-Good, 5-Excellent) questionnaire was given to 275 randomly selected respondents (based on power analysis). The first five items pertained to accessibility/cost (ACCESS), staff performance (AIDES), orderliness (ORDER), formality (FORMAL), and discipline/conduct (CONDUCT); the sixth item about recommendation (RECOMD). The instrument met validity test and reliability standards (Cronbach’s Alpha=0.84). One-sample T test showed a highly statistically significant overall rating beyond satisfactory level (3 on the scale). To test the hypothesis of no difference in satisfaction rating among groups, parametric ANOVA was tried initially, but because normality and homogeneity of variance assumptions were not met, Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) test was used instead, using composite score. Results revealed significant group differences. Post hoc Mann-Whitney U (M-W) test with Bonferroni correction was made to find significant pairwise comparison. Chi-Square test showed moderately strong relationship (Contingency Coefficient= 0.34) between group affiliation and RECOMD. Almost all of the groups overwhelmingly recommended holding the University’s next year graduation again at the same venue. Keywords: Satisfaction survey, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, Bonferroni correction, Chi-Square

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