What is the Gallup-Purdue Index?
Gallup partners with Purdue University and Lumina Foundation to conduct a nationally representative study of college graduates with Internet access called the Gallup-Purdue Index. The Gallup-Purdue Index is the first measure to evaluate the long-term success of graduates in their pursuit of great jobs and great lives, as measured by the Gallup Employee Engagement Index and Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, respectively. The Gallup-Purdue Index examines college experiences such as internship participation, involvement in extracurricular activities, relationships with professors, and having student loans. It also provides higher education leaders with productive insights that will help them make meaningful performance improvements.
How are interviews conducted for the Gallup-Purdue Index?
Gallup conducts the Gallup-Purdue Index interviews via the Web. According to a 2013 Census Bureau report, 90% of U.S. college graduates have access to the Internet. With this in mind, Gallup selects American adults with a college education to participate in the Gallup-Purdue Index through two different sample sources: the Gallup Panel and the Gallup Daily tracking survey.
How many people are interviewed in the Gallup-Purdue Index survey?
The inaugural Gallup-Purdue Index survey included interviews with more than 30,000 American adults possessing a bachelor's degree or higher and approximately 1,500 American adults with an associate degree.
How often is the Gallup-Purdue Index conducted?
Gallup began conducting the national Gallup-Purdue Index in 2014 and will administer it on an annual basis for at least five years thereafter.
Additionally, individual postsecondary institutions are working with Gallup to survey their own alumni using the Gallup-Purdue Index survey to compare the jobs and lives of their alumni to this national benchmark. Gallup will conduct these separate alumni-specific surveys on an ongoing basis.
Are Gallup-Purdue Index samples weighted?
Yes, Gallup weights the national Gallup-Purdue Index samples to match the U.S. population according to gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, and region. Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for those aged 18 and older possessing an associate degree for the associate degree sample and those possessing a bachelor's degree or higher for the bachelor's degree or higher sample. Gallup does not weight sample data for alumni-specific studies conducted on behalf of individual postsecondary institutions.
Where can I find results from the Gallup-Purdue Index and learn more about the survey?
For the most recent findings, read the Gallup-Purdue Index Inaugural National Report. Gallup also publishes newsworthy findings from the Gallup-Purdue Index on Gallup.com. Sign up for Gallup News alerts to get these stories as soon as they are published.
If you are a college or university leader who would like to learn more about Gallup's work with institutions of higher education, please contact education@gallup.com.