Survey Population:

In October 2003, at the request of the University of North Texas Chief of Police, the Office of Institutional Research & Accreditation (IR&A) designed a research project to (1) determine current/future parking and transportation behavior and needs for students, faculty, and staff, (2) to help determine the feasibility of constructing a multi-surface parking structure, and (3) to evaluate the e-trans bussing system used by students and staff.

A survey instrument was developed in consultation with UNT's Chief of Police, Senior Vice President for Administration, and Associate Vice President for IR&A. Institutional Research & Accreditation delivered 3200 surveys to a stratified random sample of students enrolled in 95 classes at UNT. Students enrolled in on-line courses or at the Dallas Campus only did not complete the survey. In addition, 2,925 surveys were sent to all benefits eligible faculty and staff at UNT.

There were 1,457 student surveys returned (45%) for analysis. Based on a survey sample calculation, this return rate resulted in a 2.5% margin of error (please see footnote at end for definition of confidence interval and level) at the 95% confidence level.

There were 1,144 (39%) surveys returned by faculty and staff. This resulted in a 2% margin of error at the 95% confidence level. For students, each percentage calculated from the survey responses will have a 2.5% plus-or-minus difference from the population percentage. . For faculty and staff, each percentage calculated from the survey responses will have a 2% plus-or-minus difference from the population percentage

Comparison of Sample to the University Population:

In general, the student sample was considered representative of the total student population (see Table 1). The survey population's geographical commuter routes selected were distributed similarly to the distribution found in the student database. For example, the survey population of students who said they were Denton residents was 42%. The student population indicates that 43% of the students were Denton residents. It should be noted that a greater portion of student survey participants were freshmen, and a lesser portion of the survey participants were doctoral students as compared to the UNT student population. This is consistent with the sampling method used to ensure that a representative sample of residence hall students was achieved in the survey results. Thus, the sample was defined as representative and inferences could be made from the survey to the student population. A disproportionate percent of females completed the survey which is a trend seen at UNT in other surveys. The faculty/staff survey return also compared favorably to the population on race, but a disproportionate for females returns the survey.