Graduate Outcomes user guide
Guidance on the background, methodology, and available resources for users of the Graduate Outcomes survey.
On this page: Survey methodology | Governance and data protection | Metadata and definitions | Data quality | Archive
This contents list links to various sources of documentation for the Graduate Outcomes survey and the datasets created from its results. This material aims to meet the needs of technical and expert users of the data. If you have any feedback on the contents of this guide please contact [email protected].
List of user guide contents
Survey methodology
Graduate Outcomes Survey methodology - Introduction and contents
- Specification of user needs (history and background)
- Survey coverage
- Sampling frame
- Role of higher education providers
- HESA's role
- Survey targets
- DLHE response rate targets
- Graduate Outcomes response rate targets
- Survey questions
- Online survey design
- Provider personalisation of survey and emails
- Telephone survey design
- Data collection
- Online data collection
- Telephone data collection
- Postal data collection
- Opt-outs
- Case prioritisation
- Welsh language requirements
- Data processing
- Data capture
- Data quality checking
- SIC/SOC data coding
- Free text field cleaning
- Derived fields
- Data analysis
- Approach to weighting
- Reliability
- Dissemination
- Key users and uses
- Legal and Compliance considerations
- Data protection Act 2018/GDPR
- Official Statistics
- Freedom of Information
- Competition Law
- Ethical considerations
- Misrepresentations of Graduate Outcomes data
- Products and services
- Supporting information for users of the data
- Data definitions
- Quality and data intelligence
- Survey methodology
- User guide
- Content and presentation of data in HESA data releases
- Operational policy on Tailored Datasets
- Provider Preview service
- Operational policy on Tailored Datasets
- Comparisons with DLHE
- Approach to data concepts and standards
- Classes of usage
- Sector engagement
- Cohort reports and regular communications
- Data dissemination communications approach
- Evaluation
- Data collection
- Data quality analysis
- Data processing and dissemination
Governance and data protection
Graduate Outcomes steering group
Implementation project including:
Data protection guidance for providers (re. contact details)
Privacy information for graduates (on www.graduateoutcomes.ac.uk)
Privacy information for students
Metadata and definitions
Coding manuals for HESA data collections include lists of data fields and values as well as metadata information:
- Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Contact Details record 2019/20
- Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Survey Results record 2019/20
Tables and charts specification 2019/20 (.xlsx)
List of HE providers by provider type (HE provider/FE college)
Data quality
Graduate Outcomes Survey Quality Report
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Quality methodology
- Quality description
- Relevance
- Accuracy and reliability
- Timeliness and punctuality
- Accessibility and clarity
- Coherence and comparability
- Respondent burden
- Conclusion
- References
Archive and record of changes to the user guide
Year 2 - 2018/19
Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Contact Details record 2018/19
Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Survey Results record 2018/19
Tables and charts specification (2018/19) (.xlsx)
Graduate Outcomes Survey Quality Report v2.1.0
Year 1 - 2017/18
2017/18 Methodology Statement part two
Graduate Outcomes Dissemination Policy v1
Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Contact Details record 2017/18
Coding manual - Graduate Outcomes Survey Results record 2017/18
Tables and charts specification (2017/18) (.xlsx)
Graduate Outcomes Survey Quality Report v1
Feedback
This arrangement of documentation as a 'user guide' is new for the 2018/19 release of Graduate Outcomes data. If you have any comments or suggestions to improve this guide please let us know by emailing [email protected].