De-identification Policy

As a standard practice, students are NOT individually identified in datasets that are used for high level summaries or in reports that are provided to campus departments.

Survey Identification

For the purpose of matching survey responses to demographic information, each respondant’s individual survey response ID is paired with their UNC Charlotte identification number. Only the First Destination Survey Administrator (working in the University Career Center) has access to this information and is able to match a student with their responses. The FDS Administrator is responsible for preparing aggregate output for various campus stakeholders and as such verifies in each request that it is not possible for a student to be individually identified.

Multiple Surveys

The First Destination Survey is administered as a single survey instrument, but it is really many surveys in one. To eliminate repetition of questions asked by the University Career Center, the colleges, departments and special groups (honors programs, Veteran’s Affairs, OASIS, etc) the survey is compiled into a single instrument. This means that data is combined in multiple ways for different groups. Data is always reported as an aggregate output (no individual responses), and therefore even when multiple factors of demographic or academic information are prepared, the survey responses are still kept seperate from the identity of the student.

Contact Questions

At the end of the survey students are presented with a question asing for permission for their academic colleges or alumni affairs to follow up with them. This question grants permission to the First Destination Administrator to provide limited student information, usually in the form of name and e-mail address, to specific campus units who have a demonstrated legitimate interest in contacting the student. In some rare cases campus units may also be provided a list of students who meet very specific criteria. The most common use of this information is to increase alumni engagement with the colleges.

Granting this permission is voluntary and may be revoked at any time by e-mailing the First Destination Administrator. Providing additional post-graduation contact information is also optional and voluntary.