Abstract: Enhancing student engagement in PTES in the health disciplines: a mixed methods study

In 2010 the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) was administered in 76 UK higher education institutions with a response rate of just 14.8%. While still useful, clearly this only allows for limited insight (Park & Wells, 2010).  In a review of the national student survey (NSS), it is suggested that information from non-responders is particularly important, given the possibility that they may have considerably different experiences than responders. Institutional comparisons based on such surveys may be misleading given the often large difference in response rates (Surridge, 2009). Surridge suggests that finding out what survey non responders think is an important issue and one that is difficult to address. Hence, finding out why students do or do not participate in student surveys, particularly targeting those who do not usually respond, may get to the root of the problem and encourage at least some of those non responders to participate. Additionally, valuable insight into the use of incentives by higher education institutions hoping to entice students to participate in such surveys has been highlighted as an important area for further research as it has been suggested that there is little evidence that incentives actually work (Surridge, 2009).

The primary objective of this project is to explore student perceptions of the PTES in the five Health Schools of King’s College London. The aim is to develop an evidence based advertising/education programme for students and/or staff to increase response rates in health disciplines. The specific objectives are:
•    To explore why students do/do not respond to the PTES (particularly targeting non responders)
•    To explore the perceptions of the PTES and the value of completing it
•    To explore if students find incentives enticing
•    To explore the above between and within health schools

We are taking a mixed methods approach, beginning with a survey exploring students’ perceptions regarding completing the PTES across different health schools. This will form the basis of the second component, which will aim to explore students’ perceptions qualitatively in focus groups, enriching the survey data and allowing deeper insight.