CoolData in the summer – 3

Back in December I wrote about scholarship/bursary recipients and alumni giving — are alumni who received financial assistance as students more likely to give? This was a side-topic in my presentation on “using survey data in models” at the APRA Data Analytics Symposium in July. It came up in connection with surveys because the university I used to work for did not have historical data on who received assistance or awards. In retrospect, knowing that survey respondents are unreliable reporters of fact, I should have been skeptical of the finding that 43% alumni actually received a scholarship or bursary. However, although it does not provide factual information necessarily, survey data CAN reveal an aspect of attitude that might be correlated with giving. I say “might be” — you need to read the original post for the answer to my question. Follow the link above!

During the month of August I will be posting new material slightly less often, but calling attention to previously-posted material that had lower readership because the blog was still very new.