POST-GRADUATE EDUCATION: DOES IT IMPROVE SATISFACTION RATES FOR MILLENNIALS* WORKING IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?

AFederalEmployeeViewpointSurveyAnalysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ………………………………………………………………… Slides 3-5

RelationshipBetweenVariables ………………………………………………… Slides 6-8

HypothesisTesting ………………………………………………………………… Slide 9

Results ………………………………………………………………… Slides10-11

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… Slide 12

NextSteps ………………………………………………………………… Slide13

Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………… Slide14

AboutMe ………………………………………………………………… Slide15

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Framing the Problem

GiventhehighcostofeducationIsetouttobuildamodeltodescribetherelationshipbetweenpost-graduateeducationlevelsandsatisfactionratesforfederalemployeesupto39yearsofage

TheresearchledmetoTheFederalEmployeeViewpointSurvey,conductedbytheOfficeofPersonnelManagement(OPM),asit’sthemostcomprehensivesourceofdataregardingfederalemployeesatisfaction

Acquiring the Necessary

Data 3

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PROJECT TIMELINE

Mining and Refining the

Data

InordertodescribetherelationshipbetweenthevariablesEducationLevel,JobSatisfactionandPaySatisfaction,Iconstructedacorrelationmatrixandfactorplot,inordertoobtainanumericalandgraphicalrepresentationoftherelationship.Finally,IusedaPearson’schi-squaredTesttoconfirmmyHypothesis

Building the Model 4

FromthisinitialdatasetIfilteredoutAgeGroupA(39andyounger)andrefinedthesettoonlyinclude3variablesforinitialconsideration:Q69(Consideringeverything,howsatisfiedareyouwithyourjob?),Q70(Consideringeverything,howsatisfiedareyouwithyourpay?),andEducationLevel

Parsing the Data

Ithenconductedanexploratoryanalysisofthedatafromover400,000surveysfromthe2015FederalEmployeeViewpointSurvey

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The Data Set: 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

The98–itemsurveyconductedbytheOfficeofPersonnel

Managementincludes84itemsthatmeasureFederalemployees’perceptionsabouthoweffectivelyagenciesmanagetheirworkforce,plus14

demographicitems.

Theanswersfortheperceptionquestionsrangefrom5=StronglyAgree,4=Agree,3=NeitherAgreenorDisagree,2=Disagree,1=

StronglyDisagree

In2015,407,789employeesrespondedtothesurveyoutofthe889,590towhomitwassent,foraresponserateof45.8%.Survey

participantsrepresent80agenciesacrosstheFederalGovernment.1

84PerceptionQuestions

14DemographicItems

407,789EmployeeResponses

80FederalAgencies 5

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RELATIONSHIPBETWEEN

VARIABLES

ToassesstherelationshipbetweenthevariablesEducationLevel,JobSatisfaction(Q69)and

PaySatisfaction(Q70),Iconstructedacorrelationmatrixandfactorplots

CorrelationMatrix

TheCorrelationMatrixgivesusacoefficientof0.0636(averysmallpositivecorrelation)betweenQ69andeducation.

FactorPlot

TheFactorPlotshowsusincreasingjobsatisfactionmeansasmoreeducationisgained.

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Prior-Bachelors

Bachelors

Post-Bachelors

Q 69: Considering everything, how

satisfied are you with your job?

CorrelationMatrix

TheCorrelationMatrixgivesusacoefficientof0.0943(again,averysmallpositivecorrelation)betweenQ70andeducation.

FactorPlot

TheFactorPlotshowsusincreasingpaysatisfactionmeansasmoreeducationisgained.

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Q 70: Considering everything, how

satisfied are you with your pay?

Prior-Bachelors

Bachelors

Post-Bachelors

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Null Hypothesis: there is no difference in satisfaction between bachelor and post-

bachelor degree holders. Alternative Hypothesis: there is a difference

in satisfaction between bachelor and post-bachelor degree holders.

TotestthisHypothesisIusedPearson'schi-squaredTest,astatisticaltestappliedtosetsofcategoricaldatatoevaluatehowlikelyitisthatanyobserved

differencebetweenthesetsarosebychance.2

Iusedanalpha/sensitivitylevelof.05.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

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GiventhePvalueobtainedinthePearson'schi-squaredTest,werejecttheHo.ThereISastatisticallysignificantcorrelation

betweenJobSatisfactionandapost-bachelordegree.

RESULTS

Pearson's Chi-squared Test Q69:

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RESULTS

GiventhePvalueobtainedinthePearson'schi-squaredTest,werejecttheHo.ThereISastatisticallysignificantcorrelation

betweenPaySatisfactionandapost-bachelordegree.

Pearson's Chi-squared Test Q70:

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CONCLUSION

Thereisastatisticallysignificantpositivecorrelationformillennials*,inbothjobandpay

satisfaction,betweenbachelorandpost-bachelordegreeholders.

Itisinterestingtonotethatalbeitsmall,thereisa

largerdifferenceinjobsatisfactionmeansbetweenbachelorandpost-bachelordegreeholderthaninpay

satisfactionmeans.

Anotherinterestingthingtonoteisthatthelargestdifferenceinmeansliesinpaysatisfactionbetweenthe

non-collegeandcollegeeducated.Interestingly,thedifferenceinpaysatisfactionmeansbetweenbachelorandpost-bachelordegreeholdersisthesmallestoneof

theset.

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Theobjectiveofthisanalysiswaspurelydescriptive;thefirststeptounderstandtheimpactofpost-graduateeducationon

federalemployee’ssatisfactionrates.

Ausefulnextstepwouldbetocreateamodelthatpredictssatisfactionbasedoneducationandothervariables,analyzing

theimpactinbothjobandpayacrossagencies.SuchmodelwouldprobablybeconstructedusingaLogisticRegression

analysis.

Finally,itwouldbeinterestingtoexploreaprescriptivemodelthatassesswhetheranemployeeshouldgetapostgraduate

degreebasedontheagencyheorsheworksat.

Theinsightsderivedfromthisresearchcouldbeusefultodeterminewhetherapost-graduatedegreeshouldbepursued

byafederalemployee.

NEXT STEPS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DougFriedmanforhisscientificinsightsinandfromdata.AlexWigmoreforhisPython3.5exorcismpowersandcareeradvice.

ShaunFasbinderforhisPython-Fumastery.

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ABOUT ME

IamarecentMBAgraduatefromAmericanUniversity,

withaMajorinEconomicsfromGeorgeMasonUniversity.

Ihaveover7yearsofexperienceinprojectsthatinclude

federal,commercial,andinternationalconsulting,

businesscommunicationscoaching,anddataanalytics.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-umerez-a7277883