CPC and NPHC Sororities: An Official Study on the Differences and Silimarities
 

Hello Everyone!

I am senior anthropology student and I am working on my senior assignment. My project is a study based on the differences and similarities between NPC and NPHC sororities. For the purpose of my study I am in the process of gathering surveys from members of these two types of sororities. If you would like to participate in this study there are two options.
A. You can visit my website to learn more about why I am doing this project and then you can be directed to the survey
My website can be found at:
http://anthsenproj.tripod.com

B. I have below posted links to the surveys and you can go straight from this page to the survey.

If you are a member of a NPC sorority (Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Zeta, Chi Omega, etc.) Please follow this link to take the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=202933574130">

If you are a member of a NPHC sorority (Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho) Please follow this link to take the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=630553574769">

Thank You!!!

I think you mean an "NPC" sorority, not "CPC" sorority. :rolleyes:

yea I was wondering what CPC was which was why I clicked the link to see what this thread was all about.

The survey has a lot of questions that all depend on how the greek life is on certain campuses. I knew all of my sisters pretty well, but we had a small greek community. I have friends who were in large chapters and didnt know ALL of their sisters as well as I knew all of mine - but thats just our campuses, nothing to do with the organization. The questions also dont leave room for MANY reasons why people join a sorority - yes I joined because my friends are in the organization, but there were other reasons that I joined that werent listed in the survey.

Yes I think a member needs to remember where they were founded etc... Its not something hard to remember. Do I think they need to remember the 45 founders of their chapter? No. Its not really THAT important, especially long after graduation. Do you need to know/remember that the president who was there when you were initiated's favorite color is pink? No. But your founding information is important to your organization. I also think that yea, knowing that my sorority was founded in 1913 is important, but also knowing the ideals we were founded on and knowing the reasons why our founders didnt just join one of the many organizations available to them - that is the real reasons for our sorority becoming our sorority. Dates and locations, secondary to the WHYs...

Oh and the survey was geared toward ACTIVE members and not ALUMNAE. You should specify that in your post.

Eh just my two cents, ALSO can you tell Im BORED? Our school system is on spring break.

I started the survey and then stopped, because the first page alone showed me that you lack a basic understanding of the NPHC (and the NPC since you keep calling them the CPC.). I suggest you do more research and redo the survey

Was it the question on whether you would choose to be a different group when with NPHC you really only rush one group that did it for you, Ladygreek?

Wow... Someone really needs to do more research. She is trying to uplift the hype rather than examine the reality of each organization.

Besides, if she wants interests to post, she needs to say that... She should not ask us to do it. And a lot of us are way out of undergraduate. Like WAAAY DONE with college.

Thank you so much CutiePie2000 for pointing out my mistake in such a respecful and helpful manner. I am doing this study because I want NPC and NPHC members to have a better understanding of each other. I, myself, am a member of an NPHC sorority and I have heard multiple terms for NPC sororities used:
NPC-National Panhellenic Conference
CPC-Collehge Panhellenic Conference
CPH-College Panhellenic

I did do my research and it seemed that on my campus the general term used is CPC. If this is wrong then I apologize and meant no disrespect. Thank you for your help! If you would like to participate further in this study (i.e. help me with other terms used in NPC sororities) please PM me and we can exchange email):) .

sfksfl07- GC folks would be more supportive if they knew who you were. You have not posted in anybody's forum and this is your first one that you started. So we are all wondering, huh? Some of use are WTF? Or WTH?

But, I am wondering, what is your hypothesis, specific aim and the goal of your survey because the questions you ask are not directed and extremely hypothetical. You cannot do any kind of statistics, even if it is multivariate with ANCOVA.

If your goal is establish why NPC organizations do not strongly interact with NPHC sororities, besides the fact they are mostly of 2 different ethnic groups, then you are going to have to ask pointed questions:

I.E. The type of college/university you attended. How was school paid for: financial aid or parents or other. Did one work during school.

Most young ladies joined NPC organizations during their freshmen years. Other young ladies must have more than a semester GPA with fulltime student status to join NPHC sororities.

So you are dealing with a different dynamic between the two.

I can tell you your questions on your survey must be honed down to simplicity.

Thank you so much for your response AngelPhiSig! Being a Greek myself I am well aware that Greek Life on different campus varies and that is exactly why I am trying to have a large surveying sample.
In response to your comment that my questions leave no room for many reasons why people join sororities: In anthropology we have a certain type of data gathering in which before we administer a survey, we administer a freelist. In a freelist, I take a sample of people (in this case NPHC and NPC sorority members) and I ask them to list as many reasons that they can possibly think of as to why they joined a sorority. I then tally the results and determine the most common choices and I use the most common choices on the survey. I then administer the survey to a far larger sample of sorority members. Unfortunatelty you are unaware of this method. Perhaps because you have never taken an anthropology class (or any research class), or at least not one where you learned anything.

I find it interesting that you seem so hostile at the question on the survey regarding how you feel about members memorizing their sororities foundation. Rememer AngelPhiSig: the purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding between these two particular types of sororities-not to say that one type is better or one has a better way of doing things.

Finally, I noticed that you were quite annoyed that the survey appears to be geared towards active members and not alumni. Unfortunately your assumption was not true and I do need to add an option to the question I believe you are referring to. Furthermore it is evident to me that you have a poor understanding of NPHC sororities because NPHC sorority members who have graduated and are involved in a graduate chapter are called active (as well as alumni/graduate members). NPHC members who graduate and choose not to be active are called alumni or graduate members not active. I am well aware that the terms are different for NPC sororities. It may be beneficial for you to read my final report. You might just learn something:p .
Thank you for your time and yes-I can tell you are bored.

ladygreek, I encourage you to read my second post regarding how much research I need to do. In addition, I must ask what was so offensive about the first page of the survey that you believed I have a lack of understanding of the NPHC (especially considering I belong to a NPHC sorority myself). In case you have poor memory this is what the first page says:

Thank you for taking the time to take this survey! For my senior project I am studying the differences and similarities between NPC and NPHC sororities. Your answers will help NPHC and NPC sorority members have a better understanding of each other as well as point potential members in the right direction as far as what they should expect from their sorority experience.

This survey has three parts and should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Thanks Again!

If the survey was too dificult or too stressful for you to complete then I am very happy that you opted out so soon. I would hate to cause you more pain than what you would experience in everyday life had you not been asked to complete my survey. If you do not understand my previous statement I encourage you and AlphaPhiSig to enroll together in a sociology or anthropology research class. Thanks so much! And do try not to be so sensitive.

The problem was that your options for "why I joined my sorority..." is that most of them were very superficial. There was nothing along the lines of "because they showed true sisterhood", which would have been my answer, and I don't think I'm the only one.

AKA Monet had some great points in her post, I think, that would make a difference in your survey. No matter what classes you have taken that make you think you know more about this than we do, your survey really was hopelessly geared toward the stereotypical, and TRULY understanding Greek life is being open to individuality, actually, and not the stereotypes. But then, maybe that's what you're going for.

Also, for your question regarding founders, two options were much the same, and the first was two harsh. Most would probably feel that they fit in the middle...that sometimes people forget, but that it IS a big deal.

AKA_Monet, is there something that you misread during my survey? Please PM me and give me 5 examples of things I need to do far more research on, maybe you can give me some insight since you seem to want to be so helpful.

I am forced to assume that you have poor reading skills if you believe my survey is for interests. Do you have trouble understanding grammatical tenses? Afterall, you did say you were "like waay done with college". This would explain why you would think that the survey is for interests as opposed to people who are already in a sorority. For example the questions are such as Why did you join a sorority? NOT why do you want to join a sorority. Libraries have tons of information on grammatical tense. You should visit and check up on your skills. You might just see me there continuing my research on NPC and NPHC sororities! Afterall, I never said I was finished with my research. Thanks Again!

Okey,

You need to matrix up your survey question regarding reasons for joining with a range of 1-5 strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Then you will get percentage numbers of who will reply to those that did not answer the question.

Then there was a transition in 1990's for all NPHC sororities to an actual above ground pledging period to a "membership intake process". Do you really want questions about underground processes that may be inaccurate for the National organizations.

Are you asking WHAT are the differences and similarities? Or are you asking for PERCEPTIONS of the differences and similarities?

Those are 2 different questions. I think you are looking for the PERCEIVED differences and similarities.

One huge similarity is we are all women first...

Then you need to list the school you are doing this for because has this survey been academically reviewed?

Thanks again AKA_Monet. I am so happy that you are so interested in my project. I truly appreciate your concern. I am working closely on this project under a professor of anthropology who has her Ph.D and has done plenty of research. I respect her experience and position enough to utilize her as my only advisor concerning my senior assignment. I am very well aware of all of the facts that you have given here and I again appreciate your concern!

I can assure you that AKA_Monet has great reading skills.
At any rate the questions 'why did you join a sorority?' although the wording is geared to members of sororities the answer choices were indeed superficial as SquirrelGirl stated which could lead people to believe that was geared to an interest who does not know much, if any, history or purpose of GLO's (NPC or NPHC).

Seeing that you say you are a member of a NPHC sorority I would think you would have asked more specific questions, especially about graduate membership.

BTW...since you 'are' a NPHC fab 4 member feel free to introduce yourself in the proper threads.

Based on the questions you are asking in your survey, you have failed to allow respondants to give you their truest and probably more realistic answers. You ask for the satisfaction of joining a NPHC sorority and if one would want to change if they could. What statistical measurement would legitimately establish the similarities or differences of a NPC organization and a NPHC sorority when one can only join 1 NPHC sorority for life? You should know this information and knowledge of this information makes this point moot.

Establishing the primary reasons for joining a NPHC sorority, the listing is superfluous. It should be ranked. There are many primary reasons. Some sillier than others. But what you want is quantifiable data, not randomizations without P-values. You do not have a null hypothesis based on your questions. Therefore, your Gaussian distribution will not give you any kind of post survey testing for an F-test.

Forget my vernacular, you have just got me started with full usage of my Doctorate... You understand what I mean. That is why I asking about academic review. I completely fail to understand your logic with question 9. What are you asking? Why do you ask it? Most of my sorority sisters have post-secondary degrees...

You are going to have to tolerate harsh criticism and evaluation if you write surveys that you want people to support it. You may as well let us do it you while we cannot see you rather than having another Doctorate flunk you based their extremely limited knowledge of the problem or issue. Regardless of your own professor, it has YET to matter with these kinds of things. Others are going to what know what your thoughts are about it by yourself with questions. I know, been there, done that, have a T-shirt.

I am reminding you, DO NOT GET EMOTIONAL! I am telling you had better change some aspects of the survey. If you do not know how, I will show you if you PM me. That is not only my professional opinion, it has to do with the fullness of the scientific method.

Is she greek? And if she is, is she NPHC or NPC? Yes, it matters because it biases the kind of questions you are asking and you have lost some objectivity regarding your subject.

What if someone who is a member of another organization wants to the other survey? What are your control values?

Thank you everyone for all of your comments and ideas. Looking through your posts has given me even more insight than I had expected to get. I also want to thank everyone who has taken the survey. I am amazed by how many surveys I have gotten back just in the past few hours! In addition if anyone here feels they can offer more insight and ideas please pm me because I am taking all of your comments into consideration for future studies that I plan to do.
If it seems like I dont know something then that is an oppurtunity for you to teach me (via PM), but I would rather not people think I am doing this study to push stereotypes!
Thanks Again!

No, very honestly it was the question about how long you have been in your org. I just answered another survey that listed the years in a way more relevant to NPHC sororities. Four year are more does not even begin to give the suveyor a sense of NPHC sororities.

So my take was this survey was only geared to collegiate members, which makes an apples to oranges comparison. And since NPC sororities also have alumnae chapters the survey would skew their results also, and not take into consideration AIs.

Sensitive? Well you obviously fooled me, because your survey did not convey that you had any knowledge of NPHC. And since it wouldn't let me go to other pages, because I did not answer all of the questions on the first page, I'll admit I don't know what else you asked.

So what NPHC org are you a member of?

sfks...,
Can I safely assume you are not a Delta or an AKA, since you would not have answered your sorors thusly on a public message board?

MESSAGEBOARDS ARE NOT FOR HOMEWORK!

I am in the middle of the surevy and I can see what folks are saying. The first question asks whether I am in a sorority. If I wasn't then I would not be taking the survey, right? :confused:

I clicked on the NPHC link and it says NPHC at the top of the page but the questions are reminiscent of NPC orgs.

Also, for some questions, you would get better data if you allowed multiple selections.

I put n/a on the sorority history information because I am not sure of the point to this section of the survey....


Your project needs a lot of help. Please listen to the sage advice you have been given.

I still say messageboards are not for homework, but once I clicked on the link I was blinded by Barbie-pink (stereotype, much?). Please.:rolleyes: Make it a more normal color, that way you won't blind people.

I hated that survey. I especially hated the part where you asked people to write their Founders.

Was that to see if people remembered the Founders or cared enough about your survey to write them down? I didn't care enough about your survey so my response reflects that.

I wonder if she followed the survey design guidelines that most graduate students conducting survey research learn. You have to have pre-surveys, get feedback, and then design the final instrument.

I also question the validity of some of the survey items. They may not be testing what the researcher intends for them to test.

I"m rather amused that the OP asked for advice then turned around and said "I respect my prof enough to only listen to him/her"

So basically GC has been used for another on-line assignment and our opinions are discarded.

What a cheap thrill. :(

Yes. :(
And I'm sure no stereotypes will be perpetuated by a poorly laid out survey created by a non-Greek student and advised by a non-Greek prof.

In addition to agreeing with what's been said regarding the validity of this survey, I'd be interested to know who in an alumnae chapter, particularly a rather large one (over 200 members) is friends (in the true sense of the word) with or has even seen ALL of the members of her chapter. And at that level, is it important to be FRIENDS with all the members of the chapter? I'd have to agree, this survey is clearly from a collegiate standpoint.

4 years or more wouldn't begin to describe NPC's either......I'm at 19 already.

Yes, the pink was a little blinding.

The survey certainly seems a bit unprofessional. It seems that if it was a sanctioned senior project for some school it would be on the school's server and not a free server with no name or school information listed anywhere. And bright pink???? Are you really wanting to be taken seriously?

AND the NPC consists of INTERnational groups unlike what you say on your website.

The wording of this question makes no sense:

12. How would you feel about a member of your sorority who is not current with your sorority's foundation (i.e. founding date, founding location, founders, etc)?

How can you be "current" with that? Do the founders change? If you mean they don't have those things memorized, then say so.

Oh and by the way, it's alumna/alumnae.

Bad survey, would not take again.

Uh, yah agreed. The part not in the parentheses seems to be asking about donating money to our Foundations and not that other stuff. And that information is pretty well ingrained (spelling?) in us anyway.....

Haha... I like that...

sfksfl07 = ?

Because you know she reposted her name and we can figure it out with the IP address or something like that...

Then, we should wonder if her "process" was legit--who voted her in? Because, I know for my Sorority, it is a suspendable infraction. My Soror Babs ain't playing this year or next year... Folks will be kicked out without provocation...

My concern with the NPHC survey is that no distinction has been made between members who join at the collegiate or alumnae level. That needs to be accounted for in NPHC orgs. I came into SGRho at the alumnae level and I'm very new to the organization. But my age, past academic career, current job standing, etc is going to shape my experience differently than a member who joined in their early 20's during undergrad.

I definitely was taken aback by the OPs rude disposition when others tried to point out the flaws in her survey. By challenging the integrity of your test construction is something you should welcome because it will save you time and energy down the road. Did you field test this survey with a sample of NPC and NPHC members at your college? Had your advisor required this, you would have been in a better position to spot errors, poorly worded questions, etc. Any college professor worth his or her salt would demand this of their students esp. if they are conducting quantitative research.

I fail to see the educational significance of this study beyond NPC and NPHC getting to know one another. So what? Is having this knowledge going to result in collaboration on a few service and social programs? Is this going to help NPC sororities learn how to better market themselves as diverse or help NPHC sororities market themselves as multicultural and therefore more open to non-African Americans? I think the purpose of the study needs to be fleshed out more thoroughly and included in the description of the survey. Also, it's bit suspect when you do not list your name and college information when doing a survey because it seems to me that you have not gotten Human Subjects approval to conduct this study. In just about any university in the US, you need this approval from the Institutional Research Board b/c if they discover you did not go through Human Subjects Review, your degree can be revoked and they would publicly censure your advisor.

I think questions #14-16 need to come before #10 because #10 gives the impression that everyone came through an undergraduate pledge process. #12 should probably read, "How do you feel about a member of your sorority who is unfamiliar with the organization's founders, founding date and location and guiding principles?" In its current form, it's likely that someone will misinterpret the intent of the question.

#13 - with regards to the NPHC again, members can join at the alumnae level so this question needs to be explicitly directed toward members who joined at the undergrad level or removed altogether. (Probably removed because it sounds like a question more specific to members of NPC sororities).

Instead of asking participants to name their founding year, location, mascot and founders, why not simply ask "which sorority do you belong?" Or are you trying to assess a person's commitment to the orgs. by quizzing them on their organization's history?

Rework some of the questions for the NPHC sororities and I think your results will yield better data. I refuse to submit my survey because the fact that I joined as a Alumnae/Grad member will schew your results.

PhDiva

Ladygreek, after looking at the "survey" and reading the OP responses, I HIGHLY doubt she is a member of a NPHC sorority. We may be members of different sororities, but respect for sisters in the Divine 9 is priceless....

Two snaps in a circle....:D