Survey 5: IA Education (for Practitioners)

Methodology

This survey was conducted in August 2006. Members of mailing lists sigia-l, IA Institute, CHI-RESOURCES, AIGA Experience Design, discuss@lists.interactiondesigners.com, and the Yahoo! Experience Design group were invited to participate. A total of 327 responses were collected. In this survey we asked:

1. What is your current title? (not including Senior, Lead, Associate, etc)
2. Do you have any *formal* (e.g., college, university) education in Information Architecture, Human-Computer Interaction, Usability, Library Science or a related field?
3. If you responded "Yes" to question 2, what was your major field of study?
4. What degrees, if any, did you complete in this field?
5. How valuable do you feel your HCI/Usability/IA/Library Science education has been to finding employment?
6. How valuable do you feel your HCI/Usability/IA/Library Science education has been to performing your day-to-day work?
7. If you responded, "No" or "Not Sure" to question 2, what was your major field of study for your formal education (e.g., college, university), if any?
8. Please describe how you continue to educate yourself regarding IA-related topics.

Full results:

View the complete results: Excel | PDF

Summary of Results:

Question 1: What is your current title? (not including Senior, Lead, Associate, etc).
(Responses as a percent of 327 total answers.)

32.1%: Other
29.1%: Information Architect
10.7%: Consultant
7.3%: Web Designer/Developer/Webmaster
7.0%: User Experience Designer
4.9%: Interaction Designer
3.1%: Producer/Project Manager
1.8%: Usability Engineer
1.8%: Technical Writer
1.5%: Information Designer
0.5%: Human Factors Engineer

See the Excel spreadsheet, "titles" tab for details of the "Other" responses.

Question 2: Do you have any *formal* (e.g., college, university) education in Information Architecture, Human-Computer Interaction, Usability, Library Science or a related field?
(Responses as a percent of 327 total answers.)

48.6%: Yes
48.6%: No
2.8%: Not Sure

Question 3. If you responded "Yes" to question 2, what was your major field of study?
(Responses as a percent of 154 answers. Only those who responded "Yes" to question #2 were presented with this question.)

40.3%: Library Science
12.3%: Human-Computer Interaction
8.4%: Information Management
4.5%: Information Architecture
3.9%: Human Factors
3.9%: Information Science
3.2%: Usability
2.6%: Interaction Design
2.6%: Technical Communication
1.3%: Cognitive Psychology
1.3%: Computer Engineering
1.3%: Design
1.3%: Information Systems
1.3%: Multimedia Design
1.3%: Software Development
0.6%: Communications Design
0.6%: Computer Based Instructional Design
0.6%: Computer Science
0.6%: Ergonomics
0.6%: Industrial Design
0.6%: Interactive Multimedia
0.6%: Learning Design and Technology
0.6%: Library Science and Human Factors
0.6%: User Centered Design
0.6%: Visual Communication

Question 4. What degrees, if any, did you complete in this field?
(Responses as a percent of 154 answers. Only those who responded "Yes" to question #2 were presented with this question.)

70.1%: Master's Degree (or equivalent)
14.3%: Bachelor's Degree
7.1%: PhD (or ABD)
7.1%: None
2.6%: Professional program/certification
2.6%: Honour's Degree

Question 5. How valuable do you feel your HCI/Usability/IA/Library Science education has been to finding employment?
(Responses as a percent of 154 answers. Only those who responded "Yes" to question #2 were presented with this question.)

46.8%: Extremely valuable
34.4%: Valuable
14.9%: Only a little bit valuable
3.9%: Not valuable at all

Question 6. How valuable do you feel your HCI/Usability/IA/Library Science education has been to performing your day-to-day work?
(Responses as a percent of 154 answers. only those who responded "Yes" to question #2 were presented with this question.)

44.8%: Extremely valuable
40.9%: Valuable
13.0%: Only a little bit valuable
1.3%: Not valuable at all

Question 7. If you responded, "No" or "Not Sure" to question 2, what was your major field of study for your formal education (e.g., college, university), if any?

Responses varied widely, with English receiving the most mentions. For full results, see the "other fields studies" tab of the Excel spreadsheet.

Question 8. Please describe how you continue to educate yourself regarding IA-related topics.
(All survey participants were asked this question. 217 responses were collected.)

Mailing lists, books, conferences, and colleague interaction all received multiple mentions. For full results, see the "educate self" tab of the Excel spreadsheet.

Question 9. Are you, or have you been in a position to hire information architects, usability professionals or similar roles?
(Responses as a percent of 298 answers.)

56.7%: Yes
43.3%: No

Question 10. If yes, how important is formal education in a related field to your hiring decision?
(Responses as a percent of 168 answers. Only responses from those who responded "Yes" to question #9 were counted.)

12.5%: Extremely important
36.3%: Important
37.5%: Only a little bit important
13.7%: Not important at all

Polar Bear Book: Survey 5 Results

Survey 5: IA Education (for Practitioners)

Methodology

Full results:

Summary of Results: