Mar 20 -- The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), National Science Foundation (NSF) invites comments to OMB by April 19, 2023 regarding the Survey of Earned Doctorates for 2024 and 2025.
The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is part of NCSES' survey system that collects data on individuals in an effort to provide information on science and engineering education and careers in the United States. The SED is an accurate, timely source of information on one of our nation’s most precious resources – individuals with research doctorates. The SED uniquely provides comprehensive information on the educational history and early career commitments of recent U.S.-educated doctorate recipients. The resulting information is a valuable resource for government agencies, universities, professional societies, academic researchers, policymakers, program evaluators, and individuals doing research in science policy, graduate education, economics, and human resource planning.
The SED is jointly sponsored by four Federal agencies (NSF/NCSES, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics, and National Endowment for the Humanities). The SED began in academic year (AY) 1958 to collect data annually on the number and characteristics of individuals receiving research doctoral degrees from accredited U.S. institutions. Since then, all individuals receiving such doctorates are asked to complete the survey. A research doctorate is a doctoral degree that (1) requires the completion of an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project (e.g., musical composition) and (2) is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession. The most common research doctorate degree is the PhD; in 2021, 98.4% of research doctorates awarded were PhDs. Doctorate recipients of professional doctorate degrees such as MD, DDS, JD, PharmD, and PsyD are not included in the survey, unless they also received a research doctorate.
The instrument is designed to collect information about recent doctorate recipients’ education histories, funding sources, and postdoctoral plans. The results of this annual survey are used to assess characteristics and trends in research doctorate education and degrees. This information is vital for education and labor force planners within the federal government and in academia.
The SED is also used to identify sample members for NCSES’s Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). The SDR is designed to provide demographic and career history information about a sample of individuals with doctoral degrees in science and engineering (S&E) fields. Contact information obtained by the SED is used for locating the recently awarded doctorate recipients, who are added to the SDR sample every two years. The SDR results are used by all sectors (education, industry, and government) to understand trends in employment and salaries for S&E doctorate holders. Results are also used to evaluate the effectiveness of equal opportunity efforts. Additionally, the results are important for internal planning because most NSF grants and fellowships are awarded to individuals who have earned, or are in the process of earning, doctoral degrees.
Each academic year, the results of the SED become part of the Doctorate Records File (DRF), a complete database of more than 2 million U.S.-educated doctorate recipients from 1920 to the present. This request to extend the information collection for three years is to cover the 2024 and 2025 SED survey cycles. Data are obtained primarily via Web survey from each person earning a research doctorate at the time they receive the degree. Graduate schools help distribute the SED to their graduating doctorate recipients. Nonrespondents to the web survey are followed up by computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
The SED is a census of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from an accredited U.S. academic institution in an academic year (AY) beginning 1 July and ending 30 June of the following year. Based on the historical trend, NCSES expects that approximately 57,000 individuals will receive a research doctorate from U.S. institutions in AY2024, and approximately 58,000 in AY2025. NCSES estimates the response rate will be 92 percent for both the 2024 and 2025 SED survey cycles. In addition to the survey completion of individuals receiving their research doctorates, the SED requires the collection of administrative data such as graduation lists from approximately 620 Institutional Coordinators at the participating institutions who help to distribute the Web survey link, track survey completions, and submit information to the SED survey contractor.
Responses from individuals are voluntary. Data are collected on their field of specialty, educational background, sources of support in graduate school, debt level, postgraduation plans, and demographic characteristics. NCSES will ensure that all individually identifiable information collected will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for research or statistical purposes, analyzing data, and preparing scientific reports and articles.
NCSES, as the lead agency, publishes statistics from the survey in several reports, but primarily in the annual publication series reporting on all fields of study, titled Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities. Information from the SED is also used to prepare congressionally mandated reports such as Science and Engineering Indicators and Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering.
The one change to the 2024 survey cycle is an addition of multiple panels of experimental questions on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) measurement of newly earned doctorate recipients. These experimental questions are included for research purposes and the results will help inform our understanding of the potential set of questions for inclusion as part of the 2025 SED data collection effort. A decision on the final SOGI questions for inclusion in the 2025 SED will be submitted for OMB approval prior to data collection for that cycle.
SED:
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/
NCSES submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202303-3145-003 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-05642
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806