The Survey of Earned Doctorates

1
(No Transcript)
2
Purpose

• History of the SED and how it works
• Data collection process
• Results from the SED
• Questions

3
What is it?

• SED is an annual census of all new research
  doctorate recipients from United States colleges
  and universities
• Research Doctorate
• requires an original contribution of knowledge to
  the field (typically, though not always, in the
  form of a written dissertation)
• Not primary intended for the practice of a
  profession

4
History of the SED

• Established by the National Science Foundation in
  the 1950s.
• Currently, five other agencies also sponsor the
  SED
• National Institutes of Health
• Department of Education
• Department of Agriculture
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

5
History of the SED (continued)

• Data collection began in 1957, for the 1957-1958
  class of doctorate recipients.
• For 1920-1957, data collected on nine basic items
  from graduation announcements and lists from
  institutions.

6
SED and Confidentiality

• Respondents increasingly concerned about
  confidentiality.
• All Federal and NORC employees must also sign
  legally binding confidentiality forms.
• Public data are in aggregate form only and in
  sufficiently large numbers.

7
SED FERPA

• Participating institutions are permitted to
  provide student information to the SED without
  violating FERPA, per the Family Policy Compliance
  Office in the United States Department of
  Education.

8
How is the SED collected?

• The majority (80 or more) of participants
  complete the form through their graduate school.
  
• Each participating institution has an
  Institutional Contact (IC) who handles the SED.

9
Role of the IC

• Crucial in the success of the survey.
• Responsible for distributing the survey to the
  students, monitoring completions, and returning
  the surveys to NORC.
• Also provide supplementary data as needed.

10
Traditional Paradigm

• Students approaching graduation are given a set
  of forms to be completed.
• The survey and other forms are turned in when the
  students hand in their dissertation to the
  graduate school.
• The IC collects all the forms for one graduation
  and sends them to NORC for processing.

11
Advantages

• Control
• Face-to-face contact
• Efficiency
• Disadvantages
• Storing paper surveys
• Doesnt work with ETDs

12
Solution for ETD schools?

• The SED survey is available online!
• Web version first developed in 2001.
• Percent of web completes has grown each round
  since the release (about 10 in 2008).

13
SED Web Survey

• Survey can be completed and submitted entirely
  online from any location.
• Survey is housed on a secure server, and students
  need their unique PIN and password to access the
  survey.
• NORC instantly receives the survey data for
  processing.

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
Distributing the Web Survey

• Timing should not change, best response achieved
  when students are preparing to graduate
• PIN/Password distribution necessary

17
PIN/Password Assignment

• lC provides the web registration URL to their
  students who are eligible to complete the survey
• http//survey.norc.uchicago.edu/doctorate
• Students register online, provide degree
  information and an e-mail address
• E-mail sent to students with their login
  information, and the link to the correct survey

18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
PDF

• PDF can be posted on your website, e-mailed to
  students, etc.
• Has form features that allow users to type their
  responses directly onto the form, save and e-mail
  completed PDF back to their university.

22
New Issues Raised

• Many students file for graduation, but do not
  complete all the requirements in time.
• - Graduation list crucial
• How do you know who has completed?

23
1. Institution Interface

• Administrator website
• ICs or others can view the list of their students
  and their survey status.
• Also has useful forms and information
• NOTE There is a 24-48 hour lag with the Interface

24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
2. Certificate of Completion

• Last page of the web survey.
• Can be printed
• Savvier users can copy the screenshot into an
  electronic document and e-mail it.

28
3. E-mail Notification

• New feature added for SED 2009. Students can
  receive an e-mail when they submit their survey
  online.
• Can be used like the certificate, without the
  need to print anything.

29
Best Practices for Monitoring

• Use the roster for students who are filing well
  before the deadline to verify the completion of
  their survey
• Ask for certificate, e-mail, or PDF from anyone
  filing within 1-2 days of deadline
• NORC can also verify completes in real time.

30
Shift of ICs focus

• Old paradigm handling the paperwork, keeping
  track of survey forms, mailing them to NORC in
  timely manner.
• New paradigm Monitoring and post-graduation
  quality control.

31
Making the switch

• For best response rate, SED should be integrated
  with the rest of the graduation process.
• Web option can be used exclusively, or as an
  additional option to paper/PDF survey.
• To maintain response rate when switching to the
  web, monitoring is necessary.

32
Why am I doing this again?

• The Doctorate Records File (DRF), 1920 2007
• The richest and most complete source of
  information on doctorate recipients.
• Used by the federal, state, and local government,
  graduate schools, and higher education
  researchers to make policy decisions affecting
  graduate education throughout the country.

33
Products using the DRF

• Summary Report
• Detailed Statistical Tables
• Institutional Data
• External requests

34
Summary Report

• For each survey round, the Summary Report
  provides information on the specific class of
  graduates, follows trends over time, and explores
  emerging trends.
• 2007 Summary Report is pending.

35
Highlights from the 2007 Report

• Largest number of doctorate recipients in the
  history of the SED (48,079).

Doctorates awarded at U.S. colleges and
universities, 1988-2007
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
36
Since 2002, more female than male U.S. citizens
have earned a doctorate
Doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens, by gender,
2002-2007
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
37
Nearly all of the growth in the number of
doctorates attributed to increase in non-US
citizens earning degrees
Doctorates by citizenship type, 2002-2007
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
38
Detailed Statistical Tables/SE Reports

• Produced annually, the DSTs give detailed
  breakdowns on demographics and graduation plans
  for Science Engineering graduates.
• Additional SE reports with focus on Women,
  Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities, SE
  Degrees report, etc.

39
Institutional Data

• Profile sent to the dean along with the Summary
  Report, describes institutions graduates for
  that round and compares them to their peer
  institutions.
• Institution Datasets - Graduate deans can order
  data set of all their graduates from 1920-2007.

40
External Requests

• External Requests - Provided at cost, with data
  specified by the requestor.

41
Other Products

• Baccalaureate Origins Tables
• Race/ethnicity/gender tables being revamped.
• InfoBriefs
• WebCASPAR - webcaspar.nsf.gov

42
TDL Institutions
  TDL   TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 Change 03 07 Change
Total grads () 1,990 2,497 25.5 40,757 48,079 18.0
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
43
Doctorates by Gender
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Gender
Male 57 59 55 54
Female 43 41 45 46
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
44
Doctorates by Citizenship
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Citizenship
US 65 54 68 62
Permanent 4 5 4 4
Temporary 32 41 27 34
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
45
Doctorates by Race/Ethnicity
  TDL TDL ALL ALL
  03 07 03 07
Race/Ethnicity (US citizens)
American Indian/Alaska Native 1.0 1.0 0.5 0.5
Asian 4.5 4.9 5.3 5.7
Black 3.9 4.7 6.6 6.7
Hispanic 7.6 7.6 4.9 5.4
White 81.4 81.3 80.1 78.8
Other 1.6 1.0 2.6 2.9
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
46
Doctorates by Major Field
  TDL TDL ALL ALL
  03 07 03 07
Field of Study
Physical science/math 13 18 (2) 14 17 (2)
Engineering 17 20 (1) 13 16 (3)
Life Sciences 18 17 (3) 21 22 (1)
Social Sciences 16 13 (5) 17 15 (4)
Humanities 14 10 (6) 13 11 (6)
Education 16 15 (4) 16 13 (5)
Other 2 7 (7) 3 6 (7)
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
47
Postgraduation Plans
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Postgrad plans
Continuing pre-doc. Employment 22 17 17 17
Signed contract 44 48 52 52
Negotiating 9 11 10 9
Seeking 24 22 19 19
Other full-time degree NA 2 NA 1
Other 1 2 2 2
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
48
Employment Type
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Employment Type
Postdoc 30 30 33 36
Non-Postdoc Employment 70 70 67 64
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
49
Employment Sector
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Employment Sector (exc. Postdocs) Employment Sector (exc. Postdocs)
Academia 53 59 54 64
Government 8 7 9 8
Industry 20 23 19 18
Other 19 10 20 10
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
50
Time to Degree
  TDL   TDL   ALL   ALL  
  03 07 03 07
Median time to degree (Number of years) Median time to degree (Number of years)
Since baccalaureate 10.3 9.5 10.2 9.4
Since starting graduate school 8.7 7.9 8.5 7.8
Source NSF/NIH/USED/NEH/USDA/NASA, 2007 Survey
of Earned Doctorates
51
Contact Information

• Kristy Webber
• NORC
• 55 E. Monroe St
• Chicago, IL 60603
• webber-kristy_at_norc.org
• 312-759-4251