Dec 9 -- National Science Foundation; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, invites comments by February 7, 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 has been conducted annually since 1958 and 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) to avoid duplication of effort in collecting such data. It is an accurate, timely source of information on one of our Nation's most important resources—highly educated individuals. This request to extend the information collection for three years is to cover the 2024 and 2025 SED survey cycles.
Data are obtained via Web survey from each person earning a research doctorate at the time they receive the degree. Data are collected on their field of specialty, educational background, sources of support in graduate school, debt level, postgraduation plans, and demographic characteristics. NCSES publishes statistics from the survey in several reports. The survey will be collected in conformance with the Privacy Act of 1974. Responses from individuals are voluntary. NCSES will ensure that all individually identifiable information collected will be kept strictly confidential and will be used only for research or statistical purposes.
The Federal government, universities, researchers, policy makers, and others use the information extensively. Results from the SED are used to assess characteristics of the doctorate population and trends in doctoral education and degrees. Data from the survey are published annually on the NCSES website in a publication series reporting on all fields of study, titled Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities (
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctorates). Information from the SED is also included in other series available online: Science and Engineering Indicators (
https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators); and Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering (
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women). In addition, access to tabular data from selected variables is available through the NCSES online data tool (
https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/builder/sed) and the SED Restricted Data System (
https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/rdas).
The SED is a census of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from an accredited U.S. academic institution in the academic year beginning 1 July and ending 30 June of the subsequent year. As such, the population for the 2024 SED consists of all individuals receiving a research doctorate in the 12-month period beginning 1 July 2023 and ending 30 June 2024. Likewise, the population for the 2025 SED consists of all individuals receiving a research doctorate in the 12-month period beginning 1 July 2024 and ending 30 June 2025. A research doctorate is a doctoral degree that (1) requires 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 Ph.D. Recipients of professional doctoral degrees, such as MD, DDS, JD, DPharm, and PsyD, are not included in the SED. The 2024 and 2025 SED are expected to include about 620 separately reporting schools with eligible research doctoral programs from among about 460 doctorate-granting institutions. Based on the historical trend, NCSES expects that approximately 57,000 individuals will receive a research doctorate from U.S. institutions in 2024, and approximately 58,000 in 2025.
In addition to the questionnaire for individuals receiving their research doctorates, the SED requires the collection of administrative data such as graduation lists from participating academic institutions. The Institutional Coordinator at the institution helps distribute the Web survey link, track survey completions, and submit information to the SED survey contractor.
An average overall response rate of 92% of the persons who earned a research doctorate from a U.S. institution was obtained in the academic years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Using the past response rate, the number of SED respondents in 2024 is estimated to be 52,440 (57,000 doctorate recipients × 0.92 response rate). Similarly, the number of respondents in 2025 is estimated to be 53,360 (58,000 × 0.92).
SED:
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/
NCSES response to AEAStat re request for draft materials: We are planning to include a set of test questions on the gender identity and sexual orientations in the 2024 SED as part of on-going research the NCSES is conducting. We are still working on finalizing our test plan for the 2024-25 SED OMB ICR package, which will be submitted to OMB at the same time the second FRN will be posted in February.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-26835