NSF BLS Fellowships
The American Statistical
Association (ASA), under a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), announces the Senior Research Fellow Program. The
program's objective is to bridge the gap between academic scholars and
government social science research. Research Fellows are provided the
unique opportunity to address some of the complex methodological problems
and analytic issues relevant to BLS programs. Fellows will conduct
research in residence at BLS, use BLS data and facilities, and interact
with BLS staff.
Fellowship applicants should have a recognized research record and
considerable expertise in their area of proposed research. A detailed
research proposal must be submitted for competitive evaluation by a
Program Review Board consisting of representatives of ASA, BLS, the
American Economic Association, and the American Association of Public
Opinion Research. The proposal will be evaluated on the applicability of
the research to BLS programs, the value of the proposed research to
science, and the quality of the applicant's research record. Qualified
women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.
Current research being conducted by economists, mathematical
statisticians and behavioral scientists at BLS includes:
- Price index number theory and measurement, impacts on occupational
injuries, the timing of and the returns to employer training, an
examination of divergent real wage trends, analysis of
contingent work, the definition of establishment births and deaths,
incorporating the effect of composite estimation into microdata weights,
developing improved generalized variance functions for small domain
estimates, and small area labor force estimation
- Model-based seasonal adjustment, variance estimation for seasonally
adjusted time series, applications of mathematical programming to sample
allocation problems, improvement of confidence intervals for small
domain estimates, application of measurement error models to employment
series, development of expert systems for data editing and quality
control, improvement of data collection methodologies for consumer
expenditures, and demand models for forecasting components of gross
domestic product, technology, or composition of employment
- Respondents' motivation and survey nonresponse, evaluation of data
quality provided by proxy respondents, application of expert system
technology to unstructured interview situations, pen computing for data
collection, and human factors associated with touch tone data entry
systems.
BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in
the broad field of labor economics and statistics. It is responsible for
the development and publication of data on employment and unemployment,
prices and living conditions, compensation and working conditions,
productivity measurement, and economic growth and employment projections.
These data are largely based on establishment surveys conducted either by
BLS or under a Federal-State cooperative program, and household surveys
conducted for BLS by the Bureau of the Census.
Researchers have a unique opportunity to make major advances in
methodology and applications in a number of areas. Those listed in this
brochure do not exhaust the full range of possibilities. Applicants are
encouraged to propose studies in other areas provided they are in
socioeconomic or methodological areas that are applicable to BLS data, or
have the potential of encouraging further significant broad-based
research.
Proposals in this area should be for research projects generally
applicable to the collection, processing, or analysis of BLS data.
Sampling Frames
A potential source of nonsampling error for sample surveys is the
universe frame. Error types include both coverage (undercoverage,
overcoverage, and duplicate coverage) and content (accuracy of geographic
and industry coding). The Bureau's universe frame is an administrative
data file of over 6.5 million establishments. Limited research is being
conducted at BLS in the areas of new business formations (births), quality
of industry coding, and microdata editing techniques. Areas for additional
research include measurement of undercoverage, potential impact of
undercoverage on economic indicators, methods for coverage improvement
(including dual-frame techniques), quality control programs for large
databases, longitudinal matching, and imputation techniques.
Time in Sample Effects
For many BLS establishment surveys, for example, the National
Compensation Survey and the Current Employment Survey, the sample of
establishments is replaced on an on-going basis. Replacement schemes vary;
for instance, an establishment may be necessarily replaced by one within
the same Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). It is generally
recognized that some "replacement bias" occurs. It is known, for example,
that for occupational wage levels in the Employment Cost Index, recently
initiated establishments have lower wage levels than those in the on-going
sample. Potential areas of research could estimate this effect over time,
determine estimators of the bias, and ultimately develop more accurate
estimators. Investigation of possible root sources of this phenomenon
could be carried out.
Nonsampling Errors
Some sources of survey errors are cognitive and social in origin. In
recent years, behavioral science has been increasingly applied toward
understanding psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors in
the survey data collection process. For example, respondent motivation,
comprehension, retrieval, and response processes have all been found to
affect the quality of survey data. Research at BLS might include
classification systems and classification error, organizational structure
and technological change, survey nonresponse, respondent-interviewer
interaction, human-computer interaction in data collection and analysis,
data quality and respondent data quality and respondent rules, and
autobiographical memory and everyday cognition. Research could be
conducted in a field setting or utilizing the BLS Behavioral Science
Research Laboratory which includes a fully equipped usability lab as well
as general purpose research and observation rooms with one-way mirrors,
videotaping capabilities, and facilities for running computer administered
experiments.
Time-Use
In January 2003, BLS launched the American Time Use Survey, a
nationwide, computer-assisted telephone survey designed to collect
detailed information about how respondents spend their time. This new
survey provides an opportunity for methodologists to propose reliability
and validity studies. The data also provide a rich source of information
useful for economic, psychological, and sociological research. Studies
that could be conducted might include, but are not limited to: analysis
and valuation of unpaid work to provide a more comprehensive picture of
aggregate economic output, consumption, growth, productivity, and
technological change; comparisons of time spent in paid work activities
reported through the time diary and other labor-force surveys;
examinations of the amount of time spent waiting for various services and
possible effects on costs; assessments of the quality of American life;
re-analysis of poverty to include details about home production and
leisure activities; modeling the trade-off between consumer goods and
time; and analyses of time spent in caregiving of household members.
Computer-Assisted Interviewing
Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) is currently being
developed and implemented in a number of surveys conducted by BLS. This
collection methodology affords the opportunity to conduct research on
nonsampling error sources, including the measurement and control of
response bias and variance, interviewer variability, and the
identification of problems with survey concepts (specification error).
Continued research is needed to improve the use of CATI for reducing
sources of nonsampling error and to evaluate the feasibility of
computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).
Statistical Quality Control
BLS is continuing to strengthen its quality control program. Of special
interest is the development of additional techniques for assessing the
quality of data obtained from establishment surveys. Some areas for
research include integrated overall error models, with provisions for
estimating magnitudes and interrelationships of various error sources;
methods of adapting evolutionary operations techniques to BLS operations;
effective patterns of quality control feedback, training, and incentives
applicable to establishment surveys; redesign of management information
systems to incorporate process performance and data quality monitors; and
development and measurement of proxy variables for estimating components
of nonsampling error.
Cost-Error Modeling
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is currently investigating the
requirements for developing a complex model for operational costs of data
collection and processing for use in the sample design for the next
revision of the Consumer Price Index. Topics for research in this modeling
effort include repaneling of the Continuing Point-of-Purchase Survey and
consequent paneling effects on CPI initiation and data collection,
assessment of data collection operations with respect to evaluating
workload requirements, and development of integer mathematical programming
strategies for determining optimal design characteristics given data
collector workload and distribution constraints.
Item Imputation
Diversity in the types of BLS surveys provides a wide variety of
missing-data problems. Some examples are longitudinal imputation
techniques for establishment surveys where units remain in the sample for
4 to 5 years, multivariate imputation techniques for surveys like the
Consumer Expenditure Survey, which collects data on all sources of income
and all types of expenditures, and multiple imputation techniques for
computing employment and wages on the BLS data file of establishments.
Expert Systems for Data Access and Use
For many BLS surveys, staff review data collected each month or quarter
for period-to-period comparability. Development of expert systems using
artificial intelligence techniques should reduce the error and improve the
knowledge base associated with this review. Research is needed to assess
how artificial intelligence techniques could be used and implemented at
BLS.
Information Dissemination
BLS provides public access to micro-, macro-, and metadata via the
Internet. Research is needed on how to incorporate expertise on the use of
statistical information into an on-line public access system, on tools
that facilitate data analysis, and on interface design.
Statistical Graphics and Data
Visualization
BLS publishes large volumes of economic data on employment, wages, and
prices. Research is needed on improved ways of graphically presenting
cross-sectional and time series data that is normally published in tables.
Software also needs to be developed to allow users to do interactive
analyses through the BLS Internet homepage and over the BLS Intranet.
Estimation
BLS conducts several continuing surveys in which estimates of the same
quantity are produced periodically. The Employment Cost Index and the
Employee Benefits Survey, for example, estimate employer costs, and
benefit levels annually from overlapping samples of establishments. Two
potential areas of research are the application of time series methods to
improve current period estimates and the estimation of variances for the
resulting estimators.
Time Series Methods
Recent years have seen broad advances in the field of time series
modeling and further development of these methods and their application is
needed. A broad array of monthly and quarterly time series are available
from the Bureau database for study and testing. Topics of particular
interest include application of model-based seasonal adjustment methods,
estimation of standard errors for seasonally adjusted estimates,
particularly from complex surveys, treatment of outliers in time series
modeling and seasonal adjustment, multivariate time series modeling, and
survey estimation incorporating time series methods.
Statistical Methods for Data
Analysis
Inference based upon data from complex sample surveys is a broad area
of research. Examples are hypothesis testing between mean vectors of
nonnormally distributed variables, analysis of truncated distributions and
mixture distributions, analysis of longitudinally linked data sets from
continuing surveys and graphical analysis techniques.
Statistical Disclosure Limitation
Methodology
To protect the confidentiality of the statistical tables and microdata
files that are released, BLS programs apply a variety of statistical
disclosure limitation procedures. A recent report of the Federal Committee
on Statistical Methodology, Report on Statistical Disclosure Limitation
Methodology (Office of Management and Budget, Statistical Policy
Office, 1994), reviewed the current disclosure limitation practices used
by federal statistical agencies and made recommendations to improve these
practices. Areas of research include the use of linear programming
techniques to select cells for complementary suppression in statistical
tables and methods that improve the confidentiality protection of sets of
tables that are interrelated.
Economic
Measurement and Research
Proposals under this topic would include theoretical or empirical
studies designed to improve BLS statistical programs. Research could focus
on defining and refining the concepts to be measured or could analyze a
variety of topics relating to labor markets, prices, and productivity.
Measurement of Labor Force
Characteristics
Accuracy in measuring unemployment depends upon the ability to make
meaningful distinctions between the various labor force concepts
particularly between unemployment and not in the labor force.. Areas where
these issues might be researched include the measurement of flows between
labor force categories and longitudinal uses of existing microdata
sources. Research could be conducted on adjustment of flows for rotation
group effects and classification error. Research is also possible on a
wide variety of topics related to the comparative labor market situation
of various groups of workers at a point in time or over time.
Output Definition
The need to define output arises in the development of BLS data on
producer prices (the unit of output to be priced must be specified) and on
productivity (labor productivity is defined as output per employee hour).
Although there is some difficulty in defining output for goods-producing
industries, the problems of defining output for many of the
service-producing industries are particularly complex.
Incidence of Injuries and Illnesses
The BLS Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses measures
the incidence of injuries and illnesses by an establishment survey. It has
long been recognized that the survey fails to measure a large proportion
of diseases which are chronic and have long latency periods or for which
occupational origin is not obvious. Research in this area might explore
solutions to this problem that are available through the analysis of
extant data sets, including the National Health Interview Survey, the
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and State and local data
on mortality.
Measurement and Analysis of Nonwage
Benefits
A number of BLS establishment surveys collect data on wages and other
employee compensation. The Employment Cost Index measures the rate of
change in total compensation, which includes wages, salaries, and
employers' cost of employee benefits. Other BLS surveys, such as the
Occupational Compensation Survey Program, collect information on the
dollar amount of wages, but only on the incidence of nonwage benefits.
Others, such as the Current Employment Statistics Program, provide no
information on benefits. Research is needed to determine how benefits are
valued by employees and how these valuations differ from employer
costs.
Measurement of Economic Growth
Every 2 years, BLS publishes long-term economic projections of
employment by industry and occupation based on a series of economic models
plus analysis of industrial and occupational trends. Possible areas of
research include analysis of how changes at the macroeconomic level
(energy prices and terms of trade) and the microeconomic level
(technological change and institutional change) affect the projections,
methodology for analysis of structural change at the macro and
microeconomic levels, detailed studies of specific technologies focusing
on the diffusion of a technology throughout the economy and its impact on
employment and studies of dynamic input-output or industry-occupation
models.
Productivity Research
Productivity-related research includes factors affecting productivity
change such as investments in research and development, and the education
and experience of the workforce, issues affecting the measurement of
productivity, modeling and estimating the effects of relative price
changes on the measurement of capital input, selected industry studies
with emphasis on explaining productivity growth, cross-industry
comparisons of productivity growth, and international comparisons of
productivity growth.
Price Measurement
A number of long-standing problems in price measurement would be
suitable topics for research. They include treatment of seasonal goods,
new outlets and innovations in distribution, seasonal goods. treatment of
style and quality changes, and measurement of prices for the consumption
of services derived from consumer durables. An in-depth analysis of
measurement problems and potential biases for a specific component of the
index (e.g. medical services or consumer electronics) would also be a
suitable topic for research.
Analysis of Labor Markets
Among the research topics related to labor markets are analysis of
sources of wage differentials, issues relating to work and the family,
problems of particular groups of workers such as older workers and
minorities, job stability and job security, and estimating the
determinants and/or impacts of changing work arrangements such as
contracting-out employment, expanded use of temporary help workers, and
growth of part-time employment. BLS is currently constructing a
longitudinal database that will contain quarterly employment and wage data
for virtually all business establishments in the U.S.; research topics
that highlight the uses of this database, such as analysis of the birth,
growth, and survival of establishments or how businesses adapt to
structural and technical change are encouraged. Studies which are
"measurement oriented" in that they use data in new ways, yield insights
into what concepts to measure, and/or result in the improvement of
microdata files are of particularly high priority.
Conditions of Appointments and
Benefits
Research Fellows must conduct their research at the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Ave., NE, Washington, DC. Fellows are
reimbursed by the ASA and are on a guest worker arrangement with BLS.
Salaries received by Fellows will be commensurate with their
qualifications and experience. Fringe benefits, travel, and relocation
support are negotiable. Arrangements can usually be made to retain fringe
benefits with the permanent employer.
Fellowship appointments typically range from 4 to 6 months, subject to
the availability of program funds. Appointment terms are flexible and can
be full time, part-time or split into two separate terms. Applicants
should specify approximate dates for proposed projects.
Fellowship resources at BLS include technical and secretarial support;
library facilities; and access to in-house data bases and computer
facilities including a UNIX workstation, Pentium personal computers
connected by a local area network, micro-to-mainframe communication links,
and computer graphics facilities. Funds are available to accommodate
specialized needs for microcomputer software and hardware.
Applicants must provide the following:
1. Curriculum vitae
2. Names and addresses of three references
3. Three (3) copies of a detailed research proposal that
includes:
(a.) A short descriptive project title (b.) An abstract
one-half page or less) (c.) A proposed project term (approximate dates)
(d.) Background information on research topic, references, etc. (e.) A
statement of relevant work already accomplished (f.) Proposed research
with sufficient detail for evaluation of expected results (g.) A statement
regarding significance of expected results (h.) Statement citing the
advantages of conducting the research at BLS (i.) Resource requirements
(including salary, estimated relocation and travel expenses, and research
support)
The application deadline is December 10. Final
decisions will be made by late February. Send application materials
to:
Joyce Narine
Grants Manager
American Statistical Association
732 Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
phone: 703-684-1221
fax: 703-684-8069
Further information about the program or specific research topics can
be obtained by sending an email message or by contacting either of the following Bureau of Labor
Statistics representatives:
Dr. Jean Fox Office of Survey Methods Research 2 Massachusetts Avenue,
NE, Room 4915 Washington, DC 20212 Tel: (202) 691-7370
Dr. James Spletzer Office of Employment Research and Program
Development 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 4945 Washington, DC 20212
Tel: (202) 691-7393
Last Modified Date: July 19, 2008