| Source |
| The source of these data is the Survey of Earned Doctorates, which is conducted annually by the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center for the Federal sponsors of the survey: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Education (USED), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). Information from this survey becomes part of the Doctorate Records File (DRF). The DRF contains data on all earned doctorates granted by regionally accredited United States universities, in all fields from 1920 to the present. |
| Contact |
|
Mark K. Fiegener
Project Manager, Survey of Earned Doctorates
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Division of Science Resources Statistics
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 965
Arlington, VA 22230
Phone: (703) 292-4622
Fax: (703) 292-9092
E-mail: mfiegene@nsf.gov
|
| URL |
| Source data and documentation are available from the National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics as well as the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center Doctorate Data Project. |
| Availability |
| Data are available for academic year (AY) 1966 through AY 2006. |
| Data for July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, are academic year (AY) 2006 doctorate recipients. |
| Current As Of |
| Data are current as of August 2008. |
| Population Size and Structure |
| Approximately 92 percent of the annual cohort of doctorate recipients in 2005 responded to the questionnaire. Over the past decade, the self-report response rates have been:
| YEAR |
RATE |
| 1996 |
92.9% |
| 1997 |
91.6% |
| 1998 |
91.9% |
| 1999 |
91.9% |
| 2000 |
92.4% |
| 2001 |
92.7% |
| 2002 |
91.3% |
| 2003 |
91.5% |
| 2004 |
91.2% |
| 2005 |
92.1% |
The response rate for a particular academic year will vary slightly over time as late responses are added.
Differences in survey and item response rates from year to year can produce numerical fluctuations that are unrelated to true trends. Increasing or decreasing numbers in a citizenship or racial/ethnic group, for example, reflect to some degree any upward or downward change in both overall survey response and item response. |
| Estimation/Imputation |
| Until 1990, records with missing gender were imputed using the first name of the recipient only if the first name could be positively identified as male or female. Records that could not be identified by the first name were set to male. In 1990, follow-up procedures were implemented for cases still missing after imputation. Records for which gender still could not be identified in the follow-up were set to male. In 1997, it was decided to discontinue this practice. Therefore, data with unknown gender occur in 1988 and in 1990 and later years. |
| Alerts |
| The distribution method of the survey forms does not ensure that doctorate recipients in any given year use a current form. In academic year (AY) 1987, for example, 22 percent of respondents did not use AY 1987 survey forms. This lowers the response rate to items the first year they are introduced. Therefore, data for new items be should used with caution. |
| As a result of new follow-up procedures implemented during the 1990 survey cycle, there has been greater adjustment to the numbers for race/ethnicity and citizenship since 1990 than in earlier years. While the new procedures
have had a positive impact on the completeness of the data, they have also created a break in trend data for these variables. This should be taken into consideration when analyzing sensitive data such as race/ethnicity after 1989. |
| Notes |
| Professional degrees such as the M.D., D.D.S., O.D., D.V.M., and J.D. are not covered by the Survey of Earned Doctorates. |
| Quality Control |
| These data have been checked and verified to correspond to data in the following NSF publications: |
| S&E Doctorate Awards: 2005 |
| To match the number of science and engineering (S&E) doctorates in the above publication, you must use the
summation group, "S&E TOTAL (EXCL MEDICAL/OTH LIFE SCI),"
in the "Academic Discipline" category in WebCASPAR. |
|
Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2005
Field groupings in the Summary Report may differ from those in WebCASPAR. The differences in field groupings are as follows:
| Doctorate Field |
WebCASPAR Grouping |
Publication Grouping |
| 000 Agricultural Economics |
Agricultural Sci. |
Social Sci./Economics |
| 002 Agricultural Business & Management |
Agricultural Sci. |
Business and Management |
| 547 Fuel Technology & Petroleum Engineering |
Physical Sciences |
Chemical Engineering |
| 710 History/Philosophy of Science |
Humanities |
Social Sci./History of Science and Technology |
| 729 Linguistics |
Humanities |
Social Sci./Linguistics |
| 770 American Studies |
Humanities |
Social Sci./Area and Ethnic Studies |
| 773 Archeology |
Humanities |
Social Sci./Anthropology |
| 972 Library Science |
Other Professional Fields |
Communication and Librarianship |
| 974 Parks/Recreation/Leisure/Fitness |
Other Professional Fields |
Other Non-Sciences or Unknown Disciplines |
| 976 Public Administration |
Other Professional Fields |
Social Sci./Political Science and Public Administration |
| 984 Theology/Religious |
Other Professional Fields |
Religion and Theology Education |
| 988 Professional Fields, General |
Other Professional Fields |
Other Non-Sciences or Unknown Disciplines |
| 989 Professional Fields, Other |
Other Professional Fields |
Other Non-Sciences or Unknown Disciplines |
| 999 Other/Unknown Fields |
Other Professional Fields |
Other Non-Sciences or Unknown Disciplines |
|
| To match racial/ethnic counts in the summary report, use the variable, "Number of Doctorate Recipients (US Citizens & Perm Residents)." |
| Crosswalks |
|
Survey of Earned Doctorates field codes to CASPAR academic discipline codes |