This InfoBrief describes two common methods for tabulating race and ethnicity and uses these methods to present the racial diversity and the Hispanic or Latino origins of the science, engineering, and health (SEH) doctoral population.[2] In this report, the SEH doctoral population comprises individuals in the United States who hold a research doctorate from a U.S. academic institution in an SEH field. In 2008, 98.8% of the estimated 752,000 members of this population reported being a single race, and 1.2% reported being two or more races.
The percentage of Hispanic doctorate holders increased between 2001 and 2008 among individuals in the SEH doctoral population who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents.[3] Among those without Hispanic origins, Asian and black or African American doctorate holders who reported being a single race also increased from 2001 to 2008, but the percentage of individuals reporting multiple race combinations remained virtually unchanged.[4] Individuals who reported being American Indian or Alaska Native and those who reported being Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander were more likely than others not of Hispanic ethnicity to report being two or more races.
Collecting Data on Race and Ethnicity
In 1997, to reflect the nation's increasing diversity, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revised the federal guidelines for collecting and tabulating data on race/ethnicity to allow individuals the option to self-identify with more than one race (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards). Beginning in 2001 the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) incorporated OMB's revised guidelines into its survey questionnaires.[5] Respondents could report their ethnicity by selecting from two categories: (1) Hispanic or Latino or (2) not Hispanic or Latino. Respondents could report their race by selecting one or more of the following five categories: (1) American Indian or Alaska Native, (2) Asian, (3) black or African American, (4) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and (5) white. Figure 1 shows the wording of questions from the 2008 SDR Web survey.[6]
Agencies and researchers have tabulated data on race/ethnicity in various ways over the years. This InfoBrief uses two common practices to capture the detailed distributions of race/ethnicity within the doctoral population.[7]
Minimum Number Reporting Each Race
The first reporting practice results in counts that sum to the total population. Each individual's self-reported race is represented among mutually exclusive categories. The categories are based on the reporting of just one race, as well as combinations of more than one race. Those who report one race alone are categorized into the following five groups:
American Indian or Alaska Native alone
Asian alone
Black or African American alone
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone
White alone
Those who report more than one race represent one of the 26 possible combinations of the five racial groups. These individuals can be described in terms of their specific, self-reported multiple-race combinations (e.g., Asian and white, black and white, or Asian and black and white) or simply grouped into categories representing the number of races with which they identify (e.g., with two races or with three or more races).
When this reporting practice is applied to the 2008 SDR, 98.8% of doctorate holders reported a single race and 1.2% reported two or more races (table 1). Although the absolute number of SEH doctorate recipients identifying two or more races increased between 2001 and 2008, so did the overall SEH doctoral population; as a result, the percentage of individuals indicating multiple races did not change.
TABLE 1. Doctorate recipients in science, engineering, and health fields reporting one or more races, by U.S. citizenship status: 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008
U.S. citizenship status and race
2001
2003
2006
2008
All doctorate recipients
656,500
685,300
711,800
752,000
Single race
649,000
676,900
703,400
742,700
2 races
7,000
7,700
7,700
8,600
3 or more races
600
600
700
700
U.S. citizens
597,300
622,600
644,000
675,200
Single race
590,200
614,700
636,100
666,200
2 races
6,500
7,300
7,300
8,300
3 or more races
500
600
600
700
Permanent residents
42,100
42,400
43,000
49,800
Single race
41,700
42,100
42,700
49,600
2 races
400
300
300
200
3 or more races
D
D
D
D
Temporary residents
17,200
20,200
24,800
26,900
Single race
17,000
20,100
24,700
26,800
2 races
100
200
100
100
3 or more races
D
D
D
D
D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
Citizenship Status. Of the 752,000 SEH doctorate holders in 2008, a total of 725,000 (96.4%) were U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 26,900 (3.6%) were temporary residents. Because the distribution of race and ethnicity differs by citizenship status, we describe these differences briefly before focusing solely on U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
In 2008, 1.3% of U.S. citizens reported more than one race, whereas less than 1% of permanent residents (0.4%) and temporary residents (0.4%) did so (table 1). The overall increase from 2001 to 2008 in the number of all SEH doctorate holders reporting more than one race was entirely a reflection of the trend among those who were U.S. citizens (7,000 to 9,000) (table 1).
In 2008 more than half of the permanent residents reported Asian alone (58.4%), 38.0% reported white alone, and 3.2% reported black alone. Among temporary residents 73.2% reported Asian alone, 24.2% reported white alone, and 2.2% reported black alone. (Data not shown.)
U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents: Single-Race. Generally, the SDR and other surveys that report on race and ethnicity classify all individuals who report Hispanic origin as Hispanic (regardless of reported race) and classify all others according to the single race or multiple races identified by the respondents. Overall, 98.9% of the 2008 U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctoral population was categorized as either Hispanic (regardless of racial background) or of a single race (table 2).
TABLE 2. U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in science, engineering, and health fields reporting each race, by Hispanic ethnicity: 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008
Race/ethnicity
2001
2003
2006
2008
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents
639,400
665,100
687,000
725,000
Hispanic or Latino (any race)
15,300
16,600
18,700
20,900
Single race
14,500
15,800
17,700
19,800
American Indian or Alaska Native
200
200
200
300
Asian
100
200
200
200
Black or African American
300
300
300
500
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
D
D
D
D
White
13,900
15,100
16,900
18,800
2 races (3 most frequent plus other combinations)
600
600
800
900
American Indian or Alaska Native and white
200
300
400
400
Asian and white
100
100
100
100
Black or African American and white
200
200
300
300
All other combinations of 2 races
*
D
100
100
3 or more races
200
200
200
200
Not Hispanic or Latino
624,100
648,500
668,300
704,100
Single race
617,400
641,100
661,100
696,100
American Indian or Alaska Native
1,100
1,100
1,400
1,500
Asian
82,600
92,600
94,400
107,600
Black or African American
14,700
16,400
18,600
20,600
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
600
500
700
700
White
518,400
530,400
545,900
565,600
2 races (5 most frequent plus other combinations)
6,300
7,000
6,800
7,500
American Indian or Alaska Native and black or African American
200
200
200
200
American Indian or Alaska Native and white
3,200
3,500
3,500
3,600
Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
400
400
300
400
Asian and white
1,800
2,200
2,000
2,500
Black or African American and white
400
500
500
600
All other combinations of 2 races
300
200
300
300
3 or more races
400
500
500
500
* = value < 50; D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
Among respondents to the SDR who were not Hispanic, the largest single race reported in 2008 was white (80.3%) followed by Asian (15.3%) (table 2). The number of respondents reporting a single race increased from 2001 to 2008, but relative growth was lowest for whites. In 2001, 81.1% of respondents were white (518,400 of 639,400), and although the number of whites increased in 2008, the percentage of whites fell to 78.0% (565,600 of 725,000). In contrast, the percentage of Asians increased from 12.9% of the population in 2001 to 14.8% in 2008, and the percentage of blacks increased from 2.3% in 2001 to 2.8% in 2008 (table 2).
As a percentage of the U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctoral population, Hispanics increased from 2.4% (15,300) in 2001 to 2.9% (20,900) in 2008; 90.0% reported white alone in 2008 (table 2).
U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents: Multiple-Race. Multiple-race identifications in the doctoral population were relatively rare compared with single-race identifications. Among U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in 2008 who were not Hispanic, a total of 8,000 (1.1%) reported being two or more races. Of these, the most common combinations were American Indian or Alaska Native and white (3,600 of 8,000, or 45.0%) and Asian and white (2,500 of 8,000, or 31.3%) (table 2). Of the 7,300 individuals in the five most frequent racial combinations that excluded Hispanic ethnicity, 6,700 (91.8%) included white as one of the reported races (table 2). Hispanic doctorate recipients were more likely than doctorate recipients who were not Hispanic to report two or more races (5.3% versus 1.1%).
Maximum Number Reporting Each Race
A second reporting practice results in the maximum number of people reporting a particular race, because it includes all who reported that race alone or in combination with one or more of the other races. This type of aggregation represents all respondents who identified themselves as entirely or partially of that race. Therefore, the five race categories are not mutually exclusive (i.e., individuals reporting two or more races are counted in each reported group).
Among U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in 2008 who were not Hispanic, individuals identifying in two racial groups, American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, were more likely than others to report being two or more races (figure 2). A total of 5,600 SEH doctorate recipients reported having an American Indian or Alaska Native racial background, but only 1,500 of the 5,600 (26.8%) reported that race alone. A total of 3,600 (64.3%) reported being American Indian or Alaska Native and white, and 500 (8.9%) identified other combinations of races that included American Indian or Alaska Native (figure 2).
Similarly, among the 1,500 individuals self-reporting as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 700 (46.7%) identified solely as that race (figure 2). "White" was identified as their single other race by 200 (13.3%) individuals. Nearly all of the 600 individuals reporting other multiple-race combinations reported Asian as one of their races.
In contrast, much higher percentages of those who identified themselves as Asian, black, or white reported one race alone (figure 2). In 2008, of the 110,900 reporting Asian race, 97.0% reported it alone and 2.3% reported Asian and white. Among the 21,800 persons who identified as black, 94.5% reported that race alone and 2.8% reported black and white. Of the 572,900 identifying as white, 98.7% indicated white alone (figure 2 and table 3).
TABLE 3. U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients who are not of Hispanic ethnicity in science, engineering, and health fields reporting each race alone or in combination: 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008
Race
2001
2003
2006
2008
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are not Hispanic
624,100
648,500
668,300
704,100
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone or in combinationa
4,800
5,100
5,400
5,600
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone
1,100
1,100
1,400
1,500
American Indian or Alaska Native and one or more other races
3,700
4,000
4,000
4,100
Asian, alone or in combinationa
85,100
95,500
97,100
110,900
Asian, alone
82,600
92,600
94,400
107,600
Asian and one or more other races
2,600
2,900
2,700
3,300
Black or African American, alone or in combinationa
15,700
17,500
19,700
21,800
Black or African American, alone
14,700
16,400
18,600
20,600
Black or African American and one or more other races
1,000
1,100
1,100
1,200
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone or in combinationa
1,300
1,200
1,400
1,500
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone
600
500
700
700
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and one or more other races
700
700
700
700
White, alone or in combinationa
524,400
537,200
552,700
572,900
White, alone
518,400
530,400
545,900
565,600
White and one or more other races
6,000
6,800
6,700
7,300
a Because respondents could report more than one race, the sum of race categories exceeds the total number of individuals.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
For American Indians and Alaska Natives and for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, it is important to note that although the minimum numbers (single race alone) and maximum numbers (single race alone or in combination with one or more other races) differ substantially, the percentages of the population from these two reporting practices yield similar results because of the relatively small numbers in the total doctorate recipient population identifying as these races.
Characteristics of SEH Doctorate Recipients
The remainder of this report describes the SEH doctoral population using the mutually exclusive reporting categories of single race and multiple race (minimum number reporting each race); however, tables 4–6 present both the minimum and maximum values for comparison purposes.
Sex
Among all U.S. citizens and permanent residents who held an SEH doctorate from a U.S. institution in 2008, 30.3% were women. Women made up 40.7% of those who reported Hispanic ethnicity and 30.0% of those who did not (table 4). Among individuals who were not Hispanic and who reported being just one race, 45.1% of blacks were women compared with 30.0% of whites and 26.5% of Asians. Women were a higher percentage of Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders (42.9%) than of Asians (26.5%).
TABLE 4. U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in science, engineering, and health fields reporting each race alone or in combination, by Hispanic ethnicity, sex, and age: 2008
Sex
Age
Race/ethnicity
All
Male
Female
Under 35
35–39
40–49
50–59
60+
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents
725,000
505,200
219,800
54,600
81,800
180,900
191,800
215,800
Single race
715,900
499,700
216,200
53,600
80,700
178,400
189,500
213,600
2 or more races
9,100
5,500
3,600
1,100
1,100
2,500
2,300
2,200
Hispanic or Latino
20,900
12,400
8,500
2,600
3,500
6,300
5,100
3,500
Single race
19,800
11,900
7,900
2,400
3,300
5,900
4,800
3,400
White
18,800
11,400
7,300
2,300
3,100
5,600
4,600
3,200
All other races
1,000
500
500
100
200
300
200
200
2 or more races
1,100
500
600
200
100
400
300
100
Not Hispanic or Latino
704,100
492,800
211,300
52,000
78,300
174,600
186,700
212,400
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone or in combinationa
5,600
3,600
2,000
300
500
1,200
1,700
1,900
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone
1,500
1,000
500
S
200
300
400
500
American Indian or Alaska Native and one or more other
races
4,100
2,600
1,500
200
300
900
1,300
1,400
Asian, alone or in combinationa
110,900
81,300
29,600
9,700
19,100
40,600
24,000
17,400
Asian, alone
107,600
79,100
28,500
9,200
18,500
39,700
23,300
16,900
Asian and one or more other races
3,300
2,200
1,100
600
600
1,000
600
500
Black or African American, alone or in combinationa
21,800
11,800
9,900
2,200
3,100
5,500
6,300
4,700
Black or African American, alone
20,600
11,200
9,300
2,100
3,000
5,200
6,000
4,300
Black or African American and one or more other races
1,200
600
600
100
200
300
200
400
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone or in
combinationa
1,500
900
600
200
200
500
300
300
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone
700
500
300
200
200
300
100
100
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and one or
more
other races
700
400
300
100
100
200
200
200
White, alone or in combinationa
572,900
400,600
172,300
40,500
56,400
129,000
156,700
190,400
White, alone
565,600
396,000
169,700
39,700
55,500
127,100
154,900
188,500
White and one or more other races
7,300
4,600
2,700
800
900
1,900
1,800
1,900
S = suppressed for reliability; coefficient of variation exceeds publication standards.
a Because respondents could report more than one race, the sum of race categories exceeds the total number of individuals.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients: 2008.
Women made up a greater percentage of those reporting two or more races (39.6%) than of those reporting a single race (30.2%) (table 4). This may be due, in part, to the greater percentage of women in the more recent doctoral cohorts and a greater percentage of individuals identifying multiple races from those newer cohorts.
Age
Overall, doctorate holders younger than 35 were more likely than older doctorate holders to report multiple races. This age group comprised 12.1% of the multiple-race identifiers compared with 7.5% of the single-race identifiers (table 4). Specifically, among individuals who were younger than 35 years and not Hispanic, the percentage identifying multiple races was significantly greater than the percentage identifying a single race among Asians (18.2% versus 8.6%) and whites (11.0% versus 7.0%).
Among individuals not of Hispanic ethnicity who were 60 years or older in 2008, the percentage of single-race whites (33.3%) was greater than the percentage of single-race Asians (15.7%), blacks (20.9%), and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (14.3%). Single-race whites were also a larger percentage in this age group than were individuals identifying Hispanic ethnicity, regardless of race (16.7%) (table 4).
Field of Doctorate
In 2008, the percentage of U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients who identified as Hispanic or as a single race differed across the field of study groupings (table 5). The percentage of blacks in the physical sciences (9.7%) was lower than the percentage of Hispanics (14.8%), Asians (19.8%), or whites (18.9%). The percentages of Asians in psychology and social sciences (2.9% and 6.1%, respectively) were lower than the percentages of Hispanics (20.1% and 15.3%), blacks (22.8% and 22.8%), or whites (17.3% and 13.7%). The percentage of Asians in engineering (34.7%) was much higher than the percentage of Hispanics (14.4%), blacks (11.2%), or whites (13.9%) in engineering.[8]
TABLE 5. U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in science, engineering, and health fields reporting each race alone or in combination, by Hispanic ethnicity and field of study: 2008
Race/ethnicity
All fields
Biological/ agricultural/ environmental life sciences
Computer/
information sciences
Mathematics/
statistics
Physical sciences
Psy-
chology
Social Sciences
Engineering
Health
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents
725,000
182,000
15,400
33,900
134,600
111,700
93,900
122,200
31,200
Single race
715,900
179,600
15,200
33,700
133,100
110,100
92,300
121,000
30,800
2 or more races
9,100
2,400
200
200
1,500
1,600
1,600
1,200
500
Hispanic or Latino
20,900
5,500
400
800
3,100
4,200
3,200
3,000
900
Single race
19,800
5,300
300
800
2,800
3,900
2,900
2,900
800
White
18,800
5,000
300
700
2,700
3,700
2,700
2,800
700
All other races
1,000
300
D
D
100
200
200
100
*
2 or more races
1,100
200
D
D
300
300
200
100
100
Not Hispanic or Latino
704,100
176,500
15,100
33,100
131,500
107,500
90,700
119,200
30,400
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone
or in combinationa
5,600
1,500
D
100
800
1,200
1,200
400
300
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone
1,500
400
D
D
200
300
400
S
100
American Indian or Alaska Native and
one or more other races
4,100
1,100
D
100
600
900
800
300
200
Asian, alone or in combinationa
110,900
26,500
4,600
6,100
21,800
3,400
7,000
37,900
3,500
Asian, alone
107,600
25,500
4,500
5,900
21,300
3,100
6,600
37,300
3,400
Asian and one or more other races
3,300
1,000
200
100
600
300
400
600
100
Black or African American, alone or in
combinationaa
21,800
4,400
300
700
2,100
5,000
5,000
2,500
1,900
Black or African American, alone
20,600
4,200
300
700
2,000
4,700
4,700
2,300
1,800
Black or African American and one or
more other races
1,200
300
D
D
100
200
300
200
100
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,
alone or in combinationa
1,500
500
D
D
300
200
200
200
100
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
Islander, alone
700
200
D
D
200
100
100
100
D
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
Islander and one or more other races
700
300
D
D
100
D
100
100
100
White, alone or in combinationa
572,900
146,100
10,200
26,500
107,800
99,200
78,800
79,400
25,000
White, alone
565,600
144,100
10,000
26,300
106,700
97,900
77,600
78,400
24,700
White and one or more other races
7,300
2,000
200
200
1,100
1,300
1,200
1,000
300
* = value < 50. D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information. S = suppressed for reliability; coefficient of variation exceeds publication
standards.
a Because respondents could report more than one race, the sum of race categories exceeds the total number of individuals.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients: 2008.
Individuals reporting multiple races were less likely than single-race identifiers to have earned doctorates in mathematics and statistics (2.2% versus 4.7%) and in engineering (13.2% versus 16.9%), and they were more likely than single-race identifiers to have earned doctorates in social sciences (17.6% versus 12.9%). In other fields of study the likelihood of earning an SEH doctorate was not significantly different between identifiers of single and multiple races.
Employment Sector
In 2008, universities and 4-year colleges had the largest number (237,400) of full-time employed SEH doctorate holders who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents, followed by the private for-profit sector (184,000). Full-time employed doctorate holders who identified as Hispanic or as a single race differed in how they were distributed across the employment sectors (table 6). A smaller percentage of single-race Asians were employed by universities and 4-year colleges (30.9%) compared with Hispanics (50.9%), blacks (51.2%), and whites (44.9%). In contrast, a higher percentage of Asians were employed in the private for-profit sector (52.6%) compared with Hispanics (25.1%), blacks (19.3%), and whites (29.9%).
TABLE 6. U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients in science, engineering, and health fields reporting each race alone or in combination, by Hispanic ethnicity and employment sector: 2008
Race/ethnicity
All
Universities and 4-year colleges
Private
for-profit
Self-employed
Private
not-for-profit
Federal government
State and local government
Othera
All full-time employed U.S. citizens and permanent
residents
552,900
237,400
184,000
20,100
35,500
41,600
16,800
17,700
Single race
545,500
233,800
181,900
19,900
34,900
41,000
16,400
17,600
2 or more races
7,500
3,500
2,100
200
500
600
400
100
Hispanic or Latino
17,100
8,700
4,300
400
1,000
1,100
700
900
Single race
16,200
8,100
4,100
400
1,000
1,100
600
900
White
15,400
7,800
3,900
400
900
1,100
600
800
All other races
800
400
200
D
D
D
D
100
2 or more races
1,000
500
200
D
*
D
100
100
Not Hispanic or Latino
535,800
228,700
179,700
19,600
34,500
40,500
16,100
16,700
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone or in
combinationb
4,500
2,000
1,400
200
200
400
300
D
American Indian or Alaska Native, alone
1,200
500
300
100
D
100
S
D
American Indian or Alaska Native and one or
more other races
3,300
1,500
1,000
100
100
300
200
D
Asian, alone or in combinationb
95,800
30,000
49,800
1,600
5,400
5,400
2,500
1,200
Asian, alone
93,100
28,800
49,000
1,500
5,000
5,200
2,400
1,100
Asian and one or more other races
2,700
1,200
800
S
300
200
100
D
Black or African American, alone or in combinationb
17,600
9,200
3,300
500
1,000
1,500
1,000
1,100
Black or African American, alone
16,600
8,500
3,200
500
1,000
1,400
900
1,100
Black or African American and one or more other races
1,000
700
100
D
D
100
100
D
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone or
in combinationb
1,200
600
300
D
100
100
*
D
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, alone
600
300
200
D
100
100
D
D
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and one
or more other races
600
300
100
D
D
D
D
D
White, alone or in combinationb
423,800
190,300
126,800
17,500
28,300
33,800
12,600
14,500
White, alone
417,900
187,600
125,000
17,400
27,900
33,200
12,300
14,400
White and one or more other races
6,000
2,700
1,800
100
500
600
300
S
* = value < 50. D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information. S = suppressed for reliability; coefficient of variation exceeds publication
standards.
a Includes mainly individuals employed by preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary schools or systems and individuals employed by 2-year colleges, community colleges, or technical institutes, as well as a small number whose employment did not correspond to these or the other categories.
b Because respondents could report more than one race, the sum of race categories exceeds the total number of individuals.
NOTES: Numbers represent weighted counts and are rounded to nearest 100. Due to rounding, numbers may not sum to totals.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Doctorate Recipients: 2008.
Multiple-race reporters were not significantly more or less likely than single-race reporters to work in academe or to work in the private for-profit sector, either overall or within most racial/ethnic groups. The only exception to this was among Asians, where single-race reporters were less likely than multiple-race reporters to work in academe (30.9% versus 44.4%) and more likely to work in the private for-profit sector (52.6% versus 29.6%).
Data Sources and Limitations
Information in this InfoBrief is from the 2008, 2006, 2003, and 2001 cycles of the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). The data on race and ethnicity presented in this report were provided as responses to the SDR by respondents as well as responses assigned during the data editing and imputation processes. Of the 29,974 respondents in the 2008 SDR, 383 had ethnicity and/or race imputed (1.3%).
Numbers in this InfoBrief represent weighted counts and are rounded to the nearest 100. The percentages presented in the text are based on the rounded counts presented in the tables. Because of the rounding, the subtotal counts may not sum to the total counts in the tables and the percentages calculated from those counts may not sum to 100%. All differences stated in this report are significant at the 95% level. Significance tests were performed on unrounded statistics.
The SDR has been conducted every 2 years since 1973 (with a 3-year period between 2003 and 2006) and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies on an occasional basis. The SDR is a longitudinal study of individuals who have received research doctorate degrees from U.S. academic institutions in SEH fields and are living in the United States on the survey reference date. SEH fields include biological/agricultural/environmental life sciences, computer and information sciences, mathematics and statistics, the physical sciences, psychology, the social sciences, engineering, and health fields.
The survey follows a sample of individuals with SEH doctorates throughout their careers from the year of their degree award through age 75; the total sample size for the 2008 survey was 40,093, of which 81% completed the questionnaire. The panel is refreshed in each survey cycle with a sample of new SEH doctoral degree earners selected from another NSF-sponsored survey, the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The SED is a census of all individuals who receive a research doctorate from a U.S. institution in a given academic year (1 July of one year through 30 June of the following year). For the 2008 cycle a sample of individuals from the SED who were younger than 76 years and who earned SEH doctoral degrees in academic years 2006 and 2007 was added to the existing 2006 survey panel.
Notes
[1] Lynn M. Milan, Human Resources Statistics Program (HRS), National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965, Arlington, VA 22230 (lmilan@nsf.gov; 703-292-2275). Thomas B. Hoffer, NORC at the University of Chicago, 1155 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637. With significant contributions by Lance Selfa and Carolina Milesi, NORC, and Emilda Rivers, HRS. For more information, contact Lynn Milan.
[2] The two tabulation methods show the minimum and the maximum number of respondents self-identifying with each race.
[3] In this report "Hispanic or Latino" is used interchangeably with "Hispanic." Individuals who report Hispanic or Latino ethnicity are reported as "Hispanic," regardless of race.
[4] In this report "black or African American" is used interchangeably with "black."
[5] Due to the change in collection guidelines, data on race/ethnicity collected by the SDR prior to 2001 are not directly comparable to data collected in 2001 and later.
[6] In the 2001 SDR, the question wording was slightly different from that used in 2003, 2006, and 2008. In 2001 the questions read:
Are you Hispanic (or Latino)? - Yes - No
[If Hispanic] Which of the following describes your Hispanic origin or descent? - Mexican American or Chicano - Puerto Rican - Cuban - Other Hispanic — Specify–›__________
What is your racial background? Mark (X) one or more.
- American Indian or Alaska Native — Specify tribal affiliation(s)–›__________
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - Asian - Black or African-American - White
[7] Findings for the general population are available in Humes KR, Jones NA, Ramirez RR. March 2011. 2010 Census Briefs: Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf. Accessed 13 June 2011.
[8] Differences involving American Indians or Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders were not statistically significant, reflecting the small numbers of cases in these two groups.
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Racial and Ethnic Diversity among U.S.-Educated Science, Engineering, and Health Doctorate Recipients: Methods of Reporting Diversity
Arlington, VA (NSF 12-304) [January 2012]
