Changes to the SED 2010-11 Questionnaire Compared with SED 2009

ATTACHMENT 2
CHANGES to the SED 2010-11 QUESTIONNAIRE from SED 2009:
COVER PAGE
Cover

Cover: Today’s date included in the information asked for on the front cover.
Rationale: The date of completion was asked until 2007, when it was removed
for lack of space. However, this item is used for administrative purposes,
particularly when a respondent inadvertently completes two surveys. In those
cases, the later survey is accepted and the earlier one filed.
The dates which the questionnaire will cover were updated to July 1, 2010 to June
30, 2011.

PART A – EDUCATION
SED09
Ques#
A7.

SED10
Ques #
A7. Postsecondary education debt. Two new categories, “70,001 to 80,000” and
“80,001 to 90,000”, were added and the highest range was increased to “$90,001
or more. Please specify.” from “70,001 or more. Please specify.”
Rationale. A review of the responses to this question found that there was
currently no discernable ceiling effect at the “$70,001 or more” category.
However, it is expected that the amount of debt will rise and the current high
category may not be sufficient until 2011 (the last year of the next cycle).
Increasing the highest range should keep pace with growing debt levels over the
next four years.

A9.

A9. Additional postsecondary degrees. The descriptors “First Additional Degree”
through “Fourth Additional Degree” were added above the response area.
Rationale. These descriptors should help decrease cognitive burden by clearly
marking the box where each additional degree should be captured.

A11.

A11. Month/year first entering graduate school. The questions stem will now
read “In what month and year did you first enter any graduate school in any
program or capacity?
Rationale. A review of A11 against A8 revealed that many respondents are
entering a chronologically later date in A11 than their MA entry date in A8.
Adding the word “any” earlier in the question should emphasize that their response
should be based on the first graduate school they attended, not necessarily the date
they entered their doctoral program.

Page 1 of 4

A15.

A15. Medical or dental degree. This question was reformatted to ask first if the
respondent has earned an MD or DDS, and then if the respondent is currently
earning either of these two degrees.
Rationale. A review of A15 against A9 revealed that there were many instances of
respondents reporting earning or planning on earning an MD or DDS in A15, but
not including that degree A9 (which asks for any postsecondary degrees beyond
the first BA, most recent MA, and PhD). The intent of question A15 is to identify
respondents who have already earned or are in the process of earning an MD or
DDS at the time of their doctorate. This new question wording should eliminate
any affirmative responses from a respondent who may be planning an MD or DDS
sometime in the future, but is not actively pursuing one at the time of PhD
completion.

PART B – POSTGRADUATION PLANS
B4.

B4. Postgraduation plan types. This question was split into multiple parts, first
to ask if the respondent’s plan was for a “postdoc or further training” or
“employment.” If the respondent chooses “Postdoc”, they will be branched into
B4a, where they will be asked to describe the nature of their postdoc. If they
choose “Employment”, they will be branched into B4b, where they will be asked
to describe the nature of their employment.
Rationale. Data editors of the questionnaire have noted a high frequency of cases
where the respondent chose an option under both “Postdoc or Further Training”
and “Employment”. In these cases, the editors must review the rest of the
responses in section B to determine if the job in question was actually a postdoc
or regular employment. While there may be cases where the respondent has two
unique sets of plans, it is likely that many respondents are confused by the format
and think they must chose one from each option. To make the distinction clearer
and cut down on the need for editing, respondents will be first asked if their plans
are for a “Postdoc…” or “Employment,” and will be skipped to the question that
asks for information for those specific types of plans.

PART C – BACKGROUND INFORMATION
C16.

C16. Respondent contact information. The information requested in this item
was expanded to include physical mailing address (which is currently asked in
C17) in addition to a phone number and e-mail address for the respondent.
Rationale. Physical mailing address (for the respondent only) was moved from
C17 to C16 to create two distinct questions. The first - C16 – now asks for
physical address, phone number, and e-mail for the respondent. Question C17
now asks for address, phone number, and e-mail address for the contact person

Page 2 of 4

only. Keeping respondent contact information separate from contact person
information should help decrease the cognitive burden for these questions.
C17.

C17. Contact Person information. The contact person information requested
was expanded to include phone number and e-mail address. Additionally, the
respondent contact information asked for in this question was moved to C16.
Rationale. This information had been asked in the SED beginning with 1998
(phone number) and 2000 (e-mail address), but was inadvertently left off during
the 2007-2009 rounds. These items are used for administrative purposes,
particularly with survey follow-up on critical items. Additionally, the Survey of
Doctorate Recipients uses this information to help locate new sample members.

FIELD OF STUDY LIST
As part of the three year review process described in Section B.4, the verbatim field of study
responses in questions A2, A8 and A9 were reviewed to identify emerging fields not included in
the current FOS list. To be considered for inclusion, the emerging field must have been written
in by at least ten respondents from at least three different institutions for three straight years (103-3 rule). Additionally, frequencies were also reviewed to determine if any fields in the current
list did not meet the 10-3-3 criteria, and were eligible for removal.
Additionally, one field (Environmental Toxicology) was classified as a Health Sciences field
according to the SED code frame. However, this conflicted with the classification of this field in
NCES’s CIP system, as well as the SDR. Therefore, starting with 2010 this field will be moved
to the Biological Sciences to remain consistent with the other major post-secondary field
classifications.
The following chart summarizes the fields changes that were made based on this review in 2009:
Field of study
Old Code New code
Astronomy, Other
509
Computational Biology
104
Educational Policy Analysis
808
Environmental Toxicology
211
167
Gerontology (Health Sci.)
227
Gerontology (Social Sci.)
684
Hospitality, Food Service and Tourism Management
912
International Education
833
Medical Physics/Radiological Science
577
Oral Biology/Oral Pathology
207
Robotics
415
Structural Biology
155
Structural Engineering
316
Urban Education and Leadership
806
Page 3 of 4

Action
Add field
Add field
Add field
Change major field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field
Add field

Field of study
Virology
Comparative Psychology
Slavic (other than Russian)
Business Education
Trade and Industrial Education

Old Code New code
168
606
755
862
888
-

Page 4 of 4

Action
Add field
Drop field
Drop field
Drop field
Drop field