Stage 1: Frame Creation - High Authority

2014 Pilot Early Career Doctorates Survey

3_Attachment_B_Institutional_Contacts_040914

Stage 1: Frame Creation - High Authority

OMB: 3145-0235

⚠️ Notice: This form may be outdated. More recent filings and information on OMB 3145-0235 can be found here:

2017-07-21 - Reinstatement with change of a previously approved collection

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Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials (Draft 4/9/2014)

Attachment B – Protocol for Institutional Contacts

This document details the institutional contacting protocols to be used within the Pilot Early Career Doctorates Survey (Pilot ECD Survey). In this first stage of data collection, RTI will contact a high authority figure (e.g., president) at each sampled institution to seek their approval for the institution to participate in the survey. At the same time, RTI will ask the high authority figure to identify a List Coordinator (LC) responsible for providing RTI with a list of all early career doctorates employed by the institution. For institutions that participated in the ECD methodological study, the prior LC will be recommended. For all other institutions, RTI will recommend a possible LC based on the presence of an Institutional Research Office (IRO) and the contacts developed within the NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS), Table 1 outlines the criteria used to recommend possible LCs to the high authority figures.

Table 1. Criteria for Suggesting a Possible List Coordinator (LC) to High Authority Figure (HA)

	Other approachable GSS respondent, well-placed	Other approachable GSS respondent, not well-placed	Other unapproachable GSS respondent or no other GSS respondent
IRO respondent in GSS, approachable	A: Suggest IRO GSS respondent	A: Suggest IRO GSS respondent	A: Suggest IRO GSS respondent
IRO respondent in GSS, unapproachable	C: Suggest well-placed GSS respondent (who is outside of the IRO)	E: Suggest best GSS respondent (who is outside of the IRO and not well-placed)	F: Seek suggestion from high admin office (e.g., President)
IRO, but respondent not in GSS	B: Suggest well-placed GSS respondent (who is outside of the IRO)	D: Suggest that the high admin office (e.g., President) identify an LC from the IRO	D: Suggest that the high admin office (e.g., President) identify an LC from the IRO
No IRO	B: Suggest well-placed GSS respondent (who is outside of the IRO)	E: Suggest best GSS respondent (who is outside of the IRO and not well-placed)	F: No suggestion provided to high admin office (e.g., President)

NOTE: IRO = Institutional Research Office, GSS = NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS)

During the earlier ECD methodological study, NSF experimentally tested two contact strategies, one where respondents received a pre-notification e-mail from an authority within their organization (the HA treatment group) and one where the respondents received a pre-notification letter from NSF (the NSF treatment group). Respondents in the HA treatment group responded more quickly and completed the survey more often than did those in the NSF treatment group. As a result, all institutions in this pilot will start with the HA treatment protocol, in which one notification – the initial pre-notification – will be sent to the ECDs by a recognizable authority within the institution. Institutions will have the option of moving to the NSF treatment, in which ECDs will receive all notifications regarding participation to the Web survey from NSF if no authority figure at the institution will agree to sending the initial notification. With the exception of the first contact (pre-notification), the protocol will remain the same across all treatment groups.

A summary of the institutional contact materials and timing of these notifications are provided in Table 2.

Table 2. List of Institutional Contacts with Contact Timing

Contact	Mode	Day
		1	5	15	19	29-	~60	65	70
1. HA: FedEx package	Mail	C.1
2.1a Letter – LC Strategies ABCE
2.1b Letter – LC Strategy D
2.1c Letter – LC Strategy F
2.1d Letter – Prior ECD Study LC
Survey participation form
HA brochure
2. HA: Follow-up call with outline script	Phone		C.2
3. HA: Pre-notification e-mail and one letter of support template (HA group only)	E-mail		C.3
3. HA: Two letter of support templates e-mail (NSF group only)	E-mail		C.3
4. LC: Introductory call with outline script	Phone			C.4
5. LC: Information packet mailing	Mail			C.5
Cover letter
LC brochure
Description of data fields and specifications
6. LC: Profiling call with outline script	Phone				C.6
7. LC: Overview/"next steps" e-mail	E-mail				C.7
8. LC: Certificate of appreciation packet	Mail				C.8
Cover letter
Certificate of appreciation
9. LC: Reminder/help phone calls (every two weeks, as needed)	Phone					C.9
10. HA: Phone check-ins (HA group only; once a month, as needed)	Phone					C.10
11. HA: Request to send pre-notification e-mail (HA group only)	E-mail						C.11
12. HA: Follow-up e-mail about pre-notification (HA group only; if not sent)	E-mail							C.12
13. HA: Follow-up phone call about pre-notification (HA group only; if not sent)	Phone								C.13

Attachment B.1 – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategies ABCE-HA Group)

<<Date>>

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>>:

For the long-term interests of our nation’s scientific and research enterprise, it is important to understand career paths and plans of early career doctorates. Until recently, no comprehensive data had been collected about this community, but what is known underscores the importance of gaining more and better information.

To gather this information, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is conducting the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey), a survey of individuals who received their doctoral degree within the last 10 years. <<Institution Name>> is one of only 200 institutions scientifically selected nationwide to participate in this survey. Enclosed you will find a brochure that provides additional information about the survey. All information your institution provides will be kept strictly confidential and safeguarded.

We are seeking your office’s assistance with the following steps of the ECD Survey:

Nomination of a List Coordinator by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. On the enclosed survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates who are employed at your institution. <<Proposed Contact name>> has assisted with the <<Survey Name>> and may also be a good List Coordinator for this survey.
Submission of a letter of support. In a few days, a member of our survey staff will contact you to answer any questions you may have and discuss a letter of support that would be provided to the selected participants towards the end of data collection.
E-mail invitation to selected participants. After your List Coordinator supplies us with a list of all early career doctorates, your institution’s list will be used to sample up to 40 individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30 minutes. We would like you or your designee to send a notification e-mail to sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.

Your assistance with these actions will greatly improve our survey’s response rate.

Your support is critical for the survey’s success. Thank you in advance for your assistance and we look forward to your institution’s participation in this survey. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our survey staff at RTI International at (800) 735-8720 or ECDS@rti.org or the NSF project officer, Ms. Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosures

Attachment B.1 – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategy D – HA Group)

<Date>

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<Salutation>> [HA Last Name]:

To gather this information, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is conducting the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey), a survey of individuals who received their doctoral degree within the last 10 years. <<Institution Name>>is one of only 200 institutions scientifically selected nationwide. Enclosed you will find a brochure that provides additional information about the survey. All information your institution provides will be kept strictly confidential and safeguarded.

We are seeking your office’s assistance with the following steps of the ECD Survey:

Nomination of a List Coordinator by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. On the enclosed survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates who are employed at your institution. <<Proposed Contact name>> in the <<IRO office name>> may be a good point of contact for this pilot survey.
Submission of a letter of support. In a few days, a member of our survey staff will contact you to answer any questions you may have and discuss a letter of support that would be provided to selected participants towards the end of data collection.
E-mail invitation to selected participants. After your List Coordinator supplies us with a list of all early career doctorates, your institution’s list will be used to sample up to 40 individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30 minutes. We would like you or your designee to send a notification e-mail to sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.

Your assistance with these actions will greatly improve our survey’s response rate.

Your support is critical for the pilot survey’s success. Thank you in advance for your assistance and we look forward to your institution’s participation in this survey. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our survey staff at RTI International at (800) 735-8720 or ECDS@rti.org or the NSF project officer, Ms. Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov .

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosures

Attachment B.1 – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategy F – HA Group)

<Date>

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>>:

To gather this information, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is conducting the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey), a survey of individuals who received their doctoral degree within the last 10 years. <<Institution Name>> is one of only 200 institutions scientifically selected nationwide. Enclosed you will find a brochure that provides additional information about the survey. All information your institution provides will be kept strictly confidential and safeguarded.

We are seeking your office’s assistance with the following steps of the ECD Survey:

Nomination of a List Coordinator by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. On the enclosed survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates who are employed at your institution. Anyone with experience with your institution’s personnel databases would be qualified for this work.
Submission of a letter of support. In a few days, a member of our survey staff will contact you to answer any questions you may have and discuss a letter of support that would be provided to the selected participants towards the end of data collection.
E-mail invitation to selected participants. After your List Coordinator supplies us with a list of all early career doctorates, your institution’s list will be used to sample up to 40 individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30 minutes. We would also like you or your designee to send a notification e-mail to sampled individuals informing themof their selection for the survey.

Your assistance with these actions will greatly improve our pilotsurvey’s response rate.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosures

Attachment B.1 – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Prior ECD Study Participant)

<<Date>>

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>>:

To gather this information, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is conducting the next wave of the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey), which focuses on individuals who received their doctoral degree within the last 10 years. We are grateful for your participation in the first wave, and we are pleased to announce that <<Institution Name>> is one of only 200 institutions scientifically selected nationwide for the next wave of the ECD Survey. This larger wave will produce national estimates of this population and publicly available data files. Enclosed you will find a brochure that provides additional information about the survey. All information your institution provides will be kept strictly confidential and safeguarded.

We are seeking your office’s assistance with the following steps of the ECD Survey:

Nomination of a List Coordinator by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. On the enclosed survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates who are employed at your institution. <<Proposed Contact name>> has previously served as the List Coordinator for the ECD Survey.
Submission of a letter of support. In a few days, a member of our survey staff will contact you to answer any questions you may have and discuss a letter of support that would be provided to the selected participants towards the end of data collection.
E-mail invitation to selected participants. After your List Coordinator supplies us with a list of all early career doctorates, your institution’s list will be used to sample up to 40 individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30 minutes. We would like you or your designee to send a notification e-mail to sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.

Your assistance with these actions will greatly improve our survey’s response rate.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosures

Attachment B.1 – Survey Participation Form – Pre-filled Version (Strategies ABCDE, Prior LC)

Early Career Doctorates Survey

Survey Participation Form

<<Institution Name>>

Instructions:

Please nominate a List Coordinator and return by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. To nominate the proposed coordinator, simply sign and date the form. To nominate someone other than the proposed coordinator, please complete the Nominated List Coordinator information below. This form can be returned by mail (preaddressed and stamped envelope enclosed), e-mailed to ECDS@rti.org, or faxed to 1-877-653-1240.

Dear Mr. Gawalt,

I support the participation of <<Institution Name>> in the Early Career Doctorates Survey that is being conducted by RTI International for the National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The following individual will serve as the List Coordinator for <<Institution Name>>, a role which will require preparing a list of all early career doctorates (ECDs) employed by this institution. ECDs are individuals who earned their first doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years, regardless of their employment category (faculty, staff, postdoc, etc.), the field of the degree, or the country in which the degree was earned.

Proposed List Coordinator:

<< Contact Name>>______________________

Name of List Coordinator

<< Contact Title>>_______________________

Title

<< Mailing Address>>____________________

Mailing address

<< Mailing city, state, ZIP code>>___________

City, State, ZIP code

<< Telephone number>>___________________

Telephone Number

<<E-mail address>>______________________

E-mail address

Nominated List Coordinator (if different):

_______________________________________

Name of List Coordinator

_______________________________________

Title

_______________________________________

Mailing address

_______________________________________

City, State, ZIP code

_______________________________________

Telephone Number

_______________________________________

E-mail address

Signature_______________________________ Date___________________________________

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

Pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.5(b), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is ####-#### (Exp. #/##/####). Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average one hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, but will vary by institution. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Facilities and Operations Branch, Division of Administrative Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230.

Attachment B.1 – Survey Participation Form – Blank Version (Strategy F)

Early Career Doctorates Survey

Survey Participation Form

<<Institution Name>>

Instructions:

Please nominate a List Coordinator and return by <<Date in C.1 plus 15 business days>>. This form can be returned by mail using the provided preaddressed and stamped envelope, e-mailed to ECDS@rti.org, or faxed to 1-877-653-1240.

Dear Mr. Gawalt,

_____________________________________________

Name of List Coordinator

_____________________________________________

Title

_____________________________________________

Mailing address

_____________________________________________

City, state, ZIP code

_____________________________________________

Telephone number

_____________________________________________

E-mail address

Signature_________________________________ Date_______________________________

<<HA Name>>

<<HA Title>>

Attachment B.1 – ECD Survey HA Brochure

Please refer to a separate pdf file for an example of these brochures (Attachment B.1 – HA Brochure).

Attachment B.2 – HA Follow Up Call Guidelines

(Page 1 of 2)

HA – Follow-up Phone Call (Outline Script)

[Conversational script; not verbatim]

Prior to each call become familiar with the status of the institution.

“Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<HA office contact name if available>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International, and I’m calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. Within the last 5 days we sent <<HA Name and title>> a packet of information about the Early Career Doctorates Survey, an important survey the NSF is conducting.”

Receive package
- WAS THE PACKAGE RECEIVED?
  - [IF NO DIDN’T RECEIVE]
    - OFFER TO RESEND IT
  - [IF UNSURE]
    - DESCRIBE PACKAGE:
      - “It was a FedEx mailing that included a cover letter with a brief description of the survey, a brochure with more details, and an institutional participation form.”
  - [IF YES]
    - HAS THE HA HAD TIME TO REVIEW IT?
      - IF NOT, FIND OUT WHEN THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO
      - IF HAVE, BUT NOT RESPONDED FIND OUT WHEN THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO RESPOND
      - IF THEY HAVE RESPONDED, BUT WE JUST HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT EXPRESS APPRECATION
    - INFORM THEM THEY CAN RETURN IT BY THEIR PREFERRED METHOD
      - E-MAIL (PROVIDE IC E-MAIL ADDRESS)
      - MAIL (PROVIDE IC MAIL ADDRESS)
      - FAX (PROVIDE IC FAX NUMBER)

Attachment B.2 – HA Follow Up Call Guidelines

(Page 2 of 2)

ADDITIONAL REQUESTS
- WOULD LIKE HA HELP WITH TWO COMMUNICATIONS TO ECDs BECAUSE THESE HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO IMPROVE RESPONSE TO SURVEY REQUESTS.
  - NOW: LETTER OF SUPPORT TO SEND TO PROSPECTIVE SURVEY RESPONDENTS JUST BEFORE END OF SURVEY
  - LATER: NOTIFICATION E-MAIL TO PROSPECTIVE RESPONDENTS JUST BEFORE INVITATION E-MAILS ARE SENT BY RTI
  - IF HA REFUSES TO SEND NOTIFICATION E-MAIL: ASK IF ANOTHER PERSON IN AUTHORITY COULD SEND NOTIFICAITON E-MAIL
    - IF NO: ASK TO TRANSITION SCHOOL TO NSF TREATMENT
- CAN WE SEND THESE TEMPLATES FOR REVIEW?
  - [IF YES]
    - ENTER/CONFIRM NAME/TIME OR ANY DIFFERENT CONTACT INFO INTO CONTROL SYSTEM
  - [IF DON’T AGREE]
    - EXPLAIN FEATURES IN PLACE DESIGNED TO MINIMIZE EFFORT FOR E-MAILS
    - EXPLAIN THE TEMPLATE FOR LETTERS OF SUPPORT CAN BE MODIFIED BY HA
- DETERMINE IF PERSON YOU ARE SPEAKING WITH IS BEST CONTACT FOR FUTURE CONTACTS
  - IF NOT, WHO IS?
    - RECOMMEND SOMEONE IN AN OFFICE SUCH AS PROVOST, VICE PRESIDENT, VICE CHANCELLOR, etc.
  - [IF YES, AND NOT COLLECTED ABOVE]
    - ENTER/CONFIRM NAME/TITLE CONTACT INFO

QUESTIONS
- ANY QUESTIONS?

END OF CALL
- PROVIDE HOTLINE (1-800-848-4075) AND ECDS@RTI.ORG
- INFORM THEM TO CONTACT US WITH ANY QUESTIONS
- PROVIDE OPERATING HOURS (MONDAY-FRIDAY 8AM-5PM EST)

VOICEMAIL

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I’d like to discuss our request for information. Please give me a call back at 1-800-848-4075. Thank you.

Attachment B.3 – E-mail Accompanying HA E-mail and Letter Templates – HA Group

TO: <<HA office contact e-mail address>>

FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org>>

SUBJECT: <<NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – Templates for Letters of Support>>

Dear <<HA office contact name>>:

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me recently about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey). As you and I discussed, NSF is requesting your office’s assistance with two pieces of communication: 1) sending an e-mail to up to <<number of maximum selected employees>> <<institution name>> employees selected to participate in the ECD Survey, and 2) providing a letter of support that we will send to those employees towards the end of data collection. Having support from <<HA name>> for these communications would be beneficial to the response rate and therefore make the results more accurate.

I have attached templates for the letter and the e-mail. <<HA name>> will be able to modify the text as needed. As you can see, the e-mail would be sent at the start of data collection to inform employees about their selection and encourage their participation, and the letter would be a reminder towards the end of data collection.

<<Attachment 1 – HA pre-notification e-mail template>>
<<Attachment 2 – Second HA Letter of Support Template>>

We will provide additional information about the e-mail communication in several weeks. For now, could you have <<HA name>> review the letter of support, produce a signed copy on institution letterhead, and return a copy to us? We are happy to accept a signed copy of the letter by e-mail (ECDS@rti.org), fax (<<fax number>>), or mail (ECD Survey c/o Peter Einaudi, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709).

Thank you in advance for your assistance, and feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail with any questions.

Regards,
<<Institution Contactor Name>>
RTI International
1-800-848-4075

Attachment B.3 – HA Pre-notification E-mail Template – HA Group

TO: <<ECD e-mail address>>

FROM: <<Institution High Authority>>

SUBJECT: <<NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey >>

Dear Dr. <<ECD Last Name>>,

In the next few days, you will be receiving a request from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in the Early Career Doctorates Survey. On behalf of<<Institution Name>>, I am writing to urge you to complete this survey at your earliest convenience.

In this survey, you will be asked to provide information on your current and past work experiences, the research and training you have completed, and your future career plans. Please know that your responses are confidential and neither I nor any other employee of this <<university (for GSS institutions) or organization (for FFRDCs and NIH IRP)>> will know how you answered the questions. NSF has retained RTI International, a non-profit research institute located in North Carolina, to collect and protect these data. RTI will be sending you an e-mail with a secure link to the survey.

The research enterprise in the U.S. is continually evolving: postdoctoral training has become more prevalent, the global labor markets for scientists and engineers have expanded, and interdisciplinary research continues to grow. The Early Career Doctorates Survey is unique in scope as it includes doctorates from a wide variety of disciplines and includes those who earned their degrees both in and outside of the United States. This survey will provide NSF and other agencies with key information, which is not available from any other data source, regarding the career paths and research opportunities open to recent doctorates. Responding to this survey is a service to your peers and to the academic community in general.

Your participation is completely voluntary and extremely important. Only a small number of doctorate recipients have been selected to participate in the survey, so your participation is critical to ensure the validity of the survey. If you have any questions about participation, please contact the survey staff at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Sincerely,

<<Institution High Authority Name>>

<<Title>>

<<Institution>>

Attachment B.3 – HA ReminderLetter of Support Template – HA Group

Dear Colleague,

About two months ago you received an e-mail from me notifying you of the Early Career Doctorates Survey, an important survey being sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). If you have already responded to this survey, thank you. If you have not responded, I urge you to do so now.

The purpose of the survey is to help the NSF answer questions about the work experiences, career paths, and career plans of doctorate recipients in the first decade of their career. This survey will also help NSF and other agencies make decisions about how to best support the work and development of these early career doctorates.

The survey is coming to an end, and you are one of a few early career doctorates who were randomly selected from a representative sample of academic institutions, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Programs (IRP) in the United States. Participation of everyone in the sample helps ensure that the survey results are representative of the target population.

I want to again inform you that the survey is voluntary. Furthermore, I want to assure you that should you decide to participate, your answers are completely confidential. The data collected through this survey will only be available to NSF and the survey data collection contractor, RTI International.

If you have misplaced your secure link to the survey, you may request that it be sent to you again. To request it, contact RTI by either e-mail (ECDS@rti.org) or phone (1-800-848-4075).

In closing, let me again express my support for this important survey, as well as my appreciation for your willingness to consider participation. This effort to better understand the opportunities and experiences of early career doctorates is part of an ongoing effort at the NSF and will help us in providing critical data to policymakers. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

<<Signature>>

<< Institutional High Authority name>>

<< Institutional High Authority title>>

Attachment B.3 – E-mail Accompanying HA Letter of Support Templates – NSF Group

TO: <<HA office contact e-mail address>>

FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org >>

SUBJECT: <<NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – Templates for Letters of Support>>

Dear <<HA office contact name>>:

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me recently about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. As you and I discussed, NSF is requesting that your institution provide two letters of support that we will later send to prospective survey respondents. Having letters of support come from <<HA name>> would be beneficial to the response rate and therefore make the results more accurate.

I have attached templates for the two letters to this e-mail. <<HA name>> may modify the text in these letters as needed. As you can see, the first letter would be sent at the start of data collection to inform employees about their selection and encourage their participation, and the second would be a reminder towards the end of data collection. If you prefer to provide only one letter of support, we will use it at the start and the end of data collection.

<<Attachment 1 – Pre-notification HA Letter of Support Template>>
<<Attachment 2 – Reminder HA Letter of Support Template>>

Could you have <<HA name>> review these letters, produce a signed copy of each on institution letterhead, and return a copy of each to us? We are happy to accept the signed copies by e-mail (ECDS@rti.org), fax (<<fax number>>), or mail (ECD Survey c/o Peter Einaudi, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709).

Thank you in advance for your assistance, and feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail with any questions.

Regards,
<<Institution Contactor Name>>
RTI International
1-800-848-4075

Attachment B.3 –HA Pre-notification Letter of Support Template – NSF Group

Dear Colleague,

You have been selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey), which focuses on individuals who earned their first doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years. As you know, the first years following the receipt of a doctorate degree are pivotal in determining individual career trajectories. Despite this, there is a paucity of scientifically collected data about the choices doctorate holders make early in their career and the contexts in which they make them. The information gathered by the ECD Survey about your current career activities and future plans will provide data to the NSF that are not available from any other data source.

I urge you to make time to complete this survey. You are one of a relatively small number of doctorate holders nationwide who have been selected to participate in the ECD Survey. As a result, your participation is extremely important. By completing this survey, which takes about 30 minutes, you will be improving national statistics on doctorate holders and providing a service to your peers, as well as the academic community in general. Your responses are confidential and neither I nor any other employee of this university will know how you answered the questions.

I encourage you to take part in this worthwhile survey.

Sincerely,

Attachment B.3 –HA Reminder Letter of Support Template – NSF Group

Dear Colleague,

About two months ago you received a letter from me notifying you of the Early Career Doctorates Survey, an important survey being sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). If you have already responded to this survey, thank you. If you have not responded, I urge you to do so now.

The purpose of the survey is to help the NSF answer questions about the work experiences and career plans of doctorate recipients in the first decade of their career. This survey will provide the NSF and other federal agencies with key information, which is not available from any other data source, regarding the career paths and research opportuniaties open to recent doctorates.

If you have misplaced your login credentials, you may request they be sent to you again. To request them, contact RTI by either e-mail (ECDS@rti.org) or phone (1-800-848-4075).

Sincerely,

<<Signature>>

<< Institutional High Authority name>>

<< Institutional High Authority title>>

Attachment B.4 –LC Introductory Call Guidelines

(Page 1 of 2)

LC Introductory phone call guidelines

[BASIC OUTLINE OF TOPICS TO DISCUSS – NOT VERBATIM SCRIPT]

[IF LC PARTICIPATED IN METHODOLOGICAL STUDY, THEN SKIP THIS CALL]

Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>><<LC name>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> with RTI International. I am calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct a Survey of Early Career Doctorates. <<Institution>> is one of 200 institutions selected to participate in this survey. <<Institution HA>> has nominated you as someone who could help us create a listing of all early career doctorates at <<institution name>>.

[IF LC IS A GSS RESPONDENT]

We know that you are also serving as a GSS respondent and appreciate your continued assistance with that survey. We are hoping that you will be able to help us with this complementary survey.

[ALL LCs]

The Early Career Doctorates Survey or ECD Survey differs from other NSF surveys, such as the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, the Survey of Earned Doctorates, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, in two important ways. First, the target population for this survey is much broader. For this survey we are interested in anyone employed at the university who has received a doctorate degree within the past 10 years. This includes Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and all other doctorate-equivalent degree holders working in any field and includes all categories of employees—faculty, staff, postdocs, etc.

Second, this survey collects individual-level data on the work experiences, research opportunities, and career plans of this population from the sampled individuals themselves.

[ALL LCs]

We are not asking you to collect detailed personal information about anyone. Hopefully all of the information we are requesting from you are data that can be pulled from your institution’s personnel database.

Information gathered will be used by NSF to provide decision-makers, researchers, and others involved in the research enterprise in the United States with better, more comprehensive information about this important national resource. It may also be used by NSF to help make decisions about resource allocation in the future.

We need your help with putting together a list of all employees at your institution who received a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree in the past 10 years. Along with names we’ll need a few other pieces of information to help with the survey. We would like to send you a small packet with more details about what your participation involves. After you’ve had a chance to look at the materials we can talk again so I can answer any questions you have about participation.

Attachment B.4 –LC Introductory Call Guidelines

(Page 2 of 2)

QUESTIONS FOR LC (cover major points)

ARE THEY THE BEST PERSON TO SERVE AS LC? IF NOT, FIND OUT WHO IS BETTER AND IF POSSIBLE WHY.
- GET THIS NEW POTENTIAL LCs NAME/CONTACT INFO
WILL THE LC BE ABLE TO WORK ON THIS OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT MONTH?

AFTER CONIFMING LC IS BEST PERSON TO SERVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE TO COMPILE

CONFIRM LC’s MAILING ADDRESS
INFORM LC WE WILL SEND THE INFORMATION PACKET WITHIN 2 BUSINESS DAYS
INFORM LC WE WILL FOLLOW-UP WITH THEM WITHIN 1 WEEK FROM DATE OF MAILING
ASK IF THEY HAVE ANY QUESTIONS

Attachment B.5 –LC Information Mailing Packet Cover Letter

(for non-GSS coordinators who are not prior LCs)

<Date>

<<LC Name>>

<<Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<LC name>>,

You have been nominated by <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>> to serve as the List Coordinator for the Early Career Doctorates Survey. For this survey, the National Science Foundation (NSF) needs your help compiling a list of all individuals working at <<Institution Name>> who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2003).

Enclosed please find a brochure that provides more detail about the purpose of this survey, your role, the data to be collected, and the means through which we will protect this data. A member of the NSF’s survey staff at RTI International will call you in a few days to answer any questions you may have and to discuss the availability of the information we are seeking. If you have any questions before then or would like to schedule this conversation, please contact our survey staff at RTI International toll-free at 1-800-848-4075 or by e-mail at ECDS@rti.org.

<<Institution Name>>’s participation is critical to the success of this survey as we are contacting only 200 institutions throughout the United States. The data collected through this survey will improve national statistics on early career doctorates and provide NSF with data critical for the long-term interests of our nation’s scientific enterprise. All information you provide will be kept strictly confidential and safeguarded.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly Phou, Project Officer

Early Career Doctorates Survey

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosure

Attachment B.5 –LC Information Mailing Packet Cover Letter

(for GSS Coordinators who are not prior LCs)

<Date>

<<LC Name>>

<<Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<LC name>>,

You have been nominated by <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>> to serve as the List Coordinator for the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECD Survey). For this survey, the National Science Foundation (NSF) needs your help compiling a list of all individuals working at <<Institution Name>> who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2003).

Enclosed please find a brochure that provides more detail about the purpose of this survey, your role, the data to be collected, and the means through which we will protect this data. We appreciate your recent assistance with the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) and hope that you will be able to assist the NSF with the ECD Survey as well. The ECD Survey differs from the GSS in many ways, but in particular we are interested in identifying all recent doctorate recipients, regardless of where they are working in your organization. This includes Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and all other doctorate-equivalent degree holders, and is not limited to programs or units reported in the GSS.

A member of the NSF’s survey staff at RTI International will call you in a few days to answer any questions you may have and to discuss the availability of the information we are seeking. If you have any questions before then or would like to schedule this conversation, please contact our survey staff at RTI International toll-free at 1-800-848-4075 or by e-mail at ECDS@rti.org.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly Phou, Project Officer

Early Career Doctorates Survey

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosure

Attachment B.5 –LC Information Mailing Packet Cover Letter (for Prior LCs)

<Date>

<<LC Name>>

<<Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State, ZIP code>>

Dear <<LC name>>,

We are grateful for your participation in the first wave of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Career Doctorates Survey, and we are pleased to announce that your institution is one of 200 that has been selected for a second wave. You have been nominated by <<Salutation>> <<HA Last Name>> to serve again as the List Coordinator for the survey. As you recall, your role as List Coordinator involves compiling a list of all individuals working at <<Institution Name>> who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2003).

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly Phou, Project Officer

Early Career Doctorates Survey

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosure

Attachment B.5 – ECD Survey LC Brochure

Please refer to a separate pdf file for an example of this brochure (Attachment B.5 – LC Brochure).

Attachment B.5 – Description of Data Fields

List of Information Needed for NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey

We are seeking your assistance in developing a list of employees at your institution who are early career doctorates—individuals who received their first doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2003) The survey is open to all employees who meet these criteria, regardless of their job category (faculty, staff, postdoc, etc.), the field of their degree, or the country in which they earned their degree.

You will be asked to provide as many of the following fields as are available from institutional databases (asterisks denote those data items with the highest priority). In a few days, a member of the survey staff at RTI will call you to discuss which fields are available and to outline ways in which your institution can participate even if the fields below are not available for all employees. After the call, an Excel spreadsheet will be sent for you to provide the information.

Description of information requested	Example
Name of employee*	John Allen Jones Jr.
Work e-mail*	jjones@example.edu
Work mailing address*	Building 4, Mail Stop 8D
Work telephone number	999-555-1212
Home/personal e-mail address	jajones@example.com
Home mailing address	123 Oak Street, Oakdale, MI 48000
Home telephone or cell phone number	555-999-1212
Type of doctoral degree*	PhD
Year of first doctoral degree*	2008
Job title*	Assistant Professor
Job category (Faculty/Staff/Postdoc/Other)*	Faculty
Primary department/unit	Evolutionary Biology
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code for the primary department/unit (academic departments only)	26.1303
Year of birth	1980
U.S. citizen or permanent resident (Yes/No/Don’t Know)	Yes
Doctoral degree earned at a U.S. institution, including those in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico (Yes/No/Don’t Know)	No
Hire year	2009
*Highest priority fields

Pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.5(b), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is ####-#### (Exp. #/##/####). Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 6 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Facilities and Operations Branch, Division of Administrative Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230.

Attachment B.6 – LC Profiling Call Guidelines

(Page 1 of 2)

[CONVERSATIONAL GUIDELINES]

Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<LC name>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. About a week ago we sent an information packet for the Early Career Doctorates Survey that we discussed. Have you had a chance to review the packet?

[IF NO]

SCHEDULE A TIME WITHIN NEXT 3 DAYS TO CALL BACK

[IF YES]

DOES LC HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AFTER REVIEWING PACKET?

PROCEED AFTER ANSWERING ANY QUESTIONS

INFORM LC THAT THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE AIMED TO HELP THEM PROVIDE THE REQUESTED INFORMATION.

INFORM WILL SEND A FOLLOW-UP E-MAIL SUMMARIZING DETAILS OF CALL AND ATTACH THE SPREADSHEET INTO WHICH WANT DATA TO BE ENTERED.
- THIS WILL INCLUDE THE AGREED UPON DEADLINE (BUT WE DON’T NEED TO TELL THEM THAT, JUST THAT WE’LL SEND A SUMMARY OF POINTS DISCUSSED)

DISCUSS DATA FIELDS IN SPECS
- CAN LC PROVIDE THEM ALL?
  - IF NOT, WHICH ONES CAN THEY PROVIDE?
  - FOR ANY THEY CANNOT PROVIDE, ARE THERE ANY FIELDS THAT MIGHT BE GOOD SUBSTITUTES?

STRESS TO THE LC THAT WE ARE ONLY INTERSTED IN INFORMATION THEY CAN GET BY ACCESSING INSTITUTIONAL DATABASES

CAN THE LC PROVIDE ALL INFORMATION NEEDED?

DOES LC HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO ALL APPLICABLE DATABASES?
- EXAMPLES: HR, PAYROLL, AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS (HOSPITALS, CLINICS, LABS, ETC.) WITH SEPARATE DATABASES

Attachment B.6 – LC Profiling Call Guidelines

(Page 2 of 2)

IF LC DOES NOT HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO THE DATA, CAN S/HE WORK WITH OTHERS TO GET THEM?
DOES LC HAVE AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE DATA OR NEED AUTHORIZATION FROM SOMEONE ELSE?
- IF NEEDS AUTHORIZATION, IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN WE DO TO HELP?

TRY TO GET AN ESTIMATE OF BURDEN THEY THINK IT WILL TAKE TO GET THE REQUESTED INFORMATION AND SUBMIT IT.
- INTERESTED IN BOTH
  - A QUALITATIVE RATING OF DIFFICULTY
  - ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF TIME IN HOURS

NEGOTIATE WITH LC FOR A DEADLINE BY WHICH THEY CAN HAVE INFORMATION SUBMITTED
- SHOOT FOR WITHIN 2 WEEKS FROM CURRENT DATE

OFFER TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS

PROVIDE THE PROJECT HOTLINE AGAIN (1-800-848-4075) AND HOURS OF OPERATIONS
- SO THEY CAN CALL US BACK WITH ANY QUESTIONS THAT COME UP WHILE THEY ARE COMPILING

THANK LC FOR TIME

Attachment B.7 – Overview/“next steps” e-mail – degree/date available for all

TO: <<LC e-mail>>
FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org>>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – next steps

<<LC name>>,

Thank you for speaking with us earlier today about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. For your reference, attached is a basic Excel template with the data fields requested for your institution’s early career doctorates. We discussed <<target deadline>> as a target date for you to provide us with the list of early career doctorates. Feel free to let us know if any questions arise as you are preparing this file.

In order to ensure the security of your data, please e-mail your files to us at ECDS@rti.org in an encrypted zip file and please send the password to decrypt the file in a separate e-mail. You may contact us at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org for assistance with this method of securing and transferring your data.

Again, we greatly appreciate your work on this survey.

<<Attachment: NSF_ECDSurvey_datafields.xlsx>>

Regards,

<<RTI staff>>

RTI International

1-800-848-4075

Attachment B.7 – Overview/“next steps” e-mail – degree/date not available for all

TO: <<LC e-mail>>
FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org>>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – next steps

<<LC name>>,

Thank you for speaking with us earlier today about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. From our conversation, it sounds as though your institution may not systematically track some of the degree information that identifies early career doctorates. Therefore, in order to narrow down our data request to likely early career doctorates, we would first like to request a simple Excel file that includes job titles and the associated department names. (This step is only necessary for employees for whom either the type or date of the highest degree is unknown.) Let me know if you have any questions in the next few days as you are generating this file.

Once we have that file of job titles, we can use it to identify titles of likely early career doctorates to be included in a more detailed data file. I believe we discussed <<target deadline>> as a target date for the more detailed list of early career doctorates.

Again, we greatly appreciate your work on this survey.

Regards,

<<RTI staff>>

RTI International

1-800-848-4075

Attachment B.8 – LC Certificate of Appreciation Cover Letter

<Date>

<<LC Name>>

<<Title>>

<<Institution Name>>

<<Mailing Address>>

<<Mailing City, State Zip code>>

Dear <<Salutation>> <<LC Last Name>>:

In the last few days, you spoke to a representative from RTI International about your participation in the Early Career Doctorates Survey. On this call you talked about your role on the survey, including eligibility rules and the fields for which we would like you to compile data.

The data gathered in this survey are critical to stakeholders that include the National Science Foundation, decision-makers, and other researchers who are interested in the U.S. research enterprise. Without your participation this survey could not be successful.

We know your time is valuable and we want to offer our most sincere thanks for your willingness to help us on this important survey. As a small token of our appreciation for your efforts, we have enclosed a Certificate of Appreciation. We know this cannot compensate you for your efforts, but hope that in a small way it demonstrates how much we appreciate your work. We look forward to working with you as you develop a list of all early career doctorates at your institution.

Thank you again for agreeing to help with this important survey.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Enclosure

A ttachment B.8 – LC Certificate of Appreciation

Attachment B.9 – LC Reminder/Help Phone Call Guidelines

[GUIDELINES NOT TO BE READ VERBATIM]

Prior to each call become familiar with the status of the institution.

Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<LC name>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. About two weeks ago we talked about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. In that discussion we talked about the data fields we need for the survey, where they might be located, and what would be involved for you to compile them in a spreadsheet.

COMPILATION QUESTIONS

HOW IS GATHERING THE DATA GOING?
- hOW FAR ALONG ARE THEY?
Any issues with the spreadsheet we provided?
- ARE THEY CONCERNED THEY MIGHT NOT MEET THE NEGOTIATED DEADLINE?
  - IF SO, RENEGOTIATE A DEADLINE (WITHIN NEXT WEEK IF POSSIBLE).

DATA QUESTIONS. dO THEY HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT…
- Who is eligible?
- The data fields?
  - E.g., are they having trouble with any/do we need to consider substitution for any?
- Anything else?

OTHER QUESTIONS
- Any access/permission issues we should be aware of?

END OF CALL MATTERS
- REASSURE THEM THEY CAN CALL IF ANY QUESTIONS DO COME UP
- PROVIDE HOTLINE AND IC E-MAIL IF THEY NEED IT
- PROVIDE RTI HOURS OF OPERATIONS (8AM-5PM EST)
- EXPRESS SINCERE APPRECATION FOR THEIR EFFORTS

VOICEMAIL

Hi, this is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling on behalf of the NSF about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I was hoping to touch base with you about the request for information on early career doctorate employees at <<institution name>>. Please give me a call at 1-800-848-4075. Thank you.

Attachment B.10 – Phone check-ins with the HA (HA group only)

[GUIDELINES NOT TO BE READ VERBATIM]

Prior to each call become familiar with the status of the institution.

Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<HA contact name>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. About a month ago we talked about the Early Career Doctorates Survey.

IF NO LETTER OF SUPPORT

ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LETTER OF SUPPORT TEMPLATE?
PROVIDE E-MAIL, FAX, and MAILING ADDRESSES

IF LETTER OF SUPPORT received

END OF CALL MATTERS

REASSURE THEM THEY CAN CALL IF ANY QUESTIONS DO COME UP
PROVIDE HOTLINE AND IC E-MAIL IF THEY NEED IT
PROVIDE RTI HOURS OF OPERATIONS (8AM-5PM EST)
EXPRESS SINCERE APPRECATION FOR THEIR EFFORTS

VOICEMAIL

Hi, this is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling on behalf of the NSF about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I was hoping to touch base with you about the survey. Please give me a call at 1-800-848-4075. Thank you.

Attachment B.11 – Request to HA to Send Pre-Notification E-mail

TO: <<HA e-mail>>
FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org>>
CC: <<HA office contact e-mail>>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – pre-notification e-mail

Dear <<Salutation>> <<Institution President Last Name>>:

Last <<month of first contact>>, I requested your assistance with the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. With the help of <<LC name>>, we have successfully completed the first stage of this survey and are now ready to launch the second stage – a survey of sampled early career doctorates that takes about 30 minutes. To do this we once again need your help.

As discussed in <<month of first contact>>, we would like you to e-mail each of the prospective respondents at <<institution name>> to notify them of their selection and to urge them to participate. Research has shown that such personalized pre-notification significantly improves survey response rates. We hope you will help us with this critical step in the survey.

To reduce the burden of this request, we have developed an easy-to-use web application that will draft these e-mails for you. The application can be accessed using the following credentials:

[Insert web tool URL here]

Username: [username]

Password: [password]

Upon logging in to this website, you will see a list of the <<number of sampled respondents>> respondents selected from your institution. For each respondent, a single click will automatically generate a personalized message from you to the respondent, copying the survey mailbox (ECDS@rti.org). You will be able to review and revise this message as needed prior to sending it. The copy will queue the survey login information to be sent two days after your initial e-mail.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Kelly Phou of my staff at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov. For technical support, please contact our survey staff at RTI International at

1-800-848-4075 or by e-mail at ECDS@rti.org.

Thank you for your continued assistance with this survey.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt

Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Attachment B.12 – E-mail Reminder of request to HA to Send Pre-Notification E-mail

TO: <<HA e-mail>>
FROM: <<ECDS@rti.org>>
CC: <<HA office contact e-mail>>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey – pre-notification e-mail reminder

Dear <<Salutation>> <<HA Name>>:

Thank you again for your assistance with the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey so far. Before we launch the web survey of the <<# selected>> employees who were selected from your institution, we would like your help in notifying those employees of their selection. If it is not possible for your office to send the notifications soon, we will plan to send an alternative introductory message, although a personalized pre-notification from you is strongly preferred. As a reminder, below are the access credentials to the application that will automatically draft these notification e-mails for you (or someone who can send e-mails on your behalf):

Website: http://earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org/administrator
Username: <<HA username>>
Password: <<HA password>>

If you have already notified the selected employees but did not CC: the survey mailbox (ECDS@rti.org), could you send a brief message with the date that the employees were notified? This information will help us determine when to send the employees a message with their survey login information.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms. Kelly Phou of my staff at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov, or the survey staff at RTI International at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.

Again, we greatly appreciate your institution’s participation in this survey.

Sincerely,

John R. Gawalt
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

Attachment B.13 – Phone Reminder of request to HA to Send Pre-Notification E-mail

[GUIDELINES NOT TO BE READ VERBATIM]

Prior to each call become familiar with the status of the institution.

Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<HA contact name>>,

This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International, and I am calling about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. Your LC has provided us with a list of early career doctorates at your institution, and we have selected <<count of selected ECDs>> to participate in the web survey. We are now ready for your office to send out the introductory e-mail that we discussed earlier?

RECEIVED PREVIOUS E-MAILS ABOUT PRE-NOTIFICATION?

If YES
- Any questions about Using E-MAIL TOOL?
- Remind that they can modify the text as needed
If No
- OFFER TO RESEND LOGIN CREDENTIALS
IF REFUSED
- ASK FOR SOMEONE ELSE IN AUTHORITY TO SEND PRE-NOTIFICATION E-MAIL
  - IF NO: ASK TO TRANSITION THEM TO nSF TREATMENT

END OF CALL MATTERS

REASSURE THEM THEY CAN CALL IF ANY QUESTIONS DO COME UP
PROVIDE HOTLINE AND IC E-MAIL IF THEY NEED IT
PROVIDE RTI HOURS OF OPERATIONS (8AM-5PM EST)
EXPRESS SINCERE APPRECATION FOR THEIR EFFORTS

VOICEMAIL

Hi, this is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling on behalf of the NSF about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I was hoping to touch base with you about the e-mail pre-notification from your office to the employees who have been selected for the survey. Please give me a call at 1-800-848-4075. Thank you.

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Author	Brian Head
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2021-01-27