Changes to the SED 2016 Questionnaire from the SED 2015 Questionnaire

ATTACHMENT 2
CHANGES to the SED 2016 Questionnaire from the SED 2015 Questionnaire:
PART A- Education
SED15
Ques#

SED16
Ques #

A4.

A4. Source of Financial Support.
“Did you receive full or partial tuition remission (waiver) for your doctoral
studies?”
Insert the following bolded words into the response labels, as follows:

__
__
__
__
__

No, I did not receive any tuition remission
Yes, I received remission for less than 1/3 of tuition
Yes, I received between 1/3 and 2/3 of tuition
Yes, I received remission for more than 2/3 of tuition, but less than full
Yes, I received full tuition remission

Rationale for change. Recommendation for change is based on methodological
intent to reflect the question stem by including a reference to tuition remission.
PART B - Postgraduation Plans
SED15
Ques#

SED16
Ques #

B2.

B2. Intention to take postdoc. “Do you intend to take a ‘postdoc’ position?”
Move the position of the “postdoc” definition to before the question rather than
after the question, as follows:
“A ‘postdoc’ is a temporary position primarily for gaining additional education
and training in research, usually awarded in academe, industry, government, or a
non-profit organization.
Do you intend to take a ‘postdoc’ position?”
Rationale for change. Intention is to improve comprehension by providing
respondents with the definition of “postdoc” before asking the question.

B8.

B8. Basic annual salary for principal job. The respondent is asked to enter their
expected annual salary in a verbatim box. This revision is to add a question below
the verbatim box asking the respondent to identify the currency in which they
reported their salary, if not U.S. dollars, as follows:
1

In which currency did you report your salary above?
__ U.S. dollars
__ Another currency – please specify__________
Rationale for change. Intention is to improve the data quality of salary verbatim
response by ensuring that the correct currency is applied to the reported value.
PART C – Background Information
C4.

C4. Parental education. Add “Associate’s Degree” as a response category when
asking about highest education level attained by mother and father.
Rationale for change. The existing response categories of “Some college” and
“Bachelor’s degree” do not properly represent individuals who have earned a
formal Associate’s degree.

C15.

C15. Request for SSN and contact information. Italicize and bold “last four” in the
following statement:
Please fill in the last four digits of your Social Security number.
Rationale for change. Annual feedback from respondents indicates security
concerns about providing Social Security number. This revision is intended to
reinforce that the request is only for the last four digits, not for the complete SSN,
which is intended to further allay privacy concerns.

C16.

C16. Respondent contact information. This revision is to change the question
stem to request the respondent’s “mailing address” rather than “current address.”
In addition, the contact information will no longer be used for sending Missing
Information Letters and only for any possible future research. Revision would
read as follows:
C16. Please list your mailing address, an email address and telephone number
where you can be reached for possible additional research follow-up.
Rationale for change. The purpose of the change will be to assure respondents
that the information is only being collected to be able to mail information to them
not to visit their physical addresses and to clarify the potential future use of this
contact information.

2

FIELD OF STUDY
Every two years the Federal Sponsors of the Survey of Earned Doctorates meet to evaluate the
taxonomy of fields of study used in the SED and to consider fields for addition to or deletion
from the taxonomy. The survey contractor provides analytical support for this review, including
tabulations of responses to the field of study questionnaire items and content analyses (followed
by tabulations) of verbatim responses. Field of study responses not currently in the taxonomy but
which appear in the verbatim responses of many respondents over the most recent three year
period are considered “possible emerging fields” and become candidates for addition to the SED
taxonomy. Fields of study currently in the taxonomy that are not selected by many respondents
over the most recent three year period become candidates for deletion from the SED taxonomy.
Additional information sources – including scans of university websites, reference to the
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) taxonomy, and the Federal Sponsors’ subject-area
expertise – are brought to bear on the decisions to add or delete particular fields of study.
As a result of the latest (December 2014) field of study review by the Federal Sponsors, the
following eight fields of study have been added to the SED taxonomy:
Description of field of study
Applied Linguistics
Chemical Biology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Community Psychology
Dance
Health Services Research
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling
Molecular Medicine

Field of study code
675
527
626
642
796
213
610
159

The Federal Sponsors identified one field to drop from the SED taxonomy:
Description of field of study
Folklore

Field of study code
725

Fields to consider for addition to or deletion from the SED Field of Study taxonomy on the 2016 and 2017 questionnaires
SED emerging field
verbatim

Proposed field label

Initial NORC recommendation and explanation of proposed changes

Applied Linguistics

Applied Linguistics

Add field as 675 Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics has doctoral programs, professional
associations, and publications that are distinct from Linguistics. Proposed a Social Science field
code because Linguistics is a Social Science field on the SED taxonomy. Note, however, that CIP
classifies both Linguistics and Applied Linguistics as Humanities fields, and all Applied Linguistics
programs that are not in eponymous departments are in a Humanities field department (e.g.,
English).
Add field as Chemical Biology, but uncertain where to place it in taxonomy (Biological Sciences
versus Chemistry). No exact match in CIP, but Chemical Biology has doctoral programs,
professional associations, and publications that are distinct from closely related fields. Field is highly
interdisciplinary. Most degrees appear to be granted by Chemistry departments, however, doctorate
recipients reporting this field picked more Biological/Biomedical Science field codes. Recommend
consultation with field experts to determine placement in taxonomy.

Chemical Biology

Cognitive Neuroscience

Community Psychology

Chemical Biology

Cognitive Neuroscience

Community Psychology

Sponsor recommendation at Sponsors' Meeting (12/17/2014) and,
if deferred, final decision (2/19/2015)

Add field as 675 Applied Linguistics.

Add field as Chemical Biology, but unsure where to place it in
taxonomy (and what number to give it). Jennifer will consult with
others.
After consulting with Chemistry colleagues, Jennifer recommends:
Add field as 527 Chemical Biology (within Chemistry major field)

Add field as Cognitive Neuroscience, but uncertain where to place it in taxonomy (Psychology
versus Biological/Biomedical Sciences). The closest matching CIP field is Cognitive Science, which
is positioned within the broad field Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies. NORC research indicates it is
more related to Psychology fields than Biological/Biomedical Sciences: half of the identified doctoral
programs are Psychology departments and the other half are interdisciplinary departments (focused
around Neuroscience and related fields) or interdisciplinary programs specific to Cognitive
Neuroscience. Most respondents reporting this field selected Psychology field codes on the
questionnaire. In previous field of study reviews NORC did not recommend adding this field, but
several new programs have been identified since the last review.

After consulting with NSF colleagues, recommendation is:
Add field as 626 Cognitive Neuroscience (within Psych major field),
with cross-reference to field 160 Neurosciences & Neurobiology

Add field as 642 Community Psychology. Proposed label matches CIP field label and code matches
CIP broad field. Community Psychology has doctoral programs, professional associations, and
publications that are distinct from other Psychology fields.

Add field as 642 Community Psychology.

Add field as Cognitive Neuroscience, but unsure where to place it
in taxonomy (and what number to give it). Jennifer and NSF will
consult with others.

Fields to consider (continued)
Dance and Related Fields

Health Services/Health
Services Research

Marital and Family
Therapy

Molecular Medicine

Dance

Health Services
Research

Marriage and Family
Therapy/Counseling

Molecular Medicine

Add field as 796 Dance. Proposed label matches CIP field label and code matches CIP broad field
(VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS, which the SED includes under Other Humanities). Dance has
doctoral programs, professional associations, and publications that are distinct from other
performance fields.
Add field as 213 Health Services Research. No exact match in CIP, though many closely related
fields. However, Health Services Research has doctoral programs, professional associations, and
publications that are distinct from closely related fields.

Add field as 610 Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling. Proposed label matches CIP field label.
CIP field is listed under CIP broad field "HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS",
however, the most closely related fields on the SED are under Psychology. Departments granting
these research doctoral degrees vary by field (e.g., Human Development & Family Studies, School
of Counseling, Professional Psychology & Family Therapy, College of Education), and the field
codes these respondents are selecting are diverse in terms of the broad field (see Tables 5.2 and
5.3), however, they are mostly Psychology fields. Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling has
doctoral programs, professional associations, and publications that are distinct from other
Psychology fields.
Add field as 159 Molecular Medicine. Proposed label matches CIP field label and code matches
CIP broad field. Molecular Medicine has doctoral programs, professional associations, and
publications that are distinct from other Biological/Biomedical and Health Sciences fields.

Drop field 724 Folklore.

Add field as 796 Dance.
Add field (tentatively) as 213 Health Services Research. Jennifer
may do additional research on this.
After consulting with AHRQ colleagues, Jennifer recommends:
Add field as 213 Health Services Research

Add field as 610 Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling.

Add field (tentatively) as 159 Molecular Medicine. Jennifer may do
additional research on this.
After consulting with NIH colleagues, Jennifer recommends:
Add field as 159 Molecular Medicine

Drop field.