Stage 1: Frame Creation - List Coordinator

2017 Early Career Doctorates Survey

Attachment B

Stage 1: Frame Creation - List Coordinator

OMB: 3145-0235

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Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B – Protocol for Institutional Contacts
This document details the institutional contacting protocols to be used within the Early Career Doctorates Survey
(ECDS). In this first stage of data collection, RTI will contact the office of the top administrator at each sampled
institution (e.g., president, hereafter called the high authority or HA) to seek their approval for the institution to
participate in the survey. At the same time, RTI will ask the high authority to identify a List Coordinator (LC)
responsible for providing RTI with a list of all early career doctorates (ECD) employed by the institution and a
Communication Coordinator (CC) responsible for overseeing communications from the HA office. For
institutions that participated in the ECD methodological study or Pilot ECDS, the prior LC will be recommended
if that person remains in the same role they held at the time of the prior administration. For all other institutions
(and participating institutions where the old LC is no longer there), 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) or the companion Survey of Postdocs at
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. Table 1 outlines the criteria used to recommend possible
new LCs to the high authority figures.
Table 1. Strategies for identifying a new List Coordinator (LC)
IRO existence and
GSS respondent(s)
position/efficacy
IRO with approachable
GSS respondent

Other approachable
GSS respondent, wellplaced
A: Suggest IRO GSS
respondent

Other approachable
GSS respondent, not
well-placed
A: Suggest IRO GSS
respondent

Other unapproachable
GSS respondent or no
other GSS respondent
A: Suggest IRO GSS
respondent

IRO with unapproachable
GSS respondent

B: Suggest well-placed
GSS respondent

D: Suggest best GSS
respondent

E: No suggestion

IRO without a GSS
respondent

B: Suggest well-placed
GSS respondent

C: Suggest the IRO
director

No IRO

B: Suggest well-placed
GSS respondent

D: Suggest best GSS
respondent

E: No suggestion

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

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 will start with the HA treatment protocol, in which
one notification – the initial pre-notification – will be sent to the ECD by a recognizable authority within the
institution. Institutions will have the option of moving to the NSF treatment, in which ECD 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. Two additional alternatives—the HA Opt-in and HA Opt-out approaches—will
be available in cases where the HA prefers not to use standard HA or NSF approaches or institutional policies
1

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
prevent the use of those approaches; under those approaches, the institution will first seek explicit permission
(i.e., opting in) or implicit permission (i.e., not opting out within a certain timeframe) to release sampled ECD’s
contact information to the survey contractor. 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

Business Day
0

1. HA: FedEx package

Mail

29+

~60

B.1

Letter – LC Strategies ABCE

.1a

Letter – LC Strategy D

.1b

Letter – LC Strategy F

.1c

Letter – Prior ECD Study LC

.1d

Survey participation form (LC suggested)

.2a

Survey participation form (blank)

.2b

HA brochure

2. HA: Follow-up call with outline script

Phone

B.2

3. LC: Introductory call with outline script

Phone

B.3

4. LC: Information packet mailing

Mail

B.4

Cover letter

LC brochure

Description of data fields and specifications

5. LC: Profiling call with outline script

Phone

B.5

6. LC: Overview/"next steps" e-mail

E-mail

B.6

7. LC: Certificate of appreciation packet

Mail

B.7

Cover letter

Certificate of appreciation

8. LC: Reminder/help phone calls (every two weeks, as needed)

Phone

B.8

9. HA/CC: Phone/e-mail check-ins with CC (once a month, as
needed)

Phone /
E-mail

B.9

10. HA/CC: Follow-up re stage two communications

E-mail

B.10

HA protocol e-mail

.1a

HA pre-notification e-mail template

.2a1

HA pre-notification e-mail template (opt-out protocol)

.2a2

HA pre-notification e-mail template (opt-in protocol)

.2a3

HA nonresponse prompt template (opt-in protocol)

.2a4

HA letter of support template

.3a

NSF protocol e-mail

.1b

NSF pre-notification letter of support template

.2b

NSF reminder letter of support template

.3b

11. HA/CC: Request to send pre-notification e-mail (HA group)

E-mail

12. HA/CC: Follow-up e-mail about pre-notification (HA group)

E-mail

13. HA/CC: Follow-up phone call about pre-notification (HA
group)

Phone

B.11
B.12
B.13

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.1a – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategies ABD)
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
Dear <> <>:
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 2017 Early Career
Doctorates Survey (ECDS), which focuses on individuals who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D.,
M.D., Ed.D., etc.) within the last 10 years.The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
<> is one of only 350 institutions 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 ECDS:
1. Nomination of two coordinators by <>. On the enclosed
survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator and a Communication
Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates
who work at your institution. <> has assisted with the <> in the past and may also be a good List Coordinator for this year’s ECDS. A Communication
Coordinator is someone, such as a chief of staff or executive assistant, who can serve as your
office’s point of contact for the two communications described below.
2. Submission of a letter of support. In several weeks, a member of our survey staff will contact
the Communication Coordinator to answer questions and discuss a letter of support from your
office that would be provided to participants towards the end of data collection.
3. 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 <>
individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30
minutes. We would like you or your Communication Coordinator to send a notification e-mail to
these sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.
We look forward to your institution’s participation in this survey, and we thank you in advance for your
assistance. Your support is critical for the survey’s success. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact our survey staff at RTI International at (800) 848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org, or the NSF project
officer, Ms. Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov.
Sincerely,
<>
3

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
John R. Gawalt
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
Enclosures

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that completing the survey participation form and nominating survey coordinators will average 30 minutes, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.1b – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategy C)

<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
Dear <> [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 2017Early Career
Doctorates Survey (ECDS), which focuses on individuals who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D.,
M.D., Ed.D., etc.) within the last 10 years. The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health. <>is one of only 350 institutions 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 ECDS:
1. Nomination of two coordinators by <>. On the enclosed survey
participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator and a Communication
Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates
who work at your institution. <>in the <> may be a
good point of contact for this survey. A Communication Coordinator is someone, such as a chief
of staff or exexcutive assistant, who can serve as your office’s point of contact for the two
communications described below.
2. Submission of a letter of support. In several weeks, a member of our survey staff will contact
the Coummunication Coordinator to answer questions and discuss a letter of support from your
office that would be provided to participants towards the end of data collection.
3. 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 <>
individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30
minutes. We would like you or your Communication Coordinator to send a notification e-mail to
these sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.
We look forward to your institution’s participation in this survey, and we thank you for your assistance.
Your support is critical for the survey’s success.. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our
survey staff at RTI International at (800) 848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org or the NSF project officer, Ms.
Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov .
Sincerely,
<>
5

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.1c – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Strategy E)

<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
Dear <> <>:
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 2017 Early Career
Doctorates Survey (ECDS), which focuses on individuals who received their doctoral degree (Ph.D.,
M.D., Ed.D., etc.) within the last 10 years. The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health. <> is one of only 350 institutions 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 ECDS:
1. Nomination of two coordinators by <>. On the enclosed
survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator and a Communication
Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates
who work at your institution. Anyone with experience with your institution’s personnel databases
would be qualified for this work. A Communication Coordinator is someone, such as a chief of
staff or exexcutive assistant, who can serve as your office’s point of contact for the two
communications described below.
2. Submission of a letter of support. In several weeks, a member of our survey staff will contact
the Communication Coordinator to answer questions and discuss a letter of support from your
office that would be provided to participants towards the end of data collection.
3. 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 <>
individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30
minutes. We would also like you or your Communication Coordinator to send a notification email to these sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.
We look forward to your institution’s participation in this survey, and we thank you in advance for your
assistance. Your support is critical for the survey’s success. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact our survey staff at RTI International at (800) 848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org or the NSF project
officer, Ms. Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov.
Sincerely,
<>
John R. Gawalt
7

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
Enclosures

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.1d – Lead Letter to High Authorities (Prior ECDS Participant)
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
Dear <> <>:
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 next wave of the
2017 Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECDS), which focuses on individuals who received their doctoral
degree (Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., etc.) within the last 10 years. The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National
Institutes of Health. We are grateful for your participation in the first wave, and we are pleased to
announce that <> is one of only 350 institutions selected nationwide for the next wave
of the ECDS. 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 ECDSS:
1. Nomination of two coordinators by <>. On the enclosed
survey participation form, there is space to designate a List Coordinator and a Communication
Coordinator. A List Coordinator is someone who can prepare a list of all early career doctorates
who work at your institution. <> has previously served as the List
Coordinator for the ECDS. A Communication Coordinator is someone, such as a chief of staff or
exexcutive assistant, who can serve as your office’s point of contact for the two communications
described below.
2. Submission of a letter of support. In several weeks, a member of our survey staff will contact
the Communication Coordinator to answer questions and discuss a letter of support that would be
provided to the participants towards the end of data collection.
3. 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 <>
individuals for a survey about their educational and career experiences that takes about 30
minutes. We would like you or your Coummunication Coordinator to send a notification e-mail to
these sampled individuals informing them of their selection for the survey.
We look forward to your instiution’s participation in this survey, and we thank you in advance for your
assistance. Your support is critical for the survey’s success. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact our survey staff at RTI International at (800) 848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org or the NSF project
officer, Ms. Kelly Phou, at (703) 292-4722 or kphou@nsf.gov.
Sincerely,
9

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.2a – Survey Participation Form – Pre-filled Version (Strategies ABCD, Prior LC)
Early Career Doctorates Survey
Survey Participation Form
<>
Instructions:
Using the right-hand column below, please nominate a List Coordinator and a Communication
Coordinator and return by <>. The completed, signed form can be
completed online at <> (ID: <> and password: <>), returned by
mail (envelope enclosed), e-mailed to ECDS@rti.org, or faxed to 1-877-653-1240.
Dear Mr. Gawalt,
I support the participation of <> in the 2017 Early Career Doctorates Survey, which is
being conducted by the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics and the National Institutes of Health with RTI International serving as the data collection
contractor. The following individuals will serve as the List Coordinator and Communication Coordinator
for <>. The List Coordinator role will require preparing a list of all early career
doctorates (ECD) working at this institution. ECD are individuals who earned their first doctoral degree
(Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., etc.) within the last 10 years, regardless of their position type (faculty, staff, postdoc,
etc.), the field of the degree, or the country in which the degree was earned. The Communication
Coordinator will serve as the institutional point of contact for two communications that will go to ECD
selected for the survey.
Proposed List Coordinator (LC):

Nominated List Coordinator (LC):
Check here to nominate the proposed LC

<< Contact Name>>______________________
Name of List Coordinator

_______________________________________
Name of List Coordinator (if not same as proposed)

<< Contact Title>>_______________________
Title

_______________________________________
Title

<< Mailing Address>>____________________
Mailing address

_______________________________________
Mailing address

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

_______________________________________
City, State, ZIP code

<< Telephone number>>___________________
Telephone Number

_______________________________________
Telephone Number

<>______________________
E-mail address

_______________________________________
E-mail address
Nominated Communication Coordinator (CC):
_______________________________________
Name of Communication Coordinator
_______________________________________
Title
_______________________________________
Telephone Number
_______________________________________
E-mail address

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

Signature_______________________________
<>
<>

Date___________________________________

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.1.2b – Survey Participation Form – Blank Version (Strategy E)
Early Career Doctorates Survey
Survey Participation Form
<>
Instructions:
Please nominate a List Coordinator and return by <>. 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,
I support the participation of <> in the Early Career Doctorates Survey that is being
conducted by the National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
and the National Institutes of Health with RTI International serving as the data collection contractor. The
following individual will serve as the List Coordinator for <>, a role which will
require preparing a list of all early career doctorates (ECD) employed by this institution. ECD 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.

_____________________________________________
Name of List Coordinator
_____________________________________________
Title
_____________________________________________
Mailing address
_____________________________________________
City, state, ZIP code
_____________________________________________
Telephone number
_____________________________________________
E-mail address

Signature_________________________________ Date_______________________________
<>
<>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

Attachment B.1.3 – ECDS HA Brochure

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

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
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 <> <>,
This is <> from RTI International, and I’m calling on behalf of the
National Science Foundation about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. Within the last week we sent
<> a packet of information about the Early Career Doctorates Survey, an important
survey the NSF is conducting.”
•

Receive package
o WAS THE PACKAGE RECEIVED?
 [IF NO DIDN’T RECEIVE]
• offer to resend it
 [IF UNSURE]
• DESCRIBE PACKAGE:
o “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?
o if not, find out when they might be able to
o if have, but not responded find out when they might be able to
respond
o if they have responded, but we just have not received it, express
appreciation
• INFORM THEM THEY CAN RETURN IT BY THEIR PREFERRED
METHOD
o e-mail (provide e-mail address)
o mail (provide mail address)
o fax (provide fax number)

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.2 – HA Follow Up Call Guidelines
(Page 2 of 2)

•

QUESTIONS
o ANY QUESTIONS?

•

END OF CALL
o Provide hotline (1-800-848-4075) and ECDS@rti.org
o Inform them to contact us with any questions
o Provide operating hours (Monday-Friday 8am-5pm EST)

VOICEMAIL
This is <> 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. You can reach me at 1-800-848-4075. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Thank you.

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.3 –LC Introductory Call Guidelines
(Page 1 of 2)

LC Introductory phone call guidelines
[IF LC PARTICIPATED IN METHODOLOGICAL STUDY, THEN SKIP THIS CALL]
[BASIC OUTLINE OF TOPICS TO DISCUSS – NOT VERBATIM SCRIPT]
Good morning/afternoon <>, this is <> with RTI International.
I am calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct the Early Career Doctorates
Survey (ECDS). The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Your institution is one
of 350 institutions selected to participate in this survey. <> has nominated you as
someone who could help us create a listing of all early career doctorates at your institution.
[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 ECDS, 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 working at your institution who has received a
doctoral degree within the past 10 years (i.e., since January 2007). This includes Ph.D.s, M.D.s, Ed.D.s,
and all other doctoral-level degree holders (except J.D.s) working in any field and includes all categories
of positions—faculty, staff, postdocs, medical residents, 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.
We are not asking you to manually 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 individuals working throughout 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. (If you need permission from the individuals to
release their contact information or if you are not sure you can definitively identify all ECD, we have
alternative approaches that will still enable you to participate.) 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.3 –LC Introductory Call Guidelines
(Page 2 of 2)

QUESTIONS FOR LC (cover major points)
•

•

Are they the best person to serve as a list coordinator for a list of early career doctorates? Remind
them that this includes all position types (faculty, staff, postdocs, medical residents, etc.) and all
segments of the institution (including branch campuses, health science centers, etc.). We realize
they may not personally have direct access to all the data, but they could still serve as LC if they
can coordinate the institution’s response. If they are not the best person to serve as LC, find out
who is better and if possible why.
o Get this new potential LC’s name/contact info
Will the LC be able to work on this over the course of the next month?

After confirming LC is best person to serve and will be available to compile the list
• 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.4.1a –LC Information Mailing Packet Cover Letter
(for non-GSS coordinators who are not prior LCs)

<>
<>
<<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., Ed.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2007).
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. You can also read more about
the list submission process and frequently asked questions by visiting the List Coordinator section of the
survey website and logging in using the information below:
Link:
User name:
Password:

https://www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org/
[username]
[password]

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
350 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,
<Signature>
Kelly Phou, Project Officer
Early Career Doctorates Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
Enclosure
20

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.4.1b –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 (ECDS). For this survey, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
needs your help compiling a list of all individuals working at <<Institution Name>> who received their
first doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2007).
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. You can also read more about
the list submission process and frequently asked questions by visiting the List Coordinator section of the
survey website and logging in using the information below:
Link:
User name:
Password:

https://www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org/
[username]
[password]

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 ECDS as well. The
ECDS differs from the GSS in many ways, but in particular we want to highlight that the ECDS focuses
on all recent doctoral recipients, regardless of where they are working in your organization. This
includes Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and all other doctoral degree holders, and is not limited to fields 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.
<<Institution Name>>’s participation is critical to the success of this survey as we are contacting only
350 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,
<Signature>
22

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

Kelly Phou, Project Officer
Early Career Doctorates Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
Enclosure

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.4.1c –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 a prior wave of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Early
Career Doctorates Survey, and we are pleased to announce that your institution is one of 350 that has
been selected for the full-scale 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., Ed.D., or equivalent) within the last 10 years (i.e., since January 2007).
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. You can also read more about
the list submission process and frequently asked questions by visiting the List Coordinator section of the
survey website and logging in using the information below:
Link:
User name:
Password:

https://www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org/
[username]
[password]

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

Enclosure

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.4.2 – ECDS LC Brochure
Please refer to a separate pdf file for an example of this brochure (Attachment B.5 – LC Brochure).

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.4.3 – 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., Ed.D., or equivalent)
within the last 10 years (i.e., in January 2007 or later) The survey is open to all individuals working at
your institution 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. Early in the process, 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 individuals.

Description of information requested for sampling
Type of doctoral degree*

Example
PhD

Year of first doctoral degree*

2012

Job title*

Assistant Professor

Job category (e.g., Faculty/Staff/Postdoc/Other)*

Faculty

Sex (e.g., Female/Male)*

Female

Ethnicity (e.g., Hispanic/Not Hispanic)*

Not Hispanic

Race (e.g., African-American or Black/American Indian or Alaska
Native/Asian/Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander/White/More
than One Race)*

White

Primary department/unit

Evolutionary Biology

Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code for the primary
department/unit (academic departments only)

26.1303

10. Year of birth

1982

11. U.S. citizen or permanent resident (e.g., Yes/No/Don’t Know)

Yes

12. Doctoral degree earned at a U.S. institution, including those in U.S.
territories such as Puerto Rico (e.g., Yes/No/Don’t Know)

13. Hire year

2012

Description of information requested for contacting selected ECD
14. Name of employee*

Example
Janet Jones

15. Work e-mail*

jjones@example.edu

16. Work mailing address*

99 Ninth Ave., Mail Code
999, New York City, NY
10001

17. Work telephone number

999-555-1212

*Highest priority fields

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.5 – 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 THAT WE WILL SEND A FOLLOW-UP E-MAIL SUMMARIZING DETAILS OF
CALL AND AN EXCEL FILE THE LC CAN USE AS A TEMPLATE FOR CREATING
THEIR ECD LIST.
o (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 WHETHER THEY CAN DEFINITIVELY DETERMINE ECD STATUS (I.E.,
DOCTORAL DEGREE AND YEAR)
o Is it available for all groups (faculty/staff/postdocs/others), or just for some?
 If they believe it’s available for staff, confirm whether the degree information is
regularly updated or if what’s on record is just the degree they had at their hire
date. (In the pilot we learned many institutions just had the degree at hire date in
their HR systems, but the employers may have gotten a doctoral degree since
then.)
 If there are groups where ECD status is not definitely known, discuss the use of
the job title approach.

•

DISCUSS REMAINING DATA FIELDS IN SPECS ONE-BY-ONE
o can LC provide the field? is it available for everyone or just certain groups (e.g., just
faculty)?
 for any they cannot provide, are there any fields that might be good substitutes
(e.g., doctoral degree institution name instead of country of doctoral institution)?

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.5 – LC Profiling Call Guidelines
(Page 2 of 2)
•

STRESS TO THE LC THAT WE ARE ONLY INTERSTED IN INFORMATION THEY CAN
GET BY ACCESSING INSTITUTIONAL DATABASES. WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO
MANUALLY LOOK THROUGH EMPLOYEE RECORDS OR INDIVIDUALLY CONTACT
POTENTIAL ECDS.

•

CAN THE LC PROVIDE ALL INFORMATION NEEDED?
o

o
o

does LC have direct access to all applicable databases?
examples: HR, payroll, affiliated organizations (hospitals, clinics, labs, etc.) with
separate databases
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.
o 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
o shoot for within 3-4 weeks from current date, but note that we will check in occasionally
to provide assistance along the way as questions come up

•

OFFER TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS

•

PROVIDE THE PROJECT HOTLINE AGAIN (1-800-848-4075) AND HOURS OF
OPERATIONS
o so they can call us back with any questions that come up while they are compiling

•

THANK LC FOR TIME

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.6a – 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 me 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. When you are ready to provide your institution’s list, you may do so by logging
on to the study website using the following credentials.
Link:
User name:
Password:

[LC Web interface hyperlink]
[username]
[password]

Feel free to let us know if any questions arise as you are preparing this file by contacting us at
1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.
Again, we greatly appreciate your work on this survey.
<<Attachment: NSF_ECDSurvey_datafields.xlsx>>
Regards,
<<RTI staff>>
RTI International
1-800-848-4075

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.6b – 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 me earlier today about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey. From our
conversation, it sounds as though your institution may not systematically track current degree information
for all individuals working at the institution. 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
associated departments, if readily available). This step is only necessary for individuals whose most
recent degree information is not available (e.g., only staff job titles if you have current degree information
for groups such as faculty, postdocs, and medical residents). Let me know if you have any questions in
the next few days as you are generating this file.
Once you provide that file of job titles, we will review it and identify titles of likely early career
doctorates to be added to the second, more detailed individual level data file. I believe we discussed
<<target deadline>> as a target date for the more detailed list of early career doctorates. For instructions
about assembling and submitting the more detailed list that includes all position types, you may log on to
the survey website using the following credentials.
Link:
User name:
Password:

[LC Web interface hyperlink]
[username]
[password]

Feel free to let us know if any questions arise by contacting us at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.
Again, we greatly appreciate your work on this survey.
<<Attachment: NSF_ECDSurvey_jobtitles.xlsx>>
<<Attachment: NSF_ECDSurvey_datafields.xlsx>>
Regards,
<<RTI staff>>
RTI International
1-800-848-4075

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that responding to this data request will take 8 hours, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.7.1 – 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,
<Signature>
John R. Gawalt
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
Enclosure

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.7.2 – LC Certificate of Appreciation

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.8 – 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. 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
O how is gathering the data going?
 how far along are they?
O 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).
O

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
O any access/permission issues we should be aware of?

•

END OF CALL MATTERS
o reassure them they can call if any questions do come up
o provide hotline and e-mail if they need it
o provide RTI hours of operations (8am-5pm EST)
o express sincere appreciation for their efforts

VOICEMAIL
Hi, this is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling to follow-up on our
discussion two weeks ago about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I was hoping to touch base with you
about the request for information on early career doctorates working at <<institution name>>. Please give
me a call at 1-800-848-4075. Thank you.

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.9 – Phone check-ins with the CC
[GUIDELINES NOT TO BE READ VERBATIM]
Prior to each call become familiar with the status of the institution.
Good morning/afternoon <<salutation>> <<CC contact name>>,
This is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. About a month ago we talked about the
Early Career Doctorates Survey.
•

COMMUNICATION REQUESTS (INITIAL CHECK-IN ONLY)
o would like CC’s help with two communications to ECD because these have been shown
to improve response to survey requests.
 #1: an initial notification before invitation e-mail is sent (HA treatment group: email from CC/HA; NSF treatment group: letter of support from CC/HA included
in hard-copy mail pre-notification packet or mailed separately from e-mail prenotification)
• Helpful for ECD to hear about the invitation ahead of time from someone
within their institution
 #2: a letter of support signed by HA or their designee to send to prospective
survey respondents just before end of survey
o can we send these templates for their review/modification?
 [IF YES]
• Send templates in subsequent email
 [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
o 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

•

FOLLOW-UP ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS (SECOND CHECK-IN AND AFTER)
o Ask about letter(s) of support if they have not been received

•

STATUS REPORT
O update them about whether we have received ECD list
O will let them know when we have selected the sample
O remind them that we would like their office, not LC, to send out the pre-notification

END OF CALL MATTERS
o reassure them they can call if any questions do come up
o provide hotline and IC e-mail if they need it
36

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
o
o

provide RTI hours of operations (8am-5pm EST)
express sincere appreciation for their efforts

VOICEMAIL
Hi, this is <<institutional contactor name>> from RTI International. I’m calling to follow-up on our
discussion from a month ago about the Early Career Doctorates Survey. I was hoping to touch base with
you to discuss the assistance you are providing to the survey. Please give me a call at 1-800-848-4075.
Thank you.

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.1a – 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 <<CC name>>:
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me recently about the NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey
(ECDS). 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 ECDS, 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 individuals 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 – Reminder 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 (ECDS c/o Peter Einaudi, RTI International, 3040 E.
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

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that coordinating this data request will average 90 minutes hour, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.2a1 – 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 (ECDS). The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National
Institutes of Health. On behalf of<<Institution Name>>, I am writing to urge you to complete this survey
by <<the last working day of the month which gives respondents ~2 months to respond or the last day of
data collection should the pre-notification go out within 2 months of that date>>.
In this survey, you will be asked to provide information on your current and past work experiences,
training, and career plans. This survey will provide NSF and other agencies with key information–not
available from any other data source–regarding the work experiences and research opportunities open to
recent doctorate recipients. All individuals who earned a doctoral level degree in any discipline (Ph.D.,
M.D., Ed.D., DPT, etc.) in the past 10 years are eligible for this survey. Responding to this survey is a
service to your peers and to the academic community.
Please know that your responses are confidential; neither I nor any other employee of this <<university
(for GSS institution) | organization (for FFRDCs and NIH IRP)>> will know how you answered the
questions. NSF has retained RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, to collect and protect your
data.
Your participation is completely voluntary, but extremely important. If you have any questions about
participation, please contact the survey staff at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org and reference Survey
ID <<number>>.

Thank you in advance for your participation.
Sincerely,
<<Institution High Authority Name>>
<<Title>>
<<Institution>>

All Federal information collection efforts must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and must display a valid OMB
control number. The OMB control number for this survey is 3145-0235, which expires on [DATE]. The average time to complete this survey
is about 30 minutes. Response burden comments should be directed to the National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd. Suite 295,
Arlington, VA 22230, Attn: NSF Reports Clearance Officer.

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.2a2 –Pre-Notification E-mail Template – HA Opt-out Protocol
TO: <<ECD e-mail address>>
FROM: <<Institutional High Authority >>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey
Dear Dr. <<ECD respondent>>,
This year <<our institution>> is participating in the Early Career Doctorates Survey, a survey sponsored
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health that focuses on
individuals who earned a doctoral level degree in any discipline (Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., DPT, etc.) in the
past 10 years. You were selected to be one of a limited number of survey participants from <<our
institution>>.
In this survey, you will be asked to provide information on your current and past work experiences,
training, and career plans. Please know that your responses will be confidential; neither I nor any other
employee of this <<university (for GSS institution) | organization (for FFRDCs and NIH IRP)>> will
know how you answered the questions. NSF has retained RTI International, a nonprofit research institute,
to collect and protect your data.
Your participation is completely voluntary, but extremely important. If you wish to participate, there is no
need to respond to this e-mail. You will be contacted directly by RTI International, NSF’s survey
contractor, after <<insert date>> with a secure link to the survey. If you do not want to participate, please
reply to this e-mail by <<insert date>> and I will remove you from the survey.
I hope you will consider participating in this survey. The Early Career Doctorates Survey is unique in
scope and will provide NSF and other agencies with key information–not available from any other data
source–regarding the work experiences and research opportunities open to recent doctorate recipients.
Responding to this survey is a service to your peers and to the academic community. For more
information about the survey, you may visit www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org or contact the survey
staff at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Sincerely,
<<Name>>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.2a3 – Pre-Notification E-mail Template – HA Opt-in Protocol

TO: <<ECD e-mail address>>
FROM: <<Institutional High Authority >>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey
Dear Dr. <<ECD respondent>>,
This year <<our institution>> is participating in the Early Career Doctorates Survey, a survey sponsored
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health that focuses on
individuals who earned a doctoral level degree in any discipline (Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., DPT, etc.) within
the past 10 years. You were selected to be one of a limited number of survey participants from <<our
institution>>. As you may know, it is against our policy to share our employees’ personal information
without their permission. Therefore, I am asking you to opt-in to this important survey by forwarding this
e-mail to ECDS@rti.org, calling the survey staff at 1-800-848-4075, or letting me know that I can provide
your name and address to NSF. If you opt-in, you will receive an e-mail from RTI International, NSF’s
survey contractor, with a secure link to the survey.
Your participation is completely voluntary and extremely important. Only a small number of doctorate
recipients have been sampled, so your participation is critical to ensure the validity of the survey. Your
responses are also completely confidential; no one at <<our institution>> will ever know how you
answered the questions. If you have any questions about participation or would like to participate, please
contact the survey staff at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.
I urge you to opt-in and complete this survey at your earliest convenience. The Early Career Doctorates
Survey is unique in scope and will provide NSF and other agencies with key information–not available
from any other data source–regarding the work experiences and research opportunities open to recent
doctorate recipients. For more information about the survey, you may visit
www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Sincerely,
<<Name>>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.2a4 – Nonresponse Prompt E-mail Template – HA Opt-in Protocol

TO: <<ECD e-mail address>>
FROM: <<Institutional High Authority >>
SUBJECT: NSF Early Career Doctorates Survey
Dear Dr. <<ECD respondent>>,
A few weeks ago, I notified you that you were selected to participate in the Early Career Doctorates
Survey. If you have already completed the survey, thank you and please ignore the rest of this message.
If you have not yet completed the survey, I am asking you to please consider doing so today.
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health, this survey is
unique in scope and will provide NSF and other agencies with key information–not available from any
other data source–regarding the work experiences and research opportunities open to recent doctorate
recipients (see www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org for more information).
To participate, you will need to opt-in by forwarding this e-mail to ECDS@rti.org, calling the survey staff
at 1-800-848-4075, or letting me know that I can provide your work contact information to NSF. It is
against our policy to share our employees’ personal information without their permission.
After you opt-in, you will receive an e-mail from RTI International, NSF’s survey contractor, with a
secure link to the survey. Your participation is voluntary and your responses are confidential; no one at
<<our institution>> will ever know if you participated or how you responded to the survey. If you have
any questions about participation, please contact the survey staff at 1-800-848-4075 or ECDS@rti.org.
Sincerely,
<<Name>>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.3a – HA Reminder Letter 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) and the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). 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 doctoral degree recipients in the first decade after earning their doctoral degree. 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 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 them provide critical data to
policymakers. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
<<Signature>>
<< Institutional High Authority name>>
<< Institutional High Authority title>>

Attachment B.10.1b – E-mail Accompanying HA Letter of Support Templates – NSF Group
43

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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
(ECDS). The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. 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 (ECDS 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

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that preparing these letters of support request will average 30 minutes, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.2b –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 (ECDS), which focuses on individuals who earned their first doctoral degree (Ph.D.,
M.D., Ed.D., or equivalent) in January 2007 or later. The ECDS is co-sponsored by the National Institutes
of Health. As you know, the first years following the receipt of a doctoral 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 ECDS 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 ECDS. 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,
<Institutional High Authority Name>
<Institutional High Authority Title>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.10.3b –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) and the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). 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 doctoral degree recipients in the first decade after earning their doctoral degree. This survey will
provide the NSF and other federal agencies with key information–not available from any other data
source–regarding the career paths and research opportunities open to recent 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 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 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).
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 them provide critical data to
policymakers. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
<<Signature>>
<< Institutional High Authority name>>
<< Institutional High Authority title>>

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.11 – Request to HA/CC 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>> <<CC Last Name>>:
In <<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 previously, we would like you to e-mail each of the prospective respondents at
<<institution name>> on behalf of <<HA 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: [HA/CC username]
Password: [HA/CC password]
Upon logging in to this website, you will see a list of the <<number of selected employees>>
selected employees from your institution. For each selected employee, a single click will
automatically generate a personalized message from you and 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,
<Signature>
John R. Gawalt
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

Attachment B: Institutional Contact Materials

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that coordinating this data request will average 90 minutes hour, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.12 – E-mail Reminder of request to HA/CC 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>> <<CC Last 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 <<HA
name>>’s 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:
Username:
Password:

http://earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org/administrator
<<HA/CC username>>
<<HA/CC 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,
<Signature>
John R. Gawalt
Director
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

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 3145-0235 (Exp. #/##/####). NSF estimates
that coordinating this data request will average 90 minutes, on average, though burden 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: Institutional Contact Materials
Attachment B.13 – Phone Reminder of request to HA/CC 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>> <<CC 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 ECD>> 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?
O [IF YES]
 any questions about using e-mail tool?
 remind that they can modify the text as needed
O [IF NO]
 offer to resend login credentials
O [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
o reassure them they can call if any questions do come up
o provide hotline and IC e-mail if they need it
o provide RTI hours of operations (8am-5pm EST)
o express sincere appreciation 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 prenotification 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.

EARLY CAREER
DOCTORATES SURVEY
The success of recent doctorate
recipients is critical to the success of
the U.S. scientific enterprise and will
influence U.S. and global scientific
markets for years to come.
For additional information contact:
Kelly S. Phou, Project Officer

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230
E-mail: kphou@nsf.gov

Visit us at:
www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org

What topics does the survey cover?
Educational
history

Degrees earned—dates
awarded, fields of study,
and institutions

Professional
activities and
achievements

Conference attendance
Publications and
presentations
Professional service
Grants experiences

The Early Career Doctorates Survey is a survey of
individuals who earned their first doctoral degree
(PhD, MD, or equivalent) within the last 10 years and
are currently working in one of the following areas of
employment:
• U.S. academic institutions
• Federally funded research and development centers
(FFRDCs)
• Intramural research program of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH)
The work and professional development of recent
doctorate recipients will influence innovation in U.S. and
global markets for years to come. Despite the critical
importance of this population to the success of the U.S.
science and engineering enterprise, comprehensive
surveys of this group are limited, and the data needed to
understand their work patterns and contributions to the
U.S. economy are sparse.
To address this need, the National Center for Science and
Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science
Foundation developed the Early Career Doctorates
Survey to gather in-depth information about postdoctoral
appointees (postdocs) and other recent doctorate recipients
during the first 10 years of their working careers.

In addition to each early career doctorate’s name and contact
information, the coordinator will be asked to provide data such
as each early career doctorate’s highest degree held, year of
degree, job title, department, field of research, gender, year of
birth, and citizenship. These fields will improve our ability to
achieve a representative sample of early career doctorates.

Employer
characteristics

Type of employer

Professional
and personal
life balance

Typical workload

To minimize the burden of gathering these data, NCSES
is requesting only data available within your institution’s
administrative databases. NCSES estimates that it will
take your designee 6–8 hours to develop and submit the
contact database.

Flexibility in scheduling
work

How will our employees’ privacy be protected?

Patents

About the Survey

What kind of information is needed for the
contact database?

Mentoring,
training, and
research
opportunities
Career paths
and plans

Type of work

Work relationships
Work expectations
Training
Research opportunities
Plans over the next
10 years

How did you select my institution?
Your institution is one of 350 selected through a stratified
random sample to participate in this survey.

What does my participation involve?
NCSES is asking that you designate a coordinator who
will work with RTI International (the survey contractor) to
develop a contact database of all early career doctorates
working at your institution. This database will serve
as the frame from which prospective respondents will
be selected to participate in the survey. You (or your
designee) will also be asked to use a semi-automated
system to send a survey notification e-mail to each
participant and to return a letter of support for the survey.
This letter will be sent to nonrespondents late in the data
collection period to urge them to complete the survey.

Protecting respondent privacy is a priority for NCSES and
RTI International. The following steps ensure that your
employees’ privacy and confidentiality are protected:
• The survey data will be used for statistical purposes only
and will be safeguarded in accordance with the National
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, and the
Confidentiality Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002.
• Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015,
your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through
screening of the federal information systems that
transmit your data.
• All data will be collected using secure data transfer
protocols and maintained within encrypted databases.
• Each respondent will be given unique credentials
(username and password), and the survey will be
conducted over a secure internet connection (https).
• All survey staff will complete a confidentiality training
and sign an affidavit of nondisclosure before being able
to work on the survey.
• Prior to publication, data will be aggregated in ways that
prevent the identification of individual respondents.

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230
E-mail: kphou@nsf.gov

Visit us at:
www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org

What topics does the survey cover?
Educational
history

Degrees earned—dates
awarded, fields of study,
and institutions

Professional
activities and
achievements

Conference attendance
Publications and
presentations
Professional service
Grants experiences
Patents

Employer
characteristics

About the Survey
The Early Career Doctorates Survey is a survey of
individuals who earned their first doctoral degree
(PhD, MD, or equivalent) within the last 10 years and
are currently working in one of the following areas of
employment:
• U.S. academic institutions
• Federally funded research and development centers
(FFRDCs)
• Intramural research program of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH)
The work and professional development of recent
doctorate recipients will influence innovation in U.S. and
global markets for years to come. Despite the critical
importance of this population to the success of the U.S.
science and engineering enterprise, comprehensive
surveys of this group are limited, and the data needed to
understand their work patterns and contributions to the
U.S. economy are sparse.
To address this need, the National Center for Science and
Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science
Foundation developed the Early Career Doctorates
Survey to gather in-depth information about postdoctoral
appointees (postdocs) and other recent doctorate recipients
during the first 10 years of their working careers.

Type of employer
Type of work

Professional
and personal
life balance

Typical workload

Mentoring,
training, and
research
opportunities

Work relationships

Flexibility in scheduling
work

In addition to each early career doctorate’s name, work
address, e-mail, and phone number, you will be asked to
provide data indicating his or her highest degree held, year
of degree, job title, department, field of research, gender,
year of birth, and citizenship. These fields will improve our
ability to achieve a representative sample of early career
doctorates. In developing the contact database, please:
• Review the enclosed “Data fields and specifications”
document and determine which of the requested data
fields are maintained by your institution.
• Determine who at your institution has access to the
necessary databases and work with these people to
query the databases.
• Work with RTI to ensure your queries are identifying all
early career doctorates at your institution.

To minimize the burden of gathering these data, NCSES
is requesting only data available within your institution’s
administrative databases.

Work expectations

How are the data secured and privacy protected?

Training

Protecting respondent privacy is a priority for NCSES and
RTI International. The following steps ensure that your
employees’ privacy and confidentiality are protected:

Research opportunities
Career paths
and plans

What kind of information do I need to compile?

Plans over the next
10 years

How was I selected?
Approximately 350 institutions were selected to participate
in this survey. You were nominated to coordinate the
compilation of a list of early career doctorates at your
institution.

What does my participation involve?
As the coordinator, your role in this survey is to compile
basic information on all individuals at your institution who
earned a doctorate degree (PhD, MD, or equivalent) in the
past 10 years. RTI International (the survey contractor) will
use this information to sample and contact prospective
respondents at your institution.

• The survey data will be used for statistical purposes only and
will be safeguarded in accordance with the National Science
Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, and the Confidentiality
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002.
• Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015,
your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through
screening of the federal information systems that
transmit your data.
• All data will be collected using secure data transfer
protocols and maintained within encrypted databases.
• Each respondent will be given unique credentials
(username and password), and the survey will be
conducted over a secure internet connection (https).
• All survey staff will complete a confidentiality training
and sign an affidavit of nondisclosure before being able
to work on the survey.
• Prior to publication, data will be aggregated in ways that
prevent the identification of individual respondents.

</pre><Table class="table"><tr><Td>File Type</td><td>application/pdf</td></tr><tr><Td>Author</td><td>Brian Head</td></tr><tr><Td>File Modified</td><td>2017-07-17</td></tr><tr><Td>File Created</td><td>2017-07-17</td></tr></table></div></div></div><hr>
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