Memo for non-substantive change request

Memorandum

Date: May 19, 2023

To: Margo Schwab, Desk Officer

Office of Management and Budget

From: Emilda B. Rivers, Director

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

Via: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer

National Science Foundation

Subject: Request for approval of a non-substantive change in the 2024 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) requests approval for a non-substantive change in the 2024 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), OMB control number 3145-0019. This change is to correct the inadvertent inclusion of instructional text in the question wording within the previously submitted version of Attachment 10 of the SED Information Collection Request.

Background

In the 2024 SED, NCSES will continue its research on how to collect sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data from doctorate recipients that would yield the most accurate and usable data while attempting to address privacy and confidentiality concerns. The experimental design proposed within Attachment 10 uses compound random assignment to assess the efficacy of different questions for measuring gender identity and sexual orientation.

Proposed Change

The instructional text for one of the experimental questions (SO3) will be revised to remove the “Select all that apply” instruction that was inadvertently included in the previously submitted version of Attachment 10. The removal of this instructional text will better align the question wording with the OMB recommendations on the best practices for the collection of SOGI data on federal statistical surveys. A corrected version of Attachment 10 is submitted concurrent with this request.

Contact Person

Kelly Kang

Project Officer, Survey of Earned Doctorates

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

National Science Foundation

kkang@nsf.gov, 703-292-7796