Stage 1: Frame Creation - List Coordinator

EARLY CAREER
DOCTORATES SURVEY
For additional information contact:
Peter B. Einaudi, Project Manager

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.

RTI International
3040 Cornwallis Road
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 1-800-848-4075

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: [email protected]

Visit us at:
www.earlycareerdoctoratessurvey.org

Early Career
DoctorateS SURVEY

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

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
Project to gather in-depth information about postdoctoral
appointees (postdocs) and other recent doctorate recipients
during the first 10 years of their working careers.

Employer
characteristics

Type of employer

Professional
and personal
life balance

Typical workload

Mentoring,
training, and
research
opportunities

Work relationships

Type of work

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
Training
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 201 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 40 prospective
respondents at your institution.

How are the data secured and privacy protected?
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.
• 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.