|
Items in cart [0] |
Questions? Call 888-624-8373 |
| Copyright © 2009. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 37
III. PRINCIPLES AND PROBLEMS
PRINCIPLES
In responding to the requirements of the continuing study called
for in the National Research Service Award Act, the Committee has been
guided by certain general principles. Although several of these were
stated in the report of the feasibility study, they deserve emphasis and
are repeated here.
A. Numbers
Numbers and forecasts must be kept in perspective and not stretched
beyond the narrow ranges of validity. In contrast to the problem of
forecasting aggregate manpower in large fields, estimating needs by fine
fields is exceedingly difficult. Boundaries between disciplines have
become less distinct with the increase in emphasis on study of biological
phenomena at the molecular level. Titles of narrow disciplinary fields
have therefore lost some meaning for the purposes of forecasting. The
problem is compounded by the difficulty of predicting major scientific
developments and their impact on manpower requirements. Moreover, many
aspects of the dynamics of the manpower pool are not clearly understood,
and hence, any supply/demand model that can be developed will have limi-
tations for determining the need for disciplinary specialists. These
limitations, the Committee believes, are offset largely by the breadth
of training and the adaptability of biomedical/behavioral scientists and
their capacity for mobility within and across fields. This is especially
true for transfers from more fundamental to applied fields. Further,
postdoctoral training often makes possible a transfer to a related field
where shortages may exist. As noted in The Life sciences~l7 a report
published by the National Academy of Sciences, a large percentage of those
-
The Life Sciences, Report of the Committee on Research in the Life
Sciences of the Committee on Science and Public Policy r National Academy
of Sciences, Washington, D. C., 1970.
37
OCR for page 38
pursuing postdoctoral training seek this experience in a discipline other
than that in which they received their graduate education. Moreover,
most do so in laboratories other than those of their original research
mentors, engaging in fields of research distinctly different from those
in which they had been trained in the first instance. These facts Mnder-
score the importance of postdoctoral study as a mechanism for responding
to new opportunities and reinforce the caveat stated at the beginning of
this section.
B. High Quality and Stability
In addition to a concern for adequate numbers of personnel, NIH/
ADAMHA/HRA must play a pivotal role in helping to maintain high-quality
training programs. This dual role, the importance of which is under-
scored in the declaration of purpose for Title I of the law, requires
continuity of support for its proper fulfillment. Since it takes many
years to complete the training of an individual -seven or more years
of post-baccalaureate training for Ph.D.'s working in the basic bio-
medical and behavioral sciences - the process cannot be turned on and
off abruptly without damage to quality and training capability. Per-
sistence of the stop/start pattern of support that has occurred in re-
centyears could lead to erosion in the quality of the training struc-
ture.
C. Flexibility
It will continue to be important to foster flexibility in the
organization of training activities to ensure responsiveness to the
changing character of the research scene. By "stability," the Committee
does not mean "no change." Change must not only be permitted but en-
couraged to allow appropriate response to the dynamic character of bio-
medical/behavioral research and its changing manpower requirements.
Within funding levels tied to specific fields and numbers, how are re-
sources to be mobilized to allow ready responsiveness to emerging op-
portunities? This is a key question requiring the development of a
sensitive monitoring system, as well as the introduction of modifica-
tions and the design of experimental training programs.
Flexibility in this context has implications which the Committee
believes merit further consideration. Individuals must be prepared to
change fields as research opportunities present themselves. A further
key issue relates to the capability of institutions to adjust their
resources faculty, students, and facilities to a changing manpower
outlook, as in the case of fields approaching a point of saturation.
38
OCR for page 39
D. Concern for Excellence
The new law assigns to the continuing study the task of assessing
NIH/ADAMHA/HRA training programs- a further indication of the concern
for excellence. It will be necessary to evaluate the impact of training
programs on the total scientific environment of institutions. Basic
approaches to implementing this responsibility will be to identify areas
of program success for retrospective examination of effects, such as en-
couragement of programs that cut across traditional departmental lines;
stimulation of interaction of faculty, trainees, and persons from other
departments and institutions; and increase in the quality of advanced
courses. Other questions warrant investigation. Is quality more effec-
tively fostered by concentration on a limited number of programs than by
providing broad support for training? Is it possible without NTH/ADAMHA/
HRA support to build the types of curricula that permit quality training
in special fields? How effective have these programs been in attracting
superior personnel into areas lacking a tradition of research?
E. Shared Responsibility
Though it should be a truism, the point merits repetition that
NIH/ADAMHA/HRA are not - and should not be - responsible for the support
of all biomedical and behavioral research training. That responsibility
is shared with other elements of American society the States, industry,
the foundations, private donors, and the universities themselves which
will continue to make their individual contributions. NIH/ADAMHA are
indeed responsible, as affirmed by the new law, for providing sufficient
support to ensure that the overall training effort will produce the numbers
and quality of research scientists which may be required in the future.
This presupposes that NIH/ADAMHA/HRA will continue to bear a substantial
share of the costs of graduate education in the biomedical/behavioral
sciences with provision for adjustment in the face of evidence of ex-
cessive or insufficient training effort. ^ ~ '-
provide training support in these fields,
of students via research grants, but also,
fellowship and traineeship support.
Other agencies, however, also
particularly through support
to a minor extent, via direct
F. Recognition of Systems Aspects
The complex of training programs, training institutions, and em-
ploying organizations forms a system whose parts continuously interact.
Adequate adjustment of training support levels requires a view over time,
from undergraduate to postdoctoral levels, on into employment and across
~9
OCR for page 40
disciplines and employer categories. An overall systems view is essential.
It is not possible to change one portion without some effect on the other
parts. Such a systems approach needs to be developed so that the effect
of changing one parameter on the other parts of the system and on the system
as a whole can be anticipated. -
PROBLEMS
Certain problems arise in the application of these principles and
in the operation of the training/utilization system. Although the Com-
mittee has not--considered them in depth, it believes they must be noted
to provide perspective in thinking about research training.
A. The Costs of Imbalance of Supply and Demand
Supply and demand are seldom, if ever, in perfect balance. Im-
balance is the rule, and attention should be directed toward relative
costs rather than toward the establishment of a fictitious "balance."
Research personnel may be produced in overabundance, may be too few,
or may closely match in numbers the demand for their services. The
costs of oversupply, undersupply, and even of a too-close balance should
be appraised in considering recommendations for numbers of persons to be
supported in training. An oversupply can result in a serious degree of
frustration and personal hardship for the redundant individuals and
dislocation of individual lives when people graduate from training pro-
grams only to find that the expected jobs are not available. An under-
supply of properly qualified persons results in the inability of research
institutions to meet national needs. Shortages of h~ghly-skilled person-
nel result in a failure to exploit emerging leads regarding health-
related research and thus delay or diminish the impact of research find-
ings that may aid the nation's health. Too tight a coupling of supply
and demand results in a lack of mobility within the system.
B. Market Studies and Their Limitations
Several approaches are possible in considering the impact of the
market. There are short-term and long-term projections, and attempts
have been made to incorporate into projections supply and demand the
response of individuals and institutions to observed supp~y/demand im-
balances. Further development of such market-response models is regarded
by the Committee as important to improvement in projection techniques.
Some other approaches deserve comment.
See also Appendix D
40
OCR for page 41
One method of projecting supply makes use of "fixed coefficient"
models, in which a certain percentage of the graduates of any given
stage of the pipeline are expected to go on to the next stage, from high
school to college to graduate school to employment in research. These
coefficients are, in some models, varied according to observed time
trends, but for any particular model, they are fixed at a given point in
the projection process. Such models fail to take into consideration the
response of students and employers to changes in the market. While this
method is useful for some short-run applications,its forecasting accuracy
has not been such as to reco~`u`~end it for important long-term decisions.
Short-term estimates of the market may be made by assembling the
judgments of persons closely associated with a given field or by survey-
ing employers as to their intentions over a given time perspective. For
the preparation of this report, the first method was explored, but with-
out conclusive results.
Actuarial data on the employment situation have been assembled at
various times. The Survey of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers, con-
ducted by the National Research Council in 1973, showed that the unem-
ployment rate for bioscientists in 1973 was 1.O percent; for behavioral
scientists, 1.1 percent. In other fields the rates varied above and
below these amounts, for ~ total of all fields of 1.2 percent. The data
indicated that there was not, as of 1973, a serious excess of supply; the
unemployment rates are near a "frictional" minimum. A 1975 survey is now
under way. It is not expected that the 1975 rates will be substantially
different, although the general state of the economy suggests that they
may drift marginally higher this year. Unemployment rates for Ph.D.'s
are nor completely informative. Underemployment must also be considered.
Traditionally, the majority of Ph.D.'s and of physician-scientists
have been employed in academic institutions universities and medical
schools in the case of the biomedical scientists. Studies of the impor-
tant academic sector, made by Allan M. Cartter and others, indicated this
situation is changing. A diminishing proportion of new Ph.D.'s and M.D.'
can expect to find employment in the universities. The nonacademic
market must be expected, in the future, to absorb an increasing fraction
of the new researchers business and industry, government at all levels,
nonprofit organizations, etc. Data are not yet available to permit an
accurate assessment of the proportions of the market which each of these
sectors may absorb. It obviously will depend in part on government
decisions regarding environmental protection and improvement, drug test-
ing, product safety, and so on.
41
OCR for page 42
An important problem associated with this changing perspective con-
cerns the attitude of the students, and their professors, toward career
patterns. Flexibility of attitude - toward changing tasks, employers, or
fields, or all three is likely to be more important in the future. This
kind of market shifting is one which students should be prepared to face
and to cope with in the future. A related problem is providing accurate
and timely market information to guide career decisions.
.
C. Fellowships Versus Training Grants
Training support has gone directly from agencies to (nationally
selected) individuals in the form of fellowships (predoctoral and
postdoctoral) and to institutions in the form of training grants that
provide support both to (locally selected) individuals and to the train-
ing elements provided by the institution. The Act continues support to
individuals through the fellowship mechanism, but the principle of
division of funds between fellowships and traininq Grants requires re-
· . ~
examination. Fellowships recognize individual excellence but carry more
limited support of the training environment. Training grants recognize
and enhance the excellence of training environments. Fellowships require
a somewhat more elaborate administrative procedure for the review of many
individual applications at the national level a procedure that seems
appropriate at the postdoctoral level, but less so at the predoctoral
level if more than a small number of prestige awards are to be made.
Fellowships allow the individual to pick the training institution. Train-
ing grant-proposals must also be administratively processed, to be sure.
The grants provide stipends and institutional funds at both predoctoral
and postdoctoral levels. They require that institutions think through
their total training effort and design programs suited to local needs.
Both fellowships and training grants are useful, but their differences
should be noted and used perceptively to enhance the return on the train-
ing investment.
D. Training Grant Funds to Institutions and to Trainees
The proportion of the funds in any training grant that goes to the
students as stipends and to the institution for salaries, supplies,
equipment, etc. is not fixed. It varies according to the terms of each
training grant. It is important that both functions of the training
grant funds be recognized, as it is impossible to provide a high-quality
training program without funds for the specialized curriculum and re-
sources to accomplish this. These funds must come from some source.
Yet the major purpose of training grants is for student support. In-
creasing emphasis has been placed in recent years on increasing the
42
OCR for page 43
stipend proportion, particularly since the major department-building era
of the 1960's is past. Whether the shift toward greater allocation of
funds for stipends has gone far enough is another problem of concern to
the Committee.
E. Postdoctoral Pool
Postdoctoral fellowships and traineeships have long been an im-
portant component of the federal program of support of the biomedical
and behavioral research fields. Such appointments serve to provide
research experience for M.D.'s to complete the research Preparation of
_%, ~ . . ~ . . . . . . . .
_ _ _
new and. s, especially In One ~ntera~sc~pt~nary and transdisciplinary
fields characteristic of these areas of science, and also to provide
field-switching opportunities for more experienced scientists. The his-
torical trend over several decades 19 has been for a greater percentage
of biomedical and behavioral research scientists to undertake postdocto-
ral training.
~ ~ _
Since about 1970, a new aspect of postdoctoral involvement and
support has appeared. This is the so-called "holding pattern," in which
new Ph.D.'s who have been unable to find postgraduation jobs and older
Ph.D.'s who have held postdoctoral appointments but have been unable to
find permanent positions
_ ~ _ _ _ _
are continued in postdoctoral slots beyond the
normal term of such appointments. The extent of this phenomenon in the
biomedical and behavioral research fields seems to fall within reasonable
bounds at present, but the Committee is concerned about the future. Moni-
toring the size of the pool and finding out what happens to people who
have been a part of it will be tasks for the year ahead. The holding
pattern may turn out to serve a useful function, providing a flexible
resource to cushion inevitable fluctuations in supply and demand.
the Invisible University, National Research Council, Washington, D C.,
1969.
43
Representative terms from entire chapter:
behavioral research
