Skip to main content

A Guide to the Methodology of the National Research Council Assessment of Doctorate Programs (2009) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

1 Introduction
Pages 1-4

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... PURPOSE OF THE METHODOLOGY GUIDE This methodology guide is intended mainly for one specific audience: those people in universities who will be asked to explain the results of the NRC Assessment to their presidents and provosts. This intended audience consists primarily of faculty, many of whom are serving as graduate deans and graduate program directors, as well as institutional researchers.
Read the entire page →
From page 2...
... These measures take into account only the variables relevant to each area. • Calculating the overall rating of a program -- This section covers the sources of variability in ratings, direct measurement of quality as perceived by faculty, regression-based measures of the importance of measured variables to program quality, combined direct and regression-based measures, and how ratings are calculated and converted to a range of rankings.
Read the entire page →
From page 3...
... a summary measure that provides a range of rankings of the estimated overall quality of programs, which includes all these separate dimensions, included with differing weights, and which is based on recent quantitative measurements. Each of these four measures necessarily collapses interesting and informative measures of doctoral programs.
Read the entire page →
From page 4...
... program. We then made a blend of these two estimators -- the "regression-based" views of faculty as expressed through their ratings of sample programs, and their "direct" views as obtained through explicit identification of important program characteristics -- to give us the quantitative tool that most robustly measured overall program quality.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • program quality
  • perceived quality
  • dimensional measures
  • considering doctoral
  • doctoral study

  • program faculty
  • doctoral education
  • student support
  • research activity
  • scholarly community

  • summary measure
  • statistical techniques
  • methodology guide
  • overall program
  • covers doctoral

  • measured overall
  • estimated perceived
  • overall rating
  • estimated overall
  • overall range

  • nrc assessment
  • graduate program
  • program characteristics
  • program directors
  • overall quality

  • contain data
  • offers accessible
  • explicit identification
  • requires highlighting
  • excitement generated


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.