Measuring the 21st Century Science and Engineering Workforce Population Evolving Needs (2018) / Chapter Skim
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3 Evolving Data Needs
3 Evolving Data Needs
Pages 39-66
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From page 39... ...
has always been focused on understanding these needs and keeping its surveys current. The recently launched Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECDS)
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Participants emphasized that NCSES enjoys international recognition for its work in the area of science and engineering statistics, and that the data it produces are of very high quality and meet important policy and research needs. The congressionally mandated Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI)
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From page 41... ...
The remainder of this chapter examines possible strategies for addressing the identified data needs in ways that are likely to bring the most benefit with minimal disruption to trend data and the least increase in respondent burden. Expanding the data available through NCSES will undoubtedly necessitate reliance on creative data collection methods, such as administering topic modules, or asking some questions at longer intervals (depending on the goals for the question)
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From page 42... ...
The recently launched ECDS is a welcomed attempt on the part of NCSES to address some of the key questions related to this population, but the sampling frame for that survey has more severe limitations relative to the other NCSES science and engineering workforce surveys (see Chapter 4)
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FIGURE 3-1 Current workforce sizes and annual fluxes before and after receiving a doctorate in the biomedical sciences. SOURCE: Used with permission from Polka (2014)
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INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY AND COMPARISONS The increase in international mobility greatly complicates the career trajectories of many scientists and engineers. From a research and policy perspective, it is important to understand the mobility of scientists and engineers who are foreign-born (whether they are educated in the United States or not)
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From page 45... ...
science and engineering workforce to other countries, including the nature, determinants, and employment outcomes of such movements. Specific questionnaire modules targeted to these groups could explore such issues. WORK ACTIVITIES, TRAINING, AND SKILLS The NCSES surveys use a yes/no format to ask about the work activities in which respondents are engaged at least 10 percent of the time during a typical work week, and these questions provide a very basic understanding of the type of work people do.
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1 2 14 Other – Specify ............................... 1 2 FIGURE 3-2 Principal job work activities question in the National Survey of College Graduates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
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Administered to: All ECDs eligible for the iteration 1 = Yes 0 = No FIGURE 3-3 Principal job work activities question in the Early Career Doctorates Survey (Web survey script)
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The survey is designed to complement data collected by the SDR and SED, as well as data compiled by the Association of American Universities Data Exchange and individual institutions. An overall question is whether the degree itself was useful and whether, looking back, the person would make the same decision to pursue a degree in the same field and at the same level (Aanerud et al., 2006)
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1 2 FIGURE 3-4 Training questions in the National Survey of College Graduates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients. SOURCE: National Survey of College Graduates Questionnaire.
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EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES, RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Workshop participants called attention to the keen interest in measuring outcomes associated with various programs targeted at science and engineering students and the workforce. As a result, many disparate efforts are focused along these lines (Leggon and Pearson, 2008)
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RECOMMENDATION 3-4: The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics should continue to enhance its measurement of employment outcomes, research productivity, and entrepreneurship/ innovation. Greater use of targeted survey modules and/or adminis trative and other nonsurvey data would enhance the feasibility and effectiveness of such measures.
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FIGURE 3-5 Questions about professional activities in the Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study (Web survey script)
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B3a: U.S. Patents Granted: B3b: Foreign Patents Granted: Administered to: ECDs who have been named as an inventor on a U.S.
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This is an area NCSES has not yet explored, and although these topics are sensitive and difficult to measure, doing so is important to guide employer decisions and inform policy in this area. RECOMMENDATION 3-5: The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics should assess the performance of the new ques tions on working conditions and work–life balance in the Early Career Doctorates Survey and should consider adding these questions to the National Survey of College Graduates and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients as well.
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FIGURE 3-6 Questions about principal job work activities in the Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study (Web survey script)
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1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly Agree Administered to: ECDs who have worked since earning their highest degree FIGURE 3-6 Continued POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR EXPANDING DATA ON THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE This section describes several possible strategies for expanding data on the science and engineering workforce and potentially addressing some of the key needs of data users. Because substantially increasing the length of the surveys would clearly not be possible without increasing respondent burden and jeopardizing response rates, several overall strategies could be considered that would likely have benefits in one or more of the areas discussed above.
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NCSES recently launched several activities that support longitudinal analyses. These activities include commissioning analytic work to construct properly weighted longitudinal data files for the past few rounds of the SRD and NSCG, and consulting with survey design experts and data users on design options for building up a substantial longitudinal component in the SDR going forward (see Chapter 4)
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From page 58... ...
It is important to acknowledge that the desire of researchers and other data users for detailed information in many areas surpasses NCSES's bility a to address these needs, even with greater reliance on topic modules. As discussed earlier, modules often increase respondent burden, particularly if many of the existing questions would be considered core questions that needed to be asked of everyone.
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The increased flexibility afforded by electronic data collection modes means there are fewer justifications for one-size-fits-all questionnaires, and in the future, information about a job change could drive subsequent questions, potentially reducing respondent burden and enabling NCSES to ask more detailed follow-up questions about the reason for the change. Currently, respondents who indicate that they changed either their employer or their type of job are asked to provide the reason.
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As discussed earlier, some of these nonsurvey data sources are promising mechanisms for supplementing, or possibly even replacing, survey questions to reduce respondent burden. NCSES already has some experience with the use of administrative data to enhance survey data collected by the SED.
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The potential use of data from the LEHD program, and unemployment insurance earnings data in general, is particularly promising because these data could serve multiple purposes. The Census Bureau's LEHD program combines state data with administrative data from federal agencies and from censuses and surveys to create a longitudinal database of linked employer–household data.
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While due caution is necessary regarding the use of nonsurvey data, and despite the implementation challenges, options available for expanding the NCSES survey data with data from alternative sources are growing rapidly. Some of the identified gaps in the survey data are of the type that could be addressed through supplementation with data from other sources, and use of these types of data also could reduce respondent burden and attrition.
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From page 63... ...
should continue its collaboration with the Census Bureau toward expanding the use of external data sources to supplement its science and engineering surveys. A particular focus should be the use of unemployment insurance earnings data to supple ment the survey data with additional, more complete, or more frequent data points regarding career trajectories.
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Collaboration with the goal of researching the use of alternative data sources that may be internationally applicable, such as data extracted from online databases, could be especially useful. MONITORING OF FUTURE DATA NEEDS NCSES's science and engineering workforce surveys have remained current over the decades because of the agency's due diligence in keeping up to date on emerging workforce issues.
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Collaborations with academic centers, fellowships, dissertation awards, and grants would be other good means of keeping current on emerging topics of interest concerning the science and engineering workforce (for additional discussion, see Chapter 6)
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