The Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS), conducted each fall by NSF in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health, compiles a factual base for assessing shifts in graduate enrollment and patterns of financial support for students. It provides the only nationally representative database on sources of support of graduate science and engineering (S&E) students and their enrollment characteristics, and on S&E postdoctoral appointees in academic institutions.
From 1965 through 1971 NSF collected data on the support of graduate science students and postdoctoral appointees through institutional applications for NSF traineeships. The graduate student survey was introduced in 1972 to continue the collection of similar data from a larger universe of graduate departments in all S&E doctorate-granting institutions.
The survey universe has been expanded in three ways since 1972: first, by including all medical schools with graduate programs; second, by broadening the scope of the survey to include additional doctorate-granting institutions and a wider range of academic departments; and third, by including all S&E departments in institutions that grant a master's degree as the highest degree in the sciences and engineering.
Although medical schools with graduate programs are included in the survey population, the student counts exclude M.D., D.V.M., D.D.S., and D.O. candidates unless they are concurrently working for a master's degree or Ph.D. in a science or engineering field or are enrolled in a joint M.D./Ph.D. program. Since many medical school departments/programs included in the survey grant only health-professional degrees, a number of departments are reported as nondegree-granting. These departments may, however, report postdoctoral appointees or other nonfaculty doctoral research staff. Interns and residents primarily involved in patient care are excluded.
The graduate student survey department populations since 1972 are shown in the following table. Counts may differ from those shown in previous user guides, however, because revisions to current and prior year data are processed during each survey cycle. In addition, the survey population has been revised periodically, and departments not considered science, engineering, or health fields were deleted from the survey population.
TOTAL NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTS | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Survey Year |
Graduate Institutions | Doctorate-Granting Institutions | Master's Granting Institutions | |||
1972 | 4,590 | 4,590 | NA | |||
1973 | 6,547 | 6,547 | NA | |||
1974 | 7,506 | 7,439 | 67 | * | ||
1975 | 9,003 | 7,602 | 1,401 | |||
1976 | 9,110 | 7,675 | 1,435 | |||
1977 | 9,392 | 7,889 | 1,503 | |||
1978 | 9,509 | 8,122 | 1,387 | |||
1979 | 9,686 | 8,208 | 1,478 | |||
1980 | 9,798 | 8,407 | 1,391 | |||
1981 | 9,728 | 8,262 | 1,466 | |||
1982 | 9,584 | 8,162 | 1,422 | |||
1983 | 9,467 | 8,038 | 1,429 | |||
1984 | 8,791 | 8,110 | 681 | ** | ||
1985 | 8,911 | 8,208 | 703 | ** | ||
1986 | 8,985 | 8,291 | 694 | ** | ||
1987 | 9,104 | 8,425 | 679 | ** | ||
1988 | 10,015 | 8,699 | 1,316 | |||
1989 | 10,187 | 8,829 | 1,358 | |||
1990 | 10,358 | 8,972 | 1,386 | |||
1991 | 10,598 | 9,142 | 1,456 | |||
1992 | 10,872 | 9,373 | 1,499 | |||
1993 | 11,103 | 9,575 | 1,528 | |||
1994 | 11,365 | 9,782 | 1,583 | |||
1995 | 11,566 | 9,956 | 1,610 | |||
1996 | 11,579 | 9,992 | 1,587 | |||
1997 | 11,589 | 10,005 | 1,584 | |||
1998 | 11,685 | 10,114 | 1,571 | |||
1999 | 11,829 | 10,216 | 1,613 | |||
2000 | 11,899 | 10,318 | 1,581 | |||
2001 | 11,967 | 10,420 | 1,547 |
KEY: NA=Not available. |
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* | The highest degree granted by an institution may change subsequent to collection. Data for this year were collected from institutions that were doctorate-granting at that time. |
** | Data were subsequently imputed for institutions not sampled, but not at individual departmental or institutional levels. The data files contain composite records for "Non-Sampled Public Master's-Granting Institutions" and "Non-Sampled Private Master's-Granting Institutions." |
In 1976 the survey was expanded to include S&E master's-granting institutions; the expansion was initiated as a parallel survey using an abbreviated form. For comparison purposes, selected 1975 data variables were collected for these institutions at the same time. The expanded population (doctorate- and master's-granting) was again surveyed in parallel for 1977.
In 1978 NSF conducted an abbreviated version of the survey, restricted to doctorate-granting institutions. The abbreviated form did not collect data for mechanisms of support for full-time graduate students; sex or citizenship for all graduate students; or any data on postdoctoral appointees. Data for departments for schools not sampled in 1978, which included departments at all master's-granting institutions, were imputed based on data received from those departments in the preceding and following survey years. The survey returned to a full population survey in 1979, with a revised full-scale survey form sent to both doctorate- and master's-granting institutions.
The scope of the survey remained the same until 1984, when NSF converted from a full population survey of 618 graduate institutions to a sample survey of 401 institutions. All S&E doctorate-granting institutions, all land-grant institutions, and all historically black colleges and universities with graduate S&E programs were surveyed; master's-granting institutions (other than historically black colleges and universities and land-grant institutions) were surveyed on a sample basis. The 1985-1987 samples were enlarged by the addition of 18 institutions. Data for departments for schools not sampled for 1984-1987 were imputed based on data received from departments in the preceding and following survey years. The survey returned to a full population survey in 1988.
Prospective data users should note that data items have varied over the years of the survey. Not all variables were collected for both doctorate-granting and master's-granting institutions during the 19751978 period. Hence data for those years for doctorate-granting and master's-granting institutions cannot be combined for some variables. In the 1976 survey, for example, data on women part-time students were obtained only from master's-granting institutions. Attributing the sum of this cell to all institutions, doctorate granting as well as master's granting, would be a major error.
The data variables collected over the years have consisted primarily of full- and part-time graduate students and postdoctoral appointees, with detailed information on full-time student sources and mechanisms of major support (for example, fellowships, traineeships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships), enrollment status, sex, level of study, and citizenship. The collection of full- and part-time student racial/ethnic background data was introduced as an optional item in the 1979 survey and became a standard survey item in 1980. Data on the sex of part-time students has been collected since 1977. In 1994, full- and part-time student racial/ethnic background data separated by sex were requested for the first time.
Survey data are collected at the departmental level by field of science and engineering. The discipline classification scheme used by NSF is as follows:
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From 1965 to 1971 NSF collected graduate student and postdoctoral appointee data through traineeship applications. These applications collected the following data: number of graduate degrees granted; types and sources of full-time graduate student support; number of students enrolled (full- or part-time) in nondegree programs; number of part-time graduate students enrolled; number of faculty members by function; and number of postdoctoral appointees.
Postdoctoral appointees and other nonfaculty research staff have been included in the Graduate Student Survey since its introduction in 1972. This item has been expanded over the years to include the following data: source and mechanism of support (1973); citizenship (1977); sex (1979); separate counts of postdoctoral appointees and nonfaculty doctoral research staff (1979); and medical professional-degree status (1982).
Faculty variables, including rank and tenure status, appointment, and departure data, were added to the survey as optional items in 1982 and were included as standard items in the 1983 and 1984 surveys. These items were dropped from the survey in 1985.
Here is a summary of the major changes that have occurred as the survey evolved to its present status:
The lists that follow indicate the valid line and column numbers for each segment of the survey population in each survey year. This information covers only those data cells that appear in the file. Availability is indicated by the appropriate symbol:
D = doctorate institutions M = master's institutions only A = all doctorate and master's institutions S = sampled master's institutions - = not available (in most cases, not collected)
These lists should be used in conjunction with the questionnaire facsimile.
The lists are meant to be guides only. There are numerous ways in which a particular institution might deviate from the normal pattern. There are master's-granting institutions that later became doctorate-granting, master's-granting institutions that at one time were considered doctorate-granting, and institutions that could not respond to certain data cells and for whom imputation was not possible. In all cases, the individual status codes on each data cell should be the primary indicator of cell validity.
Fall | ||||||||
Line | 72-74* | 75 | 76-77 | 78 | 79-83 | 84 | 85-87 | 88-01 |
1. Fellowships | D | D | D | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
2. Traineeships [1] | - | - | - | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
3. Research Assistantships | D | D | D | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
4. Teaching Assistantships | D | D | D | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
5. Other Types of Support | D | D | A[2] | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
6. Full-time Total | D | A | A | D | A | D,S | D,S | A |
7. Full-time Women | D | D | A | - | A | D,S | D,S | A |
Fall | ||||||||||
Column | 72-74* | 75 | 76-77 | 78 | 79-83 | 84 | 85-87 | 88-95 | 96-98 | 99-01 |
1. Department of Defense | D | D | D | - | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
2. National Institutes of Health | D | D | D | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
3. Other HHS | D | D | D | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
4. National Science Foundation | D | D | D | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
5. Department of Agriculture | - | - | - | - | - | - | D,S | A | A | A |
5. NASA | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -[3] | A | A |
5. DOE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -[3] | -[4] | A |
6. Other Federal Sources | D | D | A[5] | D[6] | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
7. Institutional Support | D | D | A | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
8. Foreign Sources | D | D | D | - | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
9. Other U.S. Sources | D | D | A[7] | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
10. Self-Support | D | D | A | D | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
11. Total, All Sources | D | A | A | D[8] | A | D,S | D,S | A | A | A |
* In 1974, 49 departments in master's-granting institutions were surveyed. [1] Before 1979, fellowships and traineeships were not separately identified. Their sum is stored as line 1 for these years. [2] Data on mechanisms of support were not requested on the short forms sent to master's-granting institutions in 1976 and 1977. For uniformity of format, total enrollment is shown on line 5, "other types of support," for master's-granting institutions. NSF recommends that users refrain from adding these numbers to those shown for doctorate-granting institutions because actual data are not available for master's-granting institutions. [3] Data collected for NASA and DOE are counted in the total. [4] Data collected for DOE are counted in the total. [5] For master's-granting institutions, column 8 represents the sum of all Federal sources. For doctorate-granting institutions, column 8 represents "other Federal sources." [6] This includes Department of Defense sources. [7] For doctorate-granting institutions, column 11 represents only "other U.S. sources." For master's-granting institutions, column 11 includes foreign sources as well. [8] This does not include foreign sources. |
Fall | |||||||
Line | 72-79 | 80-81 | 82-83 | 84-87 | 88-93 | 94-98 | 99-01 |
8. Part-Time Men Students | - | - | - | - | - | A | A |
9. Part-Time Women Students | - | - | - | - | - | A | A |
10. Part-Time Total Students | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
11. Full-Time Men Students | - | - | - | - | - | A | A |
12. Full-Time Women Students | - | - | - | - | - | A | A |
13. Full-Time Total Students | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
Column | |||||||
1. Asian/Pacific Islander | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | - |
2. Other (U.S. Citizens)[1], [2], [3] | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | - |
3. Black | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
4. American Indian/Alaskan | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
5. Asian | - | - | - | - | - | - | A |
6. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | - | - | - | - | - | - | A |
7. White | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
8. Hispanic | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
9. Hispanic, More than One Race | - | - | - | - | - | - | A |
10. Non-Hispanic, More than One Race | - | - | - | - | - | - | A |
11. Unknown (U.S. Citizens)[3] | - | - | - | - | - | A | A |
12. Foreign[1], [4] | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
13. Total | - | A | A | D,S | A | A | A |
Fall | |||||||||
Line | 73-77 | 78 | 79 | 80-83 | 84-87 | 88-89 | 99-01 | ||
14. First-Time, Full-Time Students | D | D | A | A | D,S | A | A | ||
15. First-Time, Full-Time Women | - | - | - | A | D,S | A | A | ||
Column | |||||||||
1. Black | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
2. American Indian /Alaskan Native | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
3. Asian | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
4. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
5. White | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
6. One Race Only Hispanic | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
7. More than One Race Hispanic | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
8. More than One Race Non-Hispanic | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
9. Unknown | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
10. Foreign | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
11. Total | - | - | - | - | - | - | A | ||
*Race/ethnicity was collected for U.S. citizens only prior to 1992. Beginning in 1992, race/ethnicity was collected for permanent residents as well. [1] Beginning in 1982 the "foreign, other, or unknown" data cell was divided into two cells: one comprising U.S. citizens of other or unknown racial/ethnic backgrounds and second another comprising non-U.S. citizens only. [2]Before fall 1982 this column included "foreign, other, or unknown." From 1982 to fall 1994, this column included "other and unknown" race/ethnicity. From 1994 to 1998, this column included only "other" race/ethnicity. [3]From 1994 to 1998 the "other or unknown" data cell was divided into two cells: one comprising U.S. citizens and permanent residents of other backgrounds and another comprising U.S. citizens and permanent residents of unknown backgrounds. [4]Beginning in fall 1992, permanent residents were counted with U.S. citizens, and race/ethnicity data were collected about them. In previous years permanent residents were counted with foreign students, and no race/ethnicity data were collected about them. |
Fall | |||||||
Line | 72-76 | 77 | 78 | 79-81 | 82-83 | 84-87 | 88-01 |
15. Total | D | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
16. Women | - | - | - | A | A | D,S | A |
17. With Medical Degrees (M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M.) |
- | - | - | - | A** | D,S | A |
Column |
|||||||
1. Federal Fellowships | - | - | - | A | A | D,S | A |
2. Federal Traineeships[1] | D | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
3. Federal Research Grants[2] | D | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
4. Non-Federal Support | D | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
5. Total, All Sources of Support | D | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
6. Foreign (subset of column 5) | -* | D | - | A | A | D,S | A |
7. Other Nonfaculty Doctoral Researchers | - | - | - | A | A | D,S | A |
* Foreign postdoctorate data are not available for these years. ** Data for 1982 were collected on an optional basis only. [1] Fellowships and traineeships have been separately identified for postdoctoral appointees since 1979, whereas previously they were combined. [2] These were called "Research Associates" before 1979. |
Unlike the other NSF academic surveys, the Graduate Student Survey is conducted on a departmental rather than an institutional basis. Each department is uniquely identified by a 12-digit number that consists of
Six different record types are used for the data files produced from the 1972 and subsequent Graduate Student Surveys at both doctorate-granting and master's-granting institutions. These six record types are institution header records, school header records, school survey coordinator records, departmental header records, departmental respondent records, and departmental data records. The data records for each year are sequenced in ascending order by SIN, DIN, and record type; the record type is in column 17 of every line of the data file. Please note that the lines and columns listed below are guides to the data file and do not correspond directly to the survey questionnaire.
The institution header record provides basic identifying data for a given institution. One record of this type is present for each institution surveyed; it is the first record for that institution for any given year.
The record format is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE Code 7-12 '000000' 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 1 18-58 Institution Name 59-64 Not Used 65 Institution Highest Degree 1 = Doctorate-granting (at least one S&E doctorate department) 2 = Master's-granting 66 Institution Type of Control 1 = Public 2 = Private 68-70 Not Used 71-72 Institution State Code (A two-character state abbreviation) AL = Alabama MT = Montana AK = Alaska NE = Nebraska AZ = Arizona NV = Nevada AR = Arkansas NH = New Hampshire CA = California NJ = New Jersey CO = Colorado NM = New Mexico CT = Connecticut NY = New York DE = Delaware NC = North Carolina DC = D.C. ND = North Dakota FL = Florida OH = Ohio GA = Georgia OK = Oklahoma GU = Guam OR = Oregon HI = Hawaii PA = Pennsylvania ID = Idaho PR = Puerto Rico IL = Illinois RI = Rhode Island IN = Indiana SC = South Carolina IA = Iowa SD = South Dakota KS = Kansas TN = Tennessee KY = Kentucky TX = Texas LA = Louisiana UT = Utah ME = Maine VT = Vermont MD = Maryland VI = Virgin Islands MA = Massachusetts VA = Virginia MI = Michigan WA = Washington MN = Minnesota WV = West Virginia MS = Mississippi WI = Wisconsin MO = Missouri WY = Wyoming 73 Historically Black College Flag 0 = no 1 = yes 74 Land Grant Flag 0 = no 1 = yes 75-77 Carnegie Code (1994) R1 - Research Universities I R2 - Research Universities II D1 - Doctoral Universities I D2 - Doctoral Universities II C1 - Master's (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges I C2 - Master's (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges II LA1 - Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges I LA2 - Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges II 2YR - Associate of Arts Colleges ART - Schools of Art, Music, and Design BUS - Schools of Business and Management ENG - Schools of Engineering and Technology HLT - Other Separate Health Profession Schools LAW - Schools of Law MED - Medical Schools and Medical Centers REL - Theological Seminaries, Bible Colleges, and Other Institutions Offering Degrees in Religion TEA - Teachers Colleges TRI - Tribal Colleges and Universities OTH - Other Specialized Institutions N/A - Not Classified 78-80 Not Used
The school header record provides basic identifying data for a given school or reporting unit within an institution. One record of this type is present for each school surveyed in a given institution; it is the first record for that school.
The record format is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE Code 7 School Sequence Number 8-12 '00000' 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 2 18-58 School Name 59-79 Not Used 80 School Type: G(Graduate) = Graduate Schools M(Medical) = AAMC Member Medical Schools N(Nursing) = Schools of Nursing O(Osteopathic)= Schools of Osteopathic Medicine P(Public) = Schools of Public Health D(Dentistry) = Schools of Dentistry V(Veterinary) = Schools of Veterinary Medicine H(Hospital) = Hospital-Affiliated Medical Research Centers A(Allied) = Schools of Professional or Allied Health B(Both) = Schools With Programs From Both a Graduate School and an AAMC Member Medical School U(Unique) = Other Health Sciences Schools
Each set of school survey coordinator records provides identifying information on the person who most recently coordinated the collection of questionnaires at a given school. Seven records of this type are provided for each school surveyed. The survey-coordinator line numbers distinguish different records in a set. These records are the second through the eighth records for each school. Their format is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE Code 7 School Sequence Number 8-12 '00000' 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 3 18 Survey Coordinator Line Number 1 = Name 2 = Title 3 = Address, Institution 4 = Address, School or Office 5 = Address, Building or Street 6 = Address, City, State, and ZIP 7 = Telephone in the format "(999)999-9999ext.9999" 8 = E-mail Address 19-79 Survey Coordinator Information 80 School Type
The departmental header record provides basic identifying data for a given science or engineering department. Included among the variables are the five-digit Departmental Identification Number (DIN), which consists of a three-digit code for area and discipline, described in the following list, and a two-digit departmental sequence number.
One departmental header record is present for each department in a given school for each year surveyed; it is the first record for that department each year. Its format is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE Code 7 School Sequence Number 8-12 DIN The DIN is composed of the following two parts: 8-10 Discipline Code 11-12 Departmental Sequence Number 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 4 18-57 Department Name 58 Highest Degree Program Offered by Department (may change from one year to another) 1 = Doctorate or Ph.D. or equivalent 2 = Master's 3 = No Ph.D. or Master's equivalent (usually postdoctorate department) 59-60 Not Used 61-65 Parent DIN (used primarily in medical school units) 66-79 Not Used 80 School Type Area and Discipline Discipline Name Code Engineering 101 Aerospace Engineering 102 Agricultural Engineering 103 Biomedical Engineering 104 Chemical Engineering 105 Civil Engineering 106 Electrical Engineering 107 Engineering Science and Engineering Physics 108 Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering 109 Mechanical Engineering 110 Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 111 Mining Engineering 112 Nuclear Engineering 113 Petroleum Engineering 114 Engineering, not elsewhere classified (n.e.c.) Physical Sciences 201 Astronomy 202 Chemistry 203 Physics 204 Physical Sciences, n.e.c. Earth, Atmospheric, and Ocean Sciences 301 Atmospheric Sciences 302 Geosciences 303 Ocean Sciences 304 Earth, Atmospheric, and Ocean Sciences, n.e.c. Computer Sciences 401 Computer Science Mathematical Sciences 402 Mathematics and Applied Mathematics 403 Statistics Agricultural Sciences 501 Agricultural Sciences Biological Sciences 601 Anatomy 602 Biochemistry 603 Biology 604 Biometry and Epidemiology 605 Biophysics 606 Botany 607 Cell and Molecular Biology 608 Ecology 609 Entomology and Parasitology 610 Genetics 611 Microbiology, Immunology, and Virology 612 Nutrition 613 Pathology 614 Pharmacology 615 Physiology 616 Zoology 617 Biosciences, n.e.c. Health Sciences 701 Anesthesiology 702 Cardiology 703 Oncology/Cancer Research 704 Endocrinology 705 Gastroenterology 706 Hematology 707 Neurology 708 Obstetrics and Gynecology 709 Ophthalmology 710 Otorhinolaryngology 711 Pediatrics 712 Preventive Medicine and Community Health 713 Psychiatry 714 Pulmonary Disease 715 Radiology 716 Surgery 717 Clinical Medicine, n.e.c. 718 Dental Sciences 719 Nursing 720 Pharmaceutical Sciences 721 Veterinary Sciences 722 Health Related, n.e.c. 723 Communication Disorders Sciences Psychology 801 Psychology, Combined 802 Psychology, Except Clinical 803 Clinical Psychology Social Sciences 901 Agricultural Economics 902 Anthropology (Cultural and Social) 903 Economics 904 Geography 905 History and Philosophy of Science 906 Linguistics 907 Political Science/Public Administration 908 Sociology 909 Sociology /Anthropology 910 Social Sciences, n.e.c.
In the case of certain medical school departments, such as surgery and internal medicine, data are collected at the specialty level rather than at the departmental level. In such cases, a "Parent DIN" is specified on the departmental header record to permit the aggregation of the detailed specialty data into the parent departmental unit.
The departmental respondent record provides identifying information on the person, if known, who last prepared the survey questionnaire. This record is the second record for each department each year. Its format is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE Code 7 School Sequence Number 8-12 DIN 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 5 18 Departmental Respondent Line Number 1 = Name 2 = Telephone in the format "(999)999-9999ext.9999" 3 = E-mail Address 19-79 Departmental Respondent Information 80 School Type
Departmental data records contain the numerical responses to the questionnaire items. The data records are identified by line numbers, similar to the line numbers on the questionnaire. Since most questionnaire lines can have up to 13 columns of data, provision is made on the data record for 13 columns of responses. A data record is present for each data line on the questionnaire to which a nonzero response has been received. For line 6 (full-time graduate S&E enrollment), however, a data record is present regardless of whether a zero or nonzero response has been received. An unused numeric field will contain a right-justified single zero.
Data for 1972-2000 are maintained in the line and column format of the 2001 questionnaire to facilitate inter-year comparisons. Associated with each data column is a Data Status Code, which indicates the source and/or special treatment of the data. The format of the data records that include the 2001 survey is as follows:
COLUMN CONTENTS 1-6 Institution FICE code 7 School Sequence Number 8-12 DIN 13-16 Year 17 Record Type = 6 18-19 Line Number (1-18) (Not necessarily the same as on the questionnaire) 20-23 Data Column 1 24 Status Code for Data Column 1 (Blank = Normal Response) N = Data Not Available* E = Estimated I = Imputed for Nonresponse 25-28 Data Column 2 29 Status Code for Data Column 2 30-33 Data Column 3 34 Status Code for Data Column 3 35-38 Data Column 4 39 Status Code for Data Column 4 40-43 Data Column 5 44 Status Code for Data Column 5 45-48 Data Column 6 49 Status Code for Data Column 6 50-53 Data Column 7 54 Status Code for Data Column 7 55-58 Data Column 8 59 Status Code for Data Column 8 60-63 Data Column 9 64 Status Code for Data Column 9 65-68 Data Column 10 69 Status Code for Data Column 10 70-73 Data Column 11 74 Status Code for Data Column 11 75-78 Data Column 12 79 Status Code for Data Column 12 80-83 Data Column 13 84 Status Code for Data Column 13 85 School Type* In most cases, an "N" status code indicates that data were not collected from this institution in the particular year.
Graduate student data are available annually for the years 1972 through 2001.
Data imputation is an automated procedure that estimates data for totally and partially nonrespondent institutions. The imputation logic involves the determination of inflator/deflator factors for a series of key variables, including total full-time students, total part-time students, total postdoctoral appointees, and total nonfaculty doctoral researchers. These factors are calculated on the basis of fully responding departments in both the current and previous years' surveys for each combination of degree level and discipline. For nonrespondent schools, these key variables are estimated by applying the appropriate inflator/deflator to the previous year's data values for that school. The key variables are then distributed among the various subtotal and detail fields by using the same relative percentages that were last reported by that institution.
Imputation rates for all survey data cells are calculated annually for various combinations of institutions and departments as determined by discipline, highest degree granted, and level of department. At the grand-total level (that is, all departments at all graduate institutions), the 2001 imputation rates for the key survey variables ranged from 0.6 percent for total full-time students to 1.8 percent for total part-time students.
The Data Status Code indicates whether the data for each item were provided by the institution (blank), were not available (N), were estimated by NSF (E), or were imputed by computer (I).
Data from the Graduate Student Survey are not confidential.
Copies of survey questionnaires for fall 1992 through fall 2001 are available. Data users requiring questionnaires for years in which different data elements were collected (fall 1989, and fall 1981 and earlier) can request copies.
In addition to reviewing the instructions and definitions provided in the questionnaire, data analysts are advised that during each survey cycle, institutions are given the opportunity to revise data that they had provided in prior years. The most recent versions of the data for all years should be used in historical analyses.