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The Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) provides demographic, education, and career history information from individuals with a U.S. research doctoral degree in a science, engineering, or health (SEH) field. The SDR is sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and by the National Institutes of Health. Conducted since 1993, the SDR is a unique source of information about the educational and occupational achievements and career movement of U.S.-trained doctoral scientists and engineers in the United States and abroad.

NCSES is updating their data linkage policy to better meet the data linkage needs of NCSES and external researchers. Currently, NCSES does not support researcher access to direct Personally Identifiable Information (PII). NCSES encourages researchers interested in developing an SAP application that includes linking NCSES restricted data to non-NCSES data sources to contact NCSES at NCSES_Licensing@nsf.gov to assess feasibility and appropriateness.

This dataset is available through the NCSES Secure Data Access Facility (SDAF), a virtual enclave that can only be accessed within the United States.

Detailed Methodology

Sample

The SDR uses a fixed panel design with a sample of new doctoral graduates added to the panel in each biennial survey cycle. SDR sample members who remain age eligible are typically retained for the subsequent SDR cycle. In addition, each cycle, a sample of 10,000 graduates who recently earned their doctoral degree is added. The new graduates sample design follows the design and sample stratification first introduced in the 2019 SDR, defined by detailed fields of study, sex, and underrepresented minority status.

Method of Data Collection

Survey (self- or interviewer-administered)

Frequency of Data Collection

Every two years

Reference Date

The week of February 1 of the survey cycle year (e.g., 1 February 2021, 1 February 2023)

Data Collection Notes

Year-to-year comparisons can be made among the SDR survey cycles because many of the core questions remained the same. Small but notable differences exist across some survey years, such as the collection of occupation and education data based on more recent taxonomies. Also, because of the use of different reference months in some survey cycles, seasonal differences may occur when making comparisons across years. There is overlap in the cases included in the SDR. The overlap among cases allows for the ability to conduct longitudinal analysis of this subset of the SDR sample. To reduce the risk of disclosure, longitudinal analyses can be conducted only within a restricted environment. The SDR uses a trimodal data collection approach: self-administered online survey, self-administered paper questionnaire (via mail), and computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI). The data collected in the SDR are subject to both editing and imputation procedures. The SDR uses both logical imputation and statistical (hot-deck) imputation as part of the data processing effort. Because the SDR is based on a complex sampling design and subject to nonresponse bias, sampling weights are created for each respondent to support unbiased population estimates.

Number of Cases

Since the 2015 SDR, there have been approximately 80,000 individuals in each cycle (number of cases dependent on sample size for any given year)

Linkage Capabilities

The SDR has the ability to link with other data sources by IPEDS educational institution indicator and FIPS state code.

Survey of Doctorate Recipients

Description

Detailed Methodology