[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72004-72005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29989]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Request for Comments on the Intent To Conduct an Evaluation of
the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT)
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intent of the National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to conduct an evaluation of the designs for two of the
three surveys that comprise the Scientists and Engineers Statistical
Data System (SESTAT). This notice is in response to recent improvements
to the design of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) that
potentially offset the further need for the National Survey of Recent
College Graduates (NSRCG).
As part of this evaluation, the NCSES is: (1) Investigating the
possibility of discontinuing the information collection for the NSRCG;
(2) examining the use of the American Community Survey (ACS) to
increase the sample of young graduates within the NSCG; and (3)
studying the impact of providing data on young graduates rather than
recent graduates.
SESTAT is a unique source of longitudinal information on the
education and employment of the college-educated U.S. science and
engineering (S&E) workforce. These data are collected through three
biennial surveys: The NSCG, the NSRCG, and the Survey of Doctorate
Recipients (SDR). The NSCG is the core of SESTAT providing data from a
nationally representative sample of U. S. scientists and engineers with
at least a bachelor's degree. The NSRCG supplements SESTAT with an
inflow of recent college graduates in S&E degree fields. The SDR
further supplements SESTAT with the stock and inflow of U.S. earned
doctoral level scientists and engineers.
Prior to the recent improvements to the NSCG, the NSRCG was the
only source of data for the inflow of recent college graduates in S&E
fields. Prior to the 2010 survey cycle, the NSCG selected its sample of
college graduates once a decade from the decennial census long form and
relied on the NSRCG to maximize coverage of the underlying S&E
workforce. In the 2010 survey cycle, the NCSES redesigned the NSCG as a
nationally representative rotating panel survey of college graduates
based on biennial samples drawn from the ACS. The inclusion of a field
of degree question on the ACS allows the NSCG to efficiently sample
college graduates in S&E degree fields. In addition, the ongoing nature
of the ACS allows the NSCG to provide coverage of the inflow of new
college graduates to each new panel. This improvement in coverage
allows the NSCG to provide biennial estimates of young college
graduates in S&E degree fields and, as a result, potentially offsets
the further need for conducting the biennial NSRCG.
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It should be noted that the potential design changes being
considered for SESTAT will not result in any change in the population
covered by SESTAT, nor will it have an impact on race/ethnicity and
other diversity data produced by SESTAT. The potential design changes,
however, could impact the precision level for SESTAT estimates of the
recent graduates population. Since the NSRCG sample selection targets
recent college graduates and the NSCG sample selection targets young
college graduates, the evaluation will examine the impact of providing
data on young graduates rather than recent graduates.
The NCSES is interested in all comments, especially from government
policy makers, academic researchers, and NSRCG data users that specify
concerns related to the possibility of discontinuing the NSRCG.
DATES: Send your written comments by January 20, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Send your written comments to Dr. Lynda T. Carlson,
Director, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics,
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 965, Arlington, VA
22230. Send email comments to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Lynda T. Carlson, Director,
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National
Science Foundation, at (703) 292-7766, or email at
mailto:[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The NSF has been responsible for providing information about the
nation's scientists and engineers for over 60 years. NSF's Scientists
and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) originally was developed
in response to recommendations from the 1989 National Academies
Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) report, Surveying the
Nation's Scientists and Engineers--A Data System for the 1990s. Prior
to the 2010 survey cycle, the NSCG selected its sample from the
decennial census long form to provide a baseline for a longitudinal
cohort study of college graduates residing in the United States over
the decade. The NSRCG was used to biennially update the NSCG cohort
over the decade with more recent college graduates in S&E degree
fields. On a per case basis, the NSRCG is the most expensive of the
three SESTAT surveys due to its two-stage sampling design (stage 1 is a
sample of academic institutions and stage 2 is a sample of S&E
bachelor's and master's graduates) and the difficulty of tracking its
highly mobile target population. Nonetheless, without the NSRCG, SESTAT
would not have been able to provide data for recent college graduates
in S&E degree fields.
In the 2008 National Academies CNSTAT report, Using the American
Community Survey for the National Science Foundation's Science and
Engineering Workforce Statistics Program, Recommendation 7.5 reads:
``The NSF should use the opportunity afforded by the introduction of
the ACS as a sampling frame to reconsider the design of the SESTAT
Program and the contents of its component surveys.'' Recommendation 7.5
stemmed from the discontinuation of the decennial census long form by
the Census Bureau, the availability of the ACS as a sampling frame, and
the addition of a question to the ACS requesting respondents' field of
bachelor's degree.
The change to an ACS-based sample design for the NSCG allows the
NSF an opportunity to rethink SESTAT, particularly whether the NSRCG is
the most efficient and timely way to obtain information on the inflow
of new graduates. Moving forward, a data system that would no longer
require the NSRCG is a potential option. In place of the discontinued
NSRCG, one possibility is to utilize an enhanced NSCG with an increased
sample of young college graduates in S&E degree fields.
B. Request for Comments
NCSES is seeking additional information from the public.
Governmental policy makers, academic researchers, NSRCG data users, and
other interested parties are encouraged to participate by submitting
comments. Official address, contact, and due date for submitting
comments are stated above.
Dated: November 15, 2011.
Lynda Carlson,
Director, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2011-29989 Filed 11-18-11; 8:45 am]
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