Online Program

Government Funding Source as a Sample Frame of Early Career Doctorates Working in Establishments in All Sectors

Keywords: postdoctorates, doctorate, scientist, science funding, sample frame, sample building

Collecting information to understand the development of working scientists post degree poses an operational challenge of locating them in the workforce. Most existing information is from surveys of academic sector establishments. Through the Early Career Doctorate (ECD) Study, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) has tested methods of building a sample frame of ECDs, specifically focused on those working in non-academic establishments—with the goal of extending the existing academic sector information. These methods evaluate the use of administrative records from federal grant and contract funding databases to identify a sample frame of ECDs working in academic, government, or private (for- and non-profit) sector establishments. This presentation will describe this project and discuss its successes and failures. We will specifically identify how well this sampling strategy contributes to efforts to fill current gaps in knowledge about ECDs who received their degrees outside of the United States or who work outside of academia.