Evaluating 2003 NSCG Dual-Frame Estimates for 2010 NSCG Planning Purposes

• Activity Number: 453
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Donsig Jang*+ and David Hall
• Companies: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: NSCG ; Dual Frame Estimation

Abstract

The National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) is the nation's leading source of detailed statistics on the science and engineering labor force. Beginning in the 2010 survey cycle, the NSCG will be constructed using multiple sampling frames. The NSCG had attempted a similar dual frame approach in the 2003 NSCG survey cycle, but differing population estimates between the frames led the survey sponsor, the National Science Foundation (NSF), to abandon the dual frame estimates for publication purposes in favor of the single frame estimates. New research into the 2003 NSCG dual frame design has presented an opportunity to reevaluate the 2003 estimates and the 2003 decision. This paper looks deeper into the 2003 NSCG dual frame design issues, including potential causes of the differing estimates and comparisons of single frame and dual estimates two frames for key estimates of interest. The