Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) 2023

Changes in survey coverage and population. For the 2023 cycle, seven institutions were added to the SED universe.

Changes in questionnaire. The following changes were made to the questionnaire in 2023:

New questions.

None.

Changed questionresponse options.

Several question response options were modified to evaluate minor wording changes in the response options intended to improve question clarity. The table below lists the items in two versions, with the existing response items in version A.

In the 2023 web instrument, half of the respondents received the wording that had been used in previous years (version A) and half received the version with modified wording (version B). Based on the results of the collected data, the version B wording was recommended for future data cycles as it produced lower item nonresponse rates, and improved clarity.

Due to these changes, trend data in these variables should be used with caution. Additionally, due to the web instrument errors described in the "Measurement error" section above, the primary and secondary work activity and parental education data may not be comparable with prior years' data.

Changes in reporting procedures or classification.

• Carnegie Classification. Starting in 2023, the 2021 Carnegie classifications of the doctoral institutions are used in the data tables.
• Field of study. Beginning in 2021, field of study and doctorate dissertation field data were collected using a modified version of the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes maintained by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES). All data are now reported using the new SED-CIP taxonomy (table A-4). The SED-CIP modifications are as follows:
• • Over 50 degree fields collected in SED prior to 2021 but not in the 2020 CIP were added. These SED-CIP codes are noted in table A-5 and table A-6 with a letter suffix other than "a."
  • An additional 37 SED-CIP codes were added in 2022 from the emerging doctorate field review based on doctorate field data collected in prior years. These 37 codes had not been incorporated in 2021 due to timing.
  • The exclusion of CIP fields that are not eligible for the SED, which are CIP 28 (Military science, leadership, and operational art), 32 (Basic skills and development/remedial education), 33 (Citizenship activities), 34 (Health-related knowledge and skills), 35 (Interpersonal and social skills), 36 (Leisure and recreational activities), 37 (Personal awareness and self-improvements), and 53 (High school/secondary diplomas and certificates) series codes.
  • The limitation of the CIP 12 (Culinary, entertainment, and personal services), 46 (Construction trade), 47 (Mechanic and repair technology/ technicians), and 48 (Precision production) series codes to associate's degree fields only.
  • The conversion of the CIP 60 (Health professions residency/fellowship) and 61 (Medical residency/fellowship) series codes to SED-CIP 70 and 71 series codes, respectively, to capture the research fields for doctorate dissertation fields only.

The SED-CIP code list includes over 1,650 fields for the field of study reporting, compared to the 334 field codes collected prior to 2021. The SED-CIP codes are aggregated into 306 detailed fields, 68 major fields, and 16 broad fields, which are used for reporting in the data tables (table A-4). In 2023, minor revisions were made to the major and detailed field taxonomy to improve data utility and alignment with the new trend taxonomy. Specifically, 2 new major fields ("biological and biomedical sciences, general" and "aerospace, aeronautical, astronautical, and space engineering") were added by moving 4 detailed fields and 1 new detailed field was added (table A-5).

This SED-CIP taxonomy includes multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary sciences and multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies to capture and track emerging fields and is aligned to the NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines for comparison with other NCSES surveys. The complete SED-CIP list with corresponding detailed, major, and broad fields is in table A-5. All single-year data tables (table 3-1 through table 9-18) use the new SED-CIP taxonomy.

To facilitate the trend data comparison with prior years, a crosswalk was created of the SED-CIP codes to the historical SED field of study (SED-FOS) codes, which were aggregated into the new trend broad and major fields (see table A-6). The new trend field taxonomy used in the 2023 data tables replaced the historical field taxonomy introduced in the 2021 data tables to align more closely with the new SED-CIP based broad and major fields. In total, the new trend taxonomy aggregates fields into 14 trend broad fields and 62 trend major fields as compared with 8 broad and 35 major fields in the historical field taxonomy.

As an example, the historical field taxonomy previously reported "mathematics and computer sciences" as a single broad field. In the new trend field taxonomy, "computer and information sciences" and "mathematics and statistics" are separately reported as two broad fields, with 2 major fields delineated under computer and information sciences and 4 major fields under mathematics and statistics. In the trend field taxonomy, detailed field "veterinary sciences," previously reported under major field "health sciences," is reported under major field "agricultural sciences" to better align with the new field taxonomy.

This results in generally comparable historical broad and major fields with some limitations. Specifically, each SED-CIP code mapped to a historical SED-FOS code might not be the code the respondent would have chosen from the previously used historical SED-FOS list. For example, it is not known how respondents who reported the new SED-CIP field of "electrical engineering and computer science" in 2022 would have chosen their field under the historical SED-FOS list that includes two separate fields "electrical engineering" and "computer science." For more information, see the working paper Survey of Earned Doctorates Field of Study Taxonomy Changesin 2021 and Impact on Trend Data.

The trend broad and major fields are available from 1958 to the present. The alignment of the historical fine field codes to the new trend broad and major fields is shown in table A-6. A comparison of the historical, trend, and new field taxonomies is shown in table B-2.

• Salary. Median salary is calculated from exact salary values when provided by the respondent. Salary imputation was dropped as of 2015 due to the increase in exact salary response rate. From 2011 to 2014, if a respondent selected a salary range instead of providing an exact salary value, exact salary values were imputed for median salary calculation purposes by applying hot-deck imputation based on salary range and other relevant respondent characteristics. Prior to 2011, median salary was calculated directly from the salary range values via interpolation methods, and exact salary values were not used in the calculation of median salary. Only salary data from doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments for employment or for a postdoc position in the United States are included in median salary calculations.
• Functional limitations(previously "disability"). Beginning in 2012, the functional limitations items assess both the presence and severity of functional limitations in each of several domains, which do not precisely overlap with the domains in prior surveys.
• Debt. Since 2001, respondents have been asked to indicate the amount of education-related debt they owe, with separate response categories for graduate and undergraduate education. To estimate overall debt, the midpoint of the chosen range for undergraduate and for graduate debt was selected and summed to yield a total debt amount. Where median debt levels are presented in this report (i.e., table 4-4 and table 4-5), the individual values for debt are assigned as the midpoint of the chosen range for graduate and undergraduate debt. Doctorate recipients who chose the lowest debt category (no debt) were assigned a value of $0 for the computation of median debt levels. Doctorate recipients who chose the uppermost category available prior to 2019 ($90,001 or more) were assigned a value of $95,000 for the computation of median debt levels. In 2019, additional response options were added at the upper range for graduate debt with the highest being $160,001 or more. Doctorate recipients who choose this uppermost category are assigned a value of $165,000 for the computation of median debt levels. All valid responses, including "no debt," are included in the computation of all median debt data in the data tables.
• Citizenship. The citizenship status variable is used to identify the appropriate citizenship category of respondents, including the citizenship category of respondents who did not respond to the citizenship status survey item. The code framework for the citizenship status variable is outlined below.

Respondents who indicated a U.S. birthplace, regardless of what they reported for citizenship status, were assigned code 0.

In 1999, code 4 (non-U.S., visa status unknown) was introduced, and data were back-coded through 1997. Respondents who designated a non-U.S. country for the country of citizenship item but did not respond to the citizenship status item were assigned code 4 for citizenship status. From 1997 to 2003, non-U.S.-born respondents who did not indicate their country of citizenship or citizenship status were assigned to code 4 if three out of four geographic variables-place of birth, place of high school, place of college entry, and postgraduation location-were non-U.S. locations. Beginning with the 2004 SED, the variable "place of baccalaureate institution" replaced "place of college entry" in the assignment of a citizenship code for respondents who did not indicate citizenship status.

For tabulations in this report, code 4 was combined with code 3-that is, counts of doctorate recipients in the temporary visa holder category include non-U.S. citizens with unknown visa status. This is consistent with coding procedures in previous data collections. However, the existence of code 4 allows the microdata user to exclude cases for which visa status is unknown. Prospective data users should note, however, that the number of cases in the code 4 group is not sufficient to warrant analysis as a separate citizenship category.

Non-U.S. citizens who did not report a country of citizenship but reported the same non-U.S. country for three out of four geographic variables-place of birth, place of high school, place of baccalaureate institution, and postgraduation location-were assigned that reported country as their country of citizenship.

• Median computation. Since 1994, medians have been computed as outlined below. When months are included, they are converted to the number of days corresponding to the first day of the month. In 2017, the method for accounting for leap days changed to reflect the actual number of leap days during the time period specified, rather than the prior method of adding 0.25 days to each year.
• • Median age. Months (of birth and doctorate award) are included in the calculation of median age whenever available. Beginning in 2015, if birth month is missing, the month value is randomly imputed. Prior to 2015, the missing month value was assigned to the month the doctorate was received.
  • Time to degree from bachelor's completion. Months are included in the calculation of total time to degree. If months are missing, month values are assigned to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provide month of bachelor's completion and converted to the number of days corresponding to that month.
  • Time to degree from graduate school entry. Months are included in the calculation of graduate school time to degree. If months are missing in the calculation of graduate school time to degree, month values are assigned to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provided month of graduate entry. Reports published before 2004 reported a different time-to-degree measure: registered time to degree. Comparisons of graduate school time-to-degree data with pre-2004 registered time-to-degree data should be interpreted cautiously. For an explanation of registered time to degree, see the technical notes of any Doctorate Recipients fromU.S.Universities published before 2004.
  • Time to degree from doctoral program entry. This variable was first included in 2015. Doctoral program entry is based on master's degree program entry if the master's degree was at the doctoral institution in the same fine field of study or if it was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry. Months are included in the calculation of doctoral program time to degree. If the month of entry used in the calculation (master's degree program entry or doctoral program entry) was not reported, the entry month is assigned to the modal value for all cases that did report the entry month in the academic year the case was added to the doctoral records file (typically the academic year matching the graduation date of the case).

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