Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)

3. KEY CONCEPTS

Some of the key terms and analytic variables in the SED are described below.

Research Doctorate. Research doctoral degrees are oriented toward preparing students to make original intellectual contributions in a field of study. The research doctorate, then is any doctoral degree that (1) requires the completion of a dissertation or equivalent project of original work; and (2) is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession. While the most typical research doctorate is the PhD—accounting for over 97% of the research doctorates awarded in 2011—there are more than 15 other degree types. Not included in this definition are professional doctorates such as MD, DDS, DVM, JD, and PsyD.

Doctorate-Granting Institution. Doctorate-granting institutions are those postsecondary institutions in the United States that award research doctorates (as defined above) and are accredited at the higher education level by an agency recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. In 2011, there were 412 research doctorate-granting institutions.

Field of Doctorate. This is the specialty field of a doctoral degree, as reported by the doctorate recipient. There are over 300 specialty fields of study from which to choose, with the following groups being reflected on the survey: business management/administration, communication, computer and information sciences, education, engineering, humanities, life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, psychology, social sciences, and fields not classified elsewhere, with education, humanities, life sciences and physical sciences having additional subclassifications. Because field of doctorate is designated by the doctorate recipient, the classification in the SED may differ from that reported by the institution in the NCES Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Completions Survey (see the IPEDS chapter).

Time-to-Doctorate. There are two standard, published measures of time-to-doctorate. The first measures the total elapsed time between bachelor’s degree receipt and doctorate degree receipt and can only be computed if baccalaureate year is known. The second time-to-doctorate variable gauges the time between entry into graduate school (in any program or capacity, and in any university) and doctoral award. Both of these measures are computed from items in the educational history section of the questionnaire.

Source of Support. Doctorate recipients are asked to indicate all sources of financial support received and to indicate whether the source was a primary or secondary source of support. SED-listed sources of support include: personal or family resources (e.g., savings or earnings); university related (e.g., tuition remission, teaching and research assistantships, fellowships); scholarships, traineeships, or internships; student loans; employment reimbursement or assistance; or any foreign or other sources of support received.