[4/28/15: According to an April 28 Federal Register Notice, the U.S. Census Bureau plans to retain the ACS question on the undergraduate field of degree. It will also be retaining questions on marriage it had previously proposed cutting. The paragraphs in the notice pertinent to undergraduate field of degree read:
Regarding the field of degree question, the Census Bureau received 625 comments from researchers, professors and administrators at many universities, professional associations that represent science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers and industries, members of Congress, the National Science Foundation, and many individuals interested in retaining this question. A number of commenters (92) cited the importance of these estimates for research that analyzes the effect of field of degree choice on economic outcomes, including earnings, education, occupation, industry, and employment. University administrators (37) commented that this information allows for analysis of postsecondary outcomes, and allows them to benchmark their graduates’ relative success in different fields as well as to plan degree offerings. While some commenters used the estimates to understand fields such as humanities or philosophy (56), the majority of these comments (125) addressed the value of knowing about the outcomes of people who pursued degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These commenters felt that knowing more about the people currently earning STEM degrees and the people currently working in STEM fields would enable universities, advocacy groups, and policy makers to encourage more people to pursue STEM careers, and to encourage diversity within STEM careers.
The initial analysis of Person Question No. 12—Undergraduate Field of Degree did not uncover any evidence that the question was Mandatory or Required. However, comments to the Federal Register notice uncovered the existence of a relationship between the Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation, dating back to 1960. Over the course of this established relationship, long-form decennial census data was used as a sampling frame for surveys that provided important information about scientists and engineers. These comments demonstrated that the Field of Degree question on the ACS continues this historical use of decennial long-form and ACS data for this purpose, and makes this process more efficient. Many commenters (58) also cited the necessity of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), and recommended retaining the question because it is needed as a sampling frame for the NSCG. Though commenters theorized that the NSCG might still be able to produce STEM estimates without the ACS, a number of commenters (16) thought that doing so would be very expensive, costing as much as $17 million more (1).
Additionally, many comments also indicated uses of this question to understand the economic outcomes of college graduates at local geographic levels, especially those with STEM degrees. These commenters included professional, academic, congressional, and policy-making stakeholders who expressed concerns that the absence of statistical information about STEM degrees would harm the ability to understand characteristics of small populations attaining STEM degrees. Given the importance of this small population group to the economy, the federal statistical system and the nation, bolstered by the new knowledge of historical precedent brought to light by commenters to the Federal Register notice, the Census Bureau therefore plans to retain this question on the 2016 ACS.
See also this ScienceInsider piece: U.S. won’t drop census questions on college major and marital history.
5/29/15 update: Department of Commerce proposes further changes to ACS, including removal of flush toilet question, according to Federal Register Notice.]
Responding to an October 31 Federal Register Notice on proposed changes to the American Community Survey (ACS), the ASA today submitted comments on the importance of question number 12 asking the undergraduate field of degree. The U.S. Census ureau proposed the elimination of this question and five others (all relating to marital status) as part of their 2014 ACS Content Review.
As explained in the Federal Register Notice, "The 2014 ACS Content Review is the
most comprehensive effort ever
undertaken by the Census Bureau to
review content on the survey, seeking to
understand which federal programs use
the information collected by each
question, the justification for each
question, and assess how the Census
Bureau might reduce respondent
burden." Their methodology is explained in the Notice.
The
American Statistical Association letter, written by ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein, emphasizes the importance of this question to "(i) the understanding of the STEM workforce in the United States; (ii) economic development and workforce research; and (iii) the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) for its National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG)." The key paragraphs elaborating on these points read,
At the urging of NCSES (under direction from OMB to finds ways to cut survey costs), question number 12 was added to the ACS in 2009 and serves as the sampling frame for the NSCG. This arrangement has saved NCSES tens of millions of dollars—as intended—as it doesn’t have to collect the information itself. Further, the collection of the field of degree information through the ACS was so efficient and effective that it allowed NCSES to discontinue the National Survey of Recent College Graduates. If the field of degree question were dropped from the ACS, not only would it cost NCSES millions of dollars to collect the information, it would also increase the survey burden on the public and potentially lower the data quality.
More generally, STEM workers are critical to the U.S. workforce because of their vital role in the innovation economy and boosting U.S. competiveness. Therefore, the understanding of our STEM workforce provided by ACS question 12 is an important part of our country’s strategy for energizing our innovation economy and our international competiveness.
ASA joins many in the scientific community expressing concern over the removal of this question, as noted in this November 13 ScienceInsider article by Jeff Mervis, Can Question No. 12 survive? Researchers fight to retain a question about college degrees on American Community Survey. As I become aware of other organizations' letters, I'll add them here: COPAFS, National Science Board, American Economic Association, AAAS, Population Association of America, American Chemical Society, American Council on Education (letter signed by 25 higher education associations), COSSA.
After seeing and hearing much discussion of this question, my personal impression is its inclusion on the cut list is a fluke of the process. As the ScienceInsider piece notes, there seems a broad recognition (In the science community and beyond) of the importance of this question and its saving of taxpayer funding and burden, An ACS official noted in a recent discussion that the call for comments in the Federal Register Notice is meant to correct for potential oversights in the first phase of the process. The ASA urges its members and others to also submit a comment on this question by the December 30 deadline.
[See also:
A New Field of Degree Question
The 2007 ACS Content Test was a follow-on to the 2006 ACS Content Test and included federal agency stakeholder input to determine test content, cognitive laboratory pre-testing, expert reviews, and other methods to develop alternative versions of test questions. A national sample field test of approximately 30,000 household addresses was selected to conduct the 2007 ACS Content Test. The test only focused on two versions of a new field of degree question. Analysis of test results and recommendations for new and revised content for the ACS took place from late-2007 through January 2008. The final report providing a full description of the 2007 ACS Content Test and topic-specific research objectives, methodology, and empirical results is forthcoming and will be posted on the Census Bureau Web site.
The 2007 ACS Content Test resulted in a Census Bureau recommendation to OMB to add a new question on field of degree (FOD).
The addition of a FOD of a person’s bachelor’s degree is proposed for the ACS beginning in 2009. It will be Question 12 on the printed questionnaire. Two versions of such a FOD item were tested in the 2007 ACS Content Test, and the open-ended version performed better than the categorical version. The addition of such an item would yield substantial benefits to a wide variety of users. First, it would greatly increase the efficiency of sampling for the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) in several respects. It would eliminate the need for a very large screener sample to identify individuals in the science and engineering (S&E) workforce. The availability of a current national sample frame with the FOD question will substantially improve the ability of the NSCG to track the impact of new immigrants on the S&E workforce and reduce the severe attrition in the NSCG panel experienced when the panel was refreshed only once a decade. Second, it would provide crucial and timely data for program planning, analysis and monitoring for the critical S&E component of the U.S. workforce.
The FOD item would also meet a variety of analytical needs for NSF and other agencies. For NSF, because the ACS would have information on both FOD and occupation, it will provide annual estimates on the critical S&E component of the workforce. Such data will provide a means to identify and monitor new and emerging trends in the size and composition of the S&E workforce, including new immigrants to the U.S. Such issues are crucial for the American Competitiveness Initiative.
More generally it will be a valuable resource for analyzing the outcomes of college education for individuals majoring in all fields, not just in science and engineering. The geographic detail and the annual and timely availability of FOD data, in conjunction with all the other rich data available from the ACS, will enhance the analytical uses of ACS data for the NSF, other agencies, policymakers, researchers, and the general public. College administrators, educators, and professional societies will use these data to assess how graduates in various fields are faring in the job market as well as informing them about the kinds of training graduates should be receiving to be prepared for the jobs that are likely to be available. It will also provide useful, timely information for prospective students and their parents about employment possibilities for those majoring in a particular field in college. It will tell users about the kinds of occupations those majoring in the social sciences or the humanities go into and how their earnings compare to those who major in other fields.
Congress has mandated the NSF “to provide a central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on scientific and engineering resources and to provide a source of information for policy formulation by other agencies of the Federal Government” (NSF Act of 1950, as amended; 42 U.S.C. 1862 (a) (6)). A critical component of this mission is information on the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) workforce, which NSF collects through several surveys. NSF disseminates information on the number, characteristics, and employment derived from its workforce surveys in a variety of reports and other formats.
The Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a (6) and 1885d) gave NSF a further mandate to collect and report information on women, minority group members and persons with disabilities in the S&E workforce and to report such information to Congress and Executive Department officials biennially (Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering (WMPD)). The NSF Act of 1950 as amended also requires the National Science Board to report to Congress and the President biennially “a report on indicators of the state of science and engineering in the United States (42 U.S.C. 1863 (j)(1)). Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) fulfills this mandate and a crucial component of the report is information on the S&E workforce.
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