[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72004-72005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29989]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Request for Comments on the Intent To Conduct an Evaluation of 
the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT)

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intent of the National Center for 
Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science 
Foundation (NSF) to conduct an evaluation of the designs for two of the 
three surveys that comprise the Scientists and Engineers Statistical 
Data System (SESTAT). This notice is in response to recent improvements 
to the design of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) that 
potentially offset the further need for the National Survey of Recent 
College Graduates (NSRCG).
    As part of this evaluation, the NCSES is: (1) Investigating the 
possibility of discontinuing the information collection for the NSRCG; 
(2) examining the use of the American Community Survey (ACS) to 
increase the sample of young graduates within the NSCG; and (3) 
studying the impact of providing data on young graduates rather than 
recent graduates.
    SESTAT is a unique source of longitudinal information on the 
education and employment of the college-educated U.S. science and 
engineering (S&E) workforce. These data are collected through three 
biennial surveys: The NSCG, the NSRCG, and the Survey of Doctorate 
Recipients (SDR). The NSCG is the core of SESTAT providing data from a 
nationally representative sample of U. S. scientists and engineers with 
at least a bachelor's degree. The NSRCG supplements SESTAT with an 
inflow of recent college graduates in S&E degree fields. The SDR 
further supplements SESTAT with the stock and inflow of U.S. earned 
doctoral level scientists and engineers.
    Prior to the recent improvements to the NSCG, the NSRCG was the 
only source of data for the inflow of recent college graduates in S&E 
fields. Prior to the 2010 survey cycle, the NSCG selected its sample of 
college graduates once a decade from the decennial census long form and 
relied on the NSRCG to maximize coverage of the underlying S&E 
workforce. In the 2010 survey cycle, the NCSES redesigned the NSCG as a 
nationally representative rotating panel survey of college graduates 
based on biennial samples drawn from the ACS. The inclusion of a field 
of degree question on the ACS allows the NSCG to efficiently sample 
college graduates in S&E degree fields. In addition, the ongoing nature 
of the ACS allows the NSCG to provide coverage of the inflow of new 
college graduates to each new panel. This improvement in coverage 
allows the NSCG to provide biennial estimates of young college 
graduates in S&E degree fields and, as a result, potentially offsets 
the further need for conducting the biennial NSRCG.

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    It should be noted that the potential design changes being 
considered for SESTAT will not result in any change in the population 
covered by SESTAT, nor will it have an impact on race/ethnicity and 
other diversity data produced by SESTAT. The potential design changes, 
however, could impact the precision level for SESTAT estimates of the 
recent graduates population. Since the NSRCG sample selection targets 
recent college graduates and the NSCG sample selection targets young 
college graduates, the evaluation will examine the impact of providing 
data on young graduates rather than recent graduates.
    The NCSES is interested in all comments, especially from government 
policy makers, academic researchers, and NSRCG data users that specify 
concerns related to the possibility of discontinuing the NSRCG.

DATES: Send your written comments by January 20, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments to Dr. Lynda T. Carlson, 
Director, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 965, Arlington, VA 
22230. Send email comments to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Lynda T. Carlson, Director, 
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National 
Science Foundation, at (703) 292-7766, or email at 
mailto:[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    The NSF has been responsible for providing information about the 
nation's scientists and engineers for over 60 years. NSF's Scientists 
and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) originally was developed 
in response to recommendations from the 1989 National Academies 
Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) report, Surveying the 
Nation's Scientists and Engineers--A Data System for the 1990s. Prior 
to the 2010 survey cycle, the NSCG selected its sample from the 
decennial census long form to provide a baseline for a longitudinal 
cohort study of college graduates residing in the United States over 
the decade. The NSRCG was used to biennially update the NSCG cohort 
over the decade with more recent college graduates in S&E degree 
fields. On a per case basis, the NSRCG is the most expensive of the 
three SESTAT surveys due to its two-stage sampling design (stage 1 is a 
sample of academic institutions and stage 2 is a sample of S&E 
bachelor's and master's graduates) and the difficulty of tracking its 
highly mobile target population. Nonetheless, without the NSRCG, SESTAT 
would not have been able to provide data for recent college graduates 
in S&E degree fields.
    In the 2008 National Academies CNSTAT report, Using the American 
Community Survey for the National Science Foundation's Science and 
Engineering Workforce Statistics Program, Recommendation 7.5 reads: 
``The NSF should use the opportunity afforded by the introduction of 
the ACS as a sampling frame to reconsider the design of the SESTAT 
Program and the contents of its component surveys.'' Recommendation 7.5 
stemmed from the discontinuation of the decennial census long form by 
the Census Bureau, the availability of the ACS as a sampling frame, and 
the addition of a question to the ACS requesting respondents' field of 
bachelor's degree.
    The change to an ACS-based sample design for the NSCG allows the 
NSF an opportunity to rethink SESTAT, particularly whether the NSRCG is 
the most efficient and timely way to obtain information on the inflow 
of new graduates. Moving forward, a data system that would no longer 
require the NSRCG is a potential option. In place of the discontinued 
NSRCG, one possibility is to utilize an enhanced NSCG with an increased 
sample of young college graduates in S&E degree fields.

B. Request for Comments

    NCSES is seeking additional information from the public. 
Governmental policy makers, academic researchers, NSRCG data users, and 
other interested parties are encouraged to participate by submitting 
comments. Official address, contact, and due date for submitting 
comments are stated above.

    Dated: November 15, 2011.
Lynda Carlson,
Director, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2011-29989 Filed 11-18-11; 8:45 am]
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