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National Research Council 2006 Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs

Every 10 years or so, the National Research Council undertakes a study of research doctorate programs in U.S. educational institutions. The 2006 survey was designed to (1) help universities improve the quality of research doctorate programs through benchmarking; (2) provide potential students and the public with accessible, readily available information on doctoral programs nationwide; and (3) enhance the nation's overall research capacity.

The 2006 assessment, which collected data in more than 60 areas of doctoral study, included five web-based data collections:

• The Institutional Survey collected information from 224 colleges and universities about the university-wide support each institution provided to its doctoral students. The response rate was 100 percent.

• The program survey collected information from 5,400 programs on their characteristics and policies, financial and non-financial assistance offered, and program faculty characteristics. The response rate was 97 percent.

• The faculty survey  collected demographic information as well as information on the work of 110,000 eligible program faculty members. The response rate was 86 percent.

• The student survey collected information on the background and doctorate program experiences of 16,000 students in five selected programs.  The response rate was 77 percent.

• The program quality survey asked faculty questions on the overall quality of 15 doctoral programs in their field. The response rate was 74 percent.

In addition to developing and administering the web surveys, we also created the sample frames for each survey. We continue to assist with analytic tasks, such as implementing a sophisticated statistical model for estimating measures of graduate program quality. The 2006 assessment was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and 224 participating universities.