Table Of ContentUsing the
American Community Survey
for the National Science Foundation’s
Science and Engineering Workforce
Statistics Programs
Panel on Assessing the Benefts of the American Community Survey
for the NSF Division of Science Resources Statistics
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
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This study was supported by National Science Foundation Award Number SRS-
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tions or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2008). Using the American Com-
munity Survey for the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Work-
force Statistics Programs. Panel on Assessing the Benefts of the American Com-
munity Survey for the NSF Division of Science Resources Statistics, Committee
on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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PANEL ON ASSESSING THE BENEFITS OF THE
AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY FOR THE
NSF DIVISION OF SCIENCE RESOURCES STATISTICS
HAL STERN (Chair), Department of Statistics, University of California,
Irvine
DAN A. BLACK, Harris School, University of Chicago
CHESTER (CHET) BOWIE, National Opinion Research Center,
Washington, DC
BRENDA G. COX, Battelle Memorial Institute, Arlington, VA
RANDALL J. OLSEN, Center for Human Resources Research, Ohio
State University
ROBERT SANTOS, Urban Institute, Washington, DC
LOWELL TAYLOR, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and
Management, Carnegie Mellon University
CATHERINE WEINBERGER, Department of Economics, University of
California, Santa Barbara
THOMAS J. PLEWES, Study Director
CARYN E. KUEBLER, Associate Program Offcer
MICHAEL J. SIRI, Senior Program Assistant
v
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
2007-2008
WILLIAM F. EDDY (Chair), Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon
University
KATHARINE ABRAHAM, Department of Economics and Joint Program
in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland
WILLIAM DUMOUCHEL, Lincoln Technologies, Inc., Waltham, MA
JOHN HALTIWANGER, Department of Economics, University of
Maryland
V. JOSEPH HOTz, Department of Economics, Duke University,
Durham, NC
KAREN KAFADAR, Department of Statistics, Indiana University,
Bloomington
DOUGLAS MASSEY, Department of Sociology, Princeton University
SALLY MORTON, Statistics and Epidemiology, RTI International,
Research Triangle Park, NC
VIJAY NAIR, Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and
Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
JOSEPH NEWHOUSE, Division of Health Policy Research and
Education, Harvard University
SAMUEL H. PRESTON, Population Studies Center, University of
Pennsylvania
KENNETH PREWITT, School of International and Public Affairs,
Columbia University
LOUISE RYAN, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University
ROGER TOURANGEAU, Survey Research Center, University of
Michigan, and Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of
Maryland
ALAN zASLAVSKY, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard
Medical School
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
vi
Acknowledgments
his report results from contributions and expertise provided by
many individuals. First, I acknowledge and thank my fellow panel
Tmembers, who offered their time and collective expertise in plan-
ning the October 2007 workshop, served as moderators and active par-
ticipants during the workshop, and were full partners in writing this
report.
Staff of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Census Bureau
were incredibly helpful in assisting the panel’s work and providing the
information necessary for our making informed and realistic recommen-
dations. The panel is grateful for their helpful presentations at the panel’s
two open meetings and their timely responses to the panel’s numerous
questions about their programs.
In particular, we thank Nirmala Kannankutty, who served as liaison
between the panel staff and NSF and contributed very useful presenta-
tions on the work of the Division of Science Resources Statistics at NSF.
Mary Frase and Stephen Cohen at NSF contributed to the discussions at
the panel’s meetings and provided helpful presentations on the NSF man-
dates and sample design options. The panel is also indebted to Ron Fecso,
who prepared the original analysis of survey design options when he was
on the staff of the NSF and continued to assist the panel with advice even
after he had moved to the Government Accountability Offce. Overall, the
panel’s work and the assistance we received from the NSF staff would not
have been possible without the invaluable participation of Lynda Carlson,
director of the Division.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Susan Schechter, Jennifer Tancreto, and Cheryl Landman from the
Census Bureau expertly answered the panel’s questions about the uses
of the American Community Survey (ACS) and particular concerns sur-
rounding NSF’s and other users’ needs for information on graduates’
felds of degree. Ms. Tancreto’s workshop presentation on the testing for
the feld-of-degree question and the timeline for testing offered the panel
an essential framework for its work on the topic.
Several users of the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System
program, including three panel members, offered insight on the varied
options for research with these data at the workshop. The panel is grateful
for the outside perspective on the important uses of the National Survey
of College Graduates data provided by Donna Ginther of the University
of Kansas and Sharon Levin of the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
In testimony before the panel, Graham Kalton, Westat, who had
chaired the National Research Council (NRC) Panel on the Functional-
ity and Usability of Data from the American Community Survey, offered
a fresh perspective on the design options under discussion and helped
guide the panel to consider a broader range of alternatives.
The panel acknowledges the excellent work of the staff of the Com-
mittee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) and the NRC for support in devel-
oping and organizing the workshop and this report. We are especially
grateful for the excellent leadership of Tom Plewes, the panel’s study
director. Tom used his experience and wise counsel to facilitate com-
munication among panel members and between the panel and the NSF
staff and to keep the project on schedule. His attention to the needs of the
panel was invaluable in the process of producing this report. Tom was
ably assisted by Caryn Kuebler of the CNSTAT staff, and Michael Siri of
the CNSTAT staff, who provided administrative support. The panel also
benefted from the work of Eugenia Grohman of the Division of Behav-
ioral and Social Sciences and Education for editing the report.
We are especially indebted to Constance F. Citro, CNSTAT director, for
her general expertise and for sharing her extensive knowledge of the ACS.
Her participation in the panel’s meetings and deliberations benefted the
report in numerous ways.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen
for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with
procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the NRC. The
purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical com-
ments that assist the institution in making its report as sound as possible,
and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity,
evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments
and draft manuscript remain confdential to protect the integrity of the
deliberative process.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
The panel thanks the following individuals for their review of this
report: Barbara A. Bailar, consultant, Washington, DC; Richard Freeman,
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA; Donna K. Ginther,
Economics Department, University of Kansas; James M. Lepkowski, Insti-
tute for Social Research, University of Michigan; Sharon Lohr, Depart-
ment of Mathematics and Statistics, Arizona State University; Sally C.
Morton, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle, NC; and Paula
E. Stephan, Department of Economics, Andrew Young School of Policy
Studies, Georgia State University.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many construc-
tive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the con-
clusions or recommendations, nor did they see the fnal draft of the report
before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Richard
Kulka, Abt Associates, Durham, NC. Appointed by the NRC, he was
responsible for making certain that the independent examination of this
report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and
that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for
the fnal content of the report rests entirely with the authoring committee
and the institution.
Hal Stern, Chair
Panel on Assessing the Benefts of the
American Community Survey for the
NSF Division of Science Resources Statistics
