About the National Research Council Assessment of the Doctorate Programs
Faculty Tip Sheet for the National Research Council Study of Research Doctorates Faculty Questionnaire
Participation in the National Research Council Survey of Research Doctorates will help UGA document its strength in graduate research programs and identify benchmarks of progress toward research excellence. UGA will participate in this third NRC study, with data being gathered in 2006-2007 and results shared in 2007. The most recent NRC study was reported in 1994-1995.
Dr. Maureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School and the institutional contact for the assessment project has established an advisory committee of faculty from colleges that are home to the 53 eligible doctoral programs and from UGA’s Institutional Research office. Dr. Karen Bauer, director of the Office of Institutional Research, will coordinate the information and data collection activities and work with the advisory committee on institutional protocol and promoting completion of the project. Cross-campus collaboration on this project is essential to provide accurate and complete information about doctoral study at UGA.
Importance of the study
Questionnaire completion: who does what?
Importance and Purpose of the Study
From Maureen Grasso, Dean of the Graduate School and NRC Institutional Contact: "Participation in the NRC study is essential as UGA strives to compete with other major research institutions in scholarship, research and the recruitment of top doctoral students. I believe that with full response from the faculty and selected students, UGA will show tremendous advancement in the quality of our programs since the last study was completed in 1995. Further, we will have access to an online database of the results reported in 2008, which will be helpful in future years as we measure the growth of our programs."
From the National Academy of Sciences President Ralph Cicerone's invitation of participation to college and university presidents:
"The National Research Council, which conducted assessments of doctoral programs in 1983 and 1995, proposes to conduct a new study, the purposes of which are to:
- Help universities improve their doctoral programs through benchmarking.
- Expand the talent pool through accessible information, easily available to potential doctoral students, about doctoral programs.
- Benefit the nation's research capacity by improving the quality of doctoral programs and their students.
This study will be a marked departure from earlier studies...[It] will gather information about a large number of quantitative variables that are related to:
- Scholarly productivity of program faculty
- Effectiveness of doctoral education
- Research resources
- Demographic characteristics of students and faculty
- Resources available to doctoral students
- Characteristics of the doctoral program
These data, collected under uniform definitions, will be used to construct a large web-resident database for about sixty fields of study, thus permitting comparisons of programs within a university and across universities. The database will be constructed so that it can be updated regularly."
Advisory Committee Established
UGA Graduate School NRC contacts:
- Dr. Maureen Grasso, Dean
- Dr. Karen Bauer, Director, Office of Institutional Research and NRC project coordinator
- Dr. David K. Knox, Director of Technological Academic Initiatives, the Graduate School
Members of the advisory committee who will help guide the campus response on the NRC Survey:
- Dr. Jorge Atiles, Associate Dean, College of Family and Consumer Sciences
- Dr. Karen Bauer, Director, Institutional Research
- Dr. Josef Broder, Associate Dean, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
- Dr. Kirk Cureton, Professor, Department of Kinesiology
- Dr. Kathleen DeMarrais, Associate Dean, College of Education
- Dr. Harry Dickerson, Associate Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Dr. Daniel Feldman, Associate Dean, Terry College of Business
- Dr. Jeffrey Fisher, Director, Toxicology Program
- Dr. William Fitt, Professor, College of Environment and Design
- Dr. George Francisco, Associate Dean, College of Pharmacy
- Dr. Jerome Legge, Associate Dean, School of Public and International Affairs
- Dr. David Newman, Associate Dean, Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources
- Dr. Pamela Orpinas, Professor, College of Public Health
- Dr. Hugh Ruppersburg, Associate Dean, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
- Dr. Jeffrey Springston, Associate Dean, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
Graduate School Research Assistants
- Sungjoo Choi, doctoral candidate, Public Administration & Policy
- Hui Wang, doctoral candidate, Management Information Systems
Questionnaire Completion: Who Does What?
The Graduate School will complete and submit the Institutional Questionnaire and will work closely with participating academic programs to complete the Program Questionnaire. The Graduate School will pre-populate information that is institution-specific and pertains to student enrollment and demographics and will request program-specific information from the academic departments. The faculty lists based on the study criteria will be shared with each department via a secure website and corrections and updates will be completed by the academic department designee.
Faculty Questionnaires
Faculty questionnaires will be distributed directly to faculty members by the NRC contracted research group, Mathematica Policy Research, as a result of a list of eligible faculty and corresponding programs provided by the Graduate School. Faculty members will be sent a login and password and asked to complete the questionnaire online. The questionnaire requests demographic information, education, employment history, and scholarly activities. Additionally, data from the faculty questionnaires will be used to match faculty names with national databases that hold information on publications and citations, research grants, awards, and honors.
Participation in the study is voluntary; results will be published in summary form only; and confidentiality of data will be strictly enforced. Nonparticipation will not affect faculty relationships with the University.
Students Admitted to Candidacy Questionnaires
Student questionnaires will be completed nationally by students who have been admitted to candidacy in five disciplines:
- English
- Economics
- Physics
- Neuroscience/Neurobiology
- Chemical Engineering
At UGA, students from the following doctoral programs will participate in the study:
- English
- Economics
- Housing and Consumer Economics
- Physics
Student questionnaires will be distributed directly to UGA doctoral students who have been admitted to candidacy in English, Economics and Physics by the NRC contracted research group, Mathematica Policy Research. A list of eligible student names and corresponding programs will be provided by the Graduate School. Students will be sent a login and password and asked to complete the questionnaire online. The questionnaire requests both objective and subjective information.
Participation in the study is voluntary; results will be published in summary form only; and confidentiality of data will be strictly enforced. Nonparticipation will not affect student relationships with the University.
