Study of the Time-to-Degree by Doctorates in Science and Engineering

国家研究理事会科学与工程人员办公室(OSEP)建议进行一项研究，以确定和探索解释从获得学士学位到完成研究博士学位所需时间长短的关键因素。鉴于已知的人口趋势和预计在20世纪90年代末学术部门的职位空缺数量将大幅增加，联邦政策制定者可能有必要想方设法增加新博士的供应。要做到这一点，一种可能的方法是扭转延长完工时间的趋势。从历史上看，不同博士领域的时间长度是不同的，在这些领域内，时间与学位的比率一直在上升。然而，对于这些差异为什么会出现，这些趋势对博士学位产生的决定因素有多重要，以及这些趋势是否可以改变，人们知之甚少。拟议研究的一项主要成果是建立了1967-1986年期间11个科学和工程领域中每一个领域的时间序列数据库。这个数据库将被用来测试一个模型，以确定市场力量、人口和制度因素以及联邦和其他财政援助来源的影响。他们还将提供一些关于学士学位和博士学位授予系的质量是否会影响他们完成学业的时间的问题的一些见解。

The Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel (OSEP) of the National Research Council proposes to undertake a study to identify and explore the key factors that explain the length of time from the receipt of the baccalaureate to completion of the research doctorate. Given known demographic trends and the dramatic increase expected in the number of job openings in the academic sector in the late 1990s it may be necessary for federal policy makers to find ways to generate an increase in the supply of new doctorates. One possible way to do this is by reversing the trend toward longer completion times. Historically, length of time has differed across doctoral fields and within these fields time- to-degree has been rising. Yet, little is known about why these differences arise, how important the trends may be as determinants of doctorate production, and whether these trends can be altered. A major output of the proposed study is a time series data base for the period 1967-1986 for each of eleven science and engineering fields. This data base will be used to test a model to determine the effects of market forces, demographic and institutional factors, and federal and other sources of financial aid. They will also provide some insight into the question of whether the quality of the baccalaureate and doctorate granting departments of students affects their length of time to completion.