The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

On February 15, 2021, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statisticsopens in new window (NCSES) celebrated its 10th anniversary. Despite having existed for over a decade, few psychologists are aware of NCSES, its mission, or the large impact it has on the field of psychology. For those unfamiliar with NCSES, the America competes Reauthorization Act of 2010 established NCSES as the 13th agency in the U.S. federal statistical system with a Congressional mandate to “collect, acquire, analyze, report, and disseminate statistical data related to the science and engineering enterprise in the United States and other nations that is relevant and useful to practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public, including statistical data on:

research and development trends;
the science and engineering workforce;
United States competitiveness in science, engineering, technology, and research and development; and
the condition and progress of United States stem education;” (U.S. Code 2014, Title 42, Chapter 16, Section 1862p.b.opens in new window).

Hence, NCSES is the federal statistical agency tasked with collecting data on the current state of psychological science including information on education, training, research, and jobs.

One reason NCSES may be unfamiliar to psychologists is because in addition to being the newest of the federal statistical agencies, NCSES is also a division within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences and serves as NSF’s primary statistical resource. As a result, NCSES surveys and reports also include NSF branding. What this means is that many psychologists may have participated in one or more NCSES surveys without realizing it. For example, the Survey of Earned Doctoratesopens in new window, which every person who received a PhD from a U.S. educational institution since 1957 has been required to complete, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipientsopens in new window, which included 7,758 psychologists for the 2019 collection cycle, are both NCSES surveys.

At this point, you may be thinking, “That’s great, but why should Division 21 members care about NCSES?” In answer, there are two main reasons why Division 21 members (and quite frankly all scientists) should care about NCSES.

First, NCSES produces two of the National Science Board’s key publications using the data it collects: Science and Engineering Indicatorsopens in new window and Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineeringopens in new window. These reports are then used by organizations such as the Congressional Budget Office, which estimates the costs of proposed legislation, and the Congressional Research Service, which prepares reports for members of Congress and Congressional committees, to provide information directly to policy and law makers. This means that NCSES plays a pivotal role in U.S. federal spending for psychological science.

Second, in addition to making the bulk of the data from their 14 active surveysopens in new window freely available to researchers (most of the remaining data are also available for free, but require a restricted data use license), NCSES provides research funding on topics of interest to Division 21 members in the form of grants and fellowships for all career levels.

My first experience with NCSES came when I saw an NSF announcement for a social science quantitative methodologist in the summer of 2019. At the time I was unfamiliar with NCSES, but I was interested in becoming more involved with NSF, so I submitted an application and was subsequently invited to participate in the NCSES Research Ambassador Program, administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), as a Fellow – Established Scientist. After working out the logistics with the University of Nebraska, I started my fellowship on June 1, 2020 and am currently halfway through my second year at NCSES. Despite having to participate virtually due to the pandemic, I have been involved in numerous NCSES projects, including a revision of one of the center’s primary surveys, hosted several methodologically focused workshops for center staff, and am currently writing a series of research papers that apply advanced latent variable techniques to NCSES datasets.

While I have found the staff, analysts, and leadership at NCSES to be second-to-none with regards to professionalism, technical ability, and collegiality, it is worth noting that I am the only (and possibly the first) psychologist at the center. I find this to be a missed opportunity because even in my short time at NCSES I have observed many areas in which psychologists could make unique and significant contributions, not just in terms of psychological measurement and other quantitative and qualitative methods, but also in terms of psychological theory and applied psychology. I mentioned this to NCSES leadership and they agreed, then promptly added an outreach component to my fellowship. As part of this outreach effort, I have already chaired a symposium at the 2021 APA convention titled “Calling all psychologists—The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics” that included talks by NCSES Deputy Director Vipin Arora and NCSES Research Program Director Jennifer Sinibaldi, and have had conversations with members of the APA Education Directorate who use NCSES data to track education and jobs in psychology. Now I am reaching out directly to the membership of specific APA divisions, including Division 21, who I believe have the most to contribute and the most to gain from a working relationship with NCSES.

I hope this short introduction to NCSES has motivated you to find out more and to consider becoming involved with the center. For more information about NCSES resources and research opportunities please visit the links below. If you have any specific questions regarding my fellowship experience, please feel free to contact me at mfritz@nsf.gov or matt.fritz@unl.edu.

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Resources and research opportunities