Have you heard about the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES)opens in new window? If not, you are not alone. But this means that you do not know that NCSES is the federal statistical agency that collects data on the field of psychology including undergraduate and graduate education, research funding, and the health and diversity of the psychology workforce. Or that NCSES produces two of the National Science Board’s key publications using these data, Science and Engineering Indicatorsopens in new window and Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineeringopens in new window, both of which are used by the federal government to make science policy and funding decisions. Or that when you completed 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 fill out, or were selected for the Survey of Doctorate Recipientsopens in new window, which included 7,758 psychologists for the 2019 collection cycle, then you have participated in an NCSES survey. Or that NCSES makes most of the data from its 14 active surveys available for free and provides funding in the form of grants and research fellowships for all career levels for research associated with its core mission to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date data on the U.S. science and engineering enterprise.
One reason many psychologists may be unfamiliar with NCSES is that until February 2011, NCSES was called the Division of Science Resources Statistics, located within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 established NCSES as the thirteenth 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—(A) research and development trends; (B) the science and engineering workforce; (C) United States competitiveness in science, engineering, technology, and research and development; and (D) the condition and progress of United States STEM education;” (U.S. Code 2014, Title 42, Chapter 16, Section 1862p.b.opens in new window). In addition to its role as a federal statistical agency, NCSES to operate as division within NSF and serves as NSF’s primary statistical resource, which can lead to some confusion as most NCSES surveys and products contain both NSF and NCSES branding.
I was also unaware of NCSES until I found an announcement in the summer of 2019 that NCSES was looking for a quantitative methodologist with a social science background to assist with several ongoing center projects and to conduct independent research using center data. At the time I had just served on an NSF review panel and was interested in becoming more involved with NSF, so I contacted NCSES about the announcement and several phone conversations and a research presentation later, I was offered the position of fellow—established scientist in the NCSES Research Ambassadors Program, administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). After getting approval from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln to take a leave of absence, I began my fellowship at NCSES on June 1, 2020. Due to the pandemic, I have unfortunately had to participate in the Research Ambassadors Program virtually, but I have still been able to work on a number of ongoing center projects, including a revision of one of the center’s ongoing surveys to better measure a psychological construct of interest. I have also been a member of several working groups, given a workshop on scale construction, with workshops on factor analysis and item response theory to follow, and I am writing a series of working papers illustrating the use of person-centered and other latent variable methods to model the center’s data.
As the only psychologist currently at NCSES, what has become increasingly apparent to me is how much psychologists have to offer NCSES and vice versa. While the NCSES staff, analysts and leadership are world class, most have backgrounds in economics, sociology and survey statistics, which means that there is an opportunity for psychologists to make a unique and substantial contribution to the center’s mission, not just in terms of measurement and other quantitative and qualitative methods, but also psychology theory (e.g., industrial/organizational psychology, engineering psychology, applied psychology, learning and STEM education, diversity and representation, etc.). I voiced these thoughts to NCSES leadership, and they not only agreed with me, but added an outreach component to my fellowship in order increase awareness of NCSES among psychologists and to encourage more psychologists to become involved with the center. As part of this outreach, I 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. I have also had discussions with the staff in the APA’s Education Directorate who use NCSES data to track trends in psychology education and employment. And finally, I am reaching out directly to the membership of specific divisions, such as Div. 5, who I believe have the most to contribute and the most to gain from becoming involved with NCSES.
I hope this short article has intrigued you and motivated you to learn more about NCSES. For more information about NCSES resources and research opportunities please visit the links below. If you have any specific questions regarding about my fellowship experience, please feel free to contact me via email.
- Learn more about NCSES’s history, missionopens in new window, and why psychologists should get more involved with NCSES.
- Learn more about NCSES surveysopens in new window and access the public use data files.
- Learn more about research funding opportunitiesopens in new window at NCSES.
- Learn more about the ORISE NCSES Research Ambassadors Programopens in new window.
- Learn more about the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship Programopens in new window.