Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) 2022 | NSF

Changes in survey coverage and population.

• Eligibility and fields of study.

2020: Starting in GSS 2020, the list of GSS-eligible CIP codes was updated to align with the revised 2020 CIP list and NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines (TOD). Since most coordinators report graduate student data using CIP, it was important that GSS update the taxonomy to include the new CIP codes on the same timeline as IPEDS. As part of this update, new CIP codes were added, some CIP codes were changed, and a small number of CIP codes were removed. Most of the changes in CIP eligibility were made to ensure that the implementation of the new CIP codes included programs that were GSS-eligible and likely were being reported (based on unit names). The GSS codes of data science and data analytics and of medical clinical sciences were added for reporting new CIP codes in these fields. Due to changes in the CIP and TOD, veterinary biomedical and clinical sciences were moved from other health to agricultural sciences (renamed agricultural and veterinary sciences). To improve alignment with the TOD, human development moved from social sciences to psychology.

In addition to the adjustments made due to the changes in CIP and TOD, the GSS made additional changes based on data reporting patterns that emerged due to the 2017 redesign. Generally, these changes created more detailed fields out of larger GSS codes or reorganized existing codes to align with current enrollment patterns. Broad fields were added to engineering for the first time. In some cases, GSS codes with a small number of graduate students were combined for reporting purposes. For more information on these changes, see GSS 2020: tables A-17, A-18a, and A-18b.

2017: The list of GSS-eligible disciplinary fields was updated in 2017 to align with the TOD. Among the major changes in the update: several fields became ineligible—architecture, communications, and public administration; portions of nutrition and of family and consumer sciences and human sciences also became ineligible. Several fields changed names. A new broad field titled natural resources and conservation was split from agricultural sciences. Computer sciences was split into three fields, and the biological and biomedical sciences field was reorganized. The taxonomy changes resulted in previously reported units being split across separate GSS codes or moving between codes or broad fields. For more information on the 2017 taxonomy updates, see GSS 2017: table A-1.

2014: The survey frame was updated following a comprehensive frame evaluation study. The study identified potentially eligible but not previously surveyed academic institutions in the United States with master’s- or doctorate-granting programs in SEH. Eligible units at 151 newly eligible institutions were added, and 2 private, for-profit institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible. An additional 4 institutions dropped out of the data collection in 2014 because they no longer grant graduate degrees in SEH fields, 2 merged with previously eligible institutions, and 1 began reporting data under another institution. As a result, the total number of institutions included in the GSS increased from 564 in 2013 to 706 in 2014. The total net increase in the number of GSS-eligible units was 826, rising to 14,845 in 2014 from 14,019 in 2013. See GSS 2014: table A-1.

For more information on the survey frame update, see the Special Report Assessing the Impact of Frame Changes on Trend Data from the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.

• Eligibility and degree-granting status.

Institutions are classified as doctorate-granting if at least one GSS-eligible unit confers doctoral degrees. In 2022, seven institutions became ineligible for the GSS. The 2022 survey cycle also saw four institutions merge into a single institution, combining a Health Science Center campus with that of the university’s main campus. In addition, 12 institutions changed GSS degree-granting status: 2 from doctorate-granting to master’s-granting institutions, and 10 from master’s-granting to doctorate-granting institutions. As a result, the total number of institutions included in the GSS decreased from 699 in 2021 to 690 in 2022 (see table A-2 for details on institutional status and table A-3 for overall number of institution counts).

Changes in survey content.

2010: Began collecting ethnicity, race, and citizenship data on postdocs by sex and began collecting type of doctoral degree data on NFRs by sex.

2008: Began collecting the number of first-time, full-time male graduate students by ethnicity and race; full-time male graduate students by source of support; male postdocs by source of support; and male NFRs. Previously, the number of men was inferred by subtracting the number of women from the total.

2010: Began collecting ethnicity and race data for postdocs who are U.S. citizens and permanent residents using the same categories as used for graduate students.

2008: Revised ethnicity and race categories to correspond to IPEDS by combining “Hispanic/Latino, one race only” and “Hispanic/Latino, more than one race” categories into “Hispanic or Latino (one or more races).”

2010: Began collecting citizenship data on postdocs using the same categories that are used for graduate students. In previous years, only counts of postdocs who are foreign nationals holding temporary visas were collected.

2008: Clarification made for “non-U.S. citizens” to exclude non-U.S. citizens residing outside of the United States who are enrolled in an online degree program at a U.S. institution.

2010: Began collecting data on the largest source of financial support and on the largest mechanism of support separately for postdocs. For mechanism of support, “nonfederal sources” was replaced with “other support.”

2008: Graduate student data no longer collected for NIH teaching assistantships because NIH does not offer financial support for students through this mechanism.

2008: Began collecting the number of full-time graduate students whose largest source of support came from a non-U.S. source via teaching assistantship.

2017: Began separate collection of demographic and financial data by master’s and doctoral students.

2010: Began collecting more detailed information on postdocs’ and NFRs’ doctoral degree type. Categories were added for those holding a doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, ScD, DEng), a professional degree (e.g., MD, DVM, DO, DDS), and dual degrees (e.g., MD-PhD, DVM-PhD) as well as for those whom type of degree was unknown. In previous years, the GSS collected degree-type information by asking respondents to indicate how many of the total number of postdocs (or NFRs) had MD, DO, DDS, or DVM degrees. This number was used to estimate the number of postdocs (or NFRs) with medical degrees; the number with research degrees was estimated as the difference between the total counts and the counts of those with medical degrees.

2010: Began collecting postdocs’ doctoral degree type by citizenship and by country of origin (United States, foreign, unknown) of doctoral degrees. Also began collecting NFRs’ doctoral degree type by sex.

Changes in survey procedures.

2017: Coordinators were asked to report master’s and doctoral student data separately and to use CIP codes to categorize their organizational units when reporting student data. Coordinators could report organizational units with postdocs and NFRs using either CIP or GSS codes. Two alternative methods for uploading GSS data were expected of coordinators in 2017. The first option enabled coordinators to utilize an Excel template file to construct a de-identified, individual-level data file. This file could then be uploaded directly into the Web survey. The second option enabled the coordinator to aggregate the individual-level data to the unit level using an Excel macro provided in the template file rather than transmit any individual-level data. A manual data entry option was available to those unable to provide an uploaded file. Coordinators had access to data file templates, a sample SQL SELECT statement containing all GSS-eligible CIP codes that could be used to query their information systems, online training videos, and additional support from the survey contractor on the new data collection changes. Coordinators could continue to use unit respondents to provide part or all of the data request. Organizational units that reported using CIP codes were automatically re-coded to the updated GSS taxonomy by the Web instrument. Coordinators reporting data using GSS rather than CIP codes were asked to re-code their organizational units to the updated GSS taxonomy.

2010: Significant effort was made to ensure that appropriate personnel were providing postdoc and NFR data. As a result, it is unclear how much of the increase reported in 2010 represented actual growth in postdocs and how much resulted from improved data collection. For information on the improved data collection and changes in postdoc data, see Counts of Postdoctoral Appointees in Science, Engineering, and Health Rise with Reporting Improvements; for changes in NFR data, see Examining the Reporting of Nonfaculty Doctorate Researchers in the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.

Historical changes. Changes have been made over the years to the coverage and content of the GSS to keep it relevant to the needs of data users. Such changes impact analysis of trend data, so data comparisons across years should be made with caution. This is especially true for counts; however, proportions or shares are typically robust enough to allow for such comparisons.

In 2017, due to the taxonomy and data collection changes (described above), a set of bridge estimates was created to permit comparisons to previous years and for trend analyses. These estimates are labeled 2017old and are available at the broad field level for all combined graduate student variables as well as postdoc variables. Due to a large increase in counts attributable to prior underreporting, 2017old estimates are not available for NFR data. The data reported as 2017new use the updated GSS taxonomy and are comparable to 2018–21 data but are not comparable to data from prior years. Please note that in tables that compare data from 2017 to the present that 2017new data are used.

Due to the survey frame update, the data comparisons between 2014 and earlier years should use the 2014old data, and those between 2014 and 2016 should use the 2014new data. The impact of frame updates can be evaluated using the 2014old and 2014new data. For more information on the survey frame update, see the Special Report Assessing the Impact of Frame Changes on Trend Data from the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. For more information on the changes prior to 2010, see Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2009: ​“Technical​ Notes” section. For specific changes from the major survey redesign in 2007, see the 2007 report: “Technical Notes.”