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Q: PhD Rankings ( Answered,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: PhD Rankings
Category: Reference, Education and News > Education
Asked by: ggodetan-ga
List Price: $50.00
Posted: 13 Feb 2006 00:04 PST
Expires: 15 Mar 2006 00:04 PST
Question ID: 445091
The National Research Council provides the only respected ranking
system for Ph.D. programs in the United States.  The last rankings
came out in 1995, and the next round has been on hold while they
reevaluate their methodology.

My question has three parts:

When will the next NRC rankings be released?
When will the data collection begin for the next rankings?
What is the new methodology?

Thanks!
Answer  
Subject: Re: PhD Rankings
Answered By: livioflores-ga on 15 Feb 2006 07:36 PST
 
Hi!!


Thank you for asking to Google Answers, I hope that you will find this
work satisfactory for your purposes.
Remember that you can use the clarification feature to request for
further assistance regarding this question or to improve the answer if
you find this unclear and/or incomplete.


"The National Research Council has conducted two assessments of
research-doctoral programs under the auspices of the Conference Board
of Associated Research Councils, the first in 1982 and the second in
1993. A study of the assessment methodology was completed in late
2003. This study investigated new measures and methodologies so that
the second phase, planned for 2004/6, may accurately reflect changes
in scholarship and graduate education that have occurred over the past
twenty years. Covering 57 fields and including fields in agricultural
sciences, biomedical sciences in medical schools and communication for
the first time, the proposed study will place considerably more
emphasis on quantitative measures of doctoral education. It will also
present the reputation measure in a way that emphasizes the variation
in ratings assigned to programs by peer raters. Finally, it will
provide a number of new measures that should be useful to prospective
doctoral students."
From "Board on Higher Education and Workforce: Research Doctorates Assessment":
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bhew/BHEW_ResearchDoctoratesAssessment.html


Note that the final decisions about the taxonomy, methodology, and
questionnaires are expected by March 2006.

According to the NRC this is the timetable for the next Assessment of
Research Doctorate Programs:
-December 2005-March 2006
  NRC Committee meetings. NRC IRB reviews finalized questionnaires.

-Late March
  Letter to universities providing study timetable and asking for
names of institutional coordinator.

-Late April-early May
  Institutional Questionnaires-1?will ask for programs to be included.

-August, 2006
  Institutional/Program questionnaires?will ask for faculty names,
program characteristics. IR should minimize program respondent burden.

-Late September 2006
  Faculty questionnaires

-October, 2006
  Student questionnaires for admitted to candidacy (=advanced)
students in English, Chemical Engineering, Economics, Microbiology,
Physics.

-November 2006-March 2007
  Follow-up on responses and validation of data.

-Late 2007
  Database and interpretive essay released.

-September 2008
  Conference on Analytic Uses.


This means that data collection will take place during this year and
the next and the database with a commentary on the data released in
late 2007.


At The Graduate College - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign -
website I found the following information:
"How will data be collected?
Questionnaires form the core of the National Research Council's data
collection methods. There are four kinds of questionnaires:
- Institutional questionnaires-to be completed by the institutional
coordinator (at Illinois, the Graduate College).
- Program questionnaires-to be completed by individual graduate programs. 
- Faculty questionnaires-to be completed by faculty who participate in
the education of doctoral students.
- Questionnaires for admitted-to-candidacy doctoral students-to be
completed by selected students in five fields (Chemical Engineering,
Economics, English, Microbiology, and Physics). "
From "National Research Council Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs":
http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/nrc/index.htm

 
As the above text tells us, questionnaires are the core of the data
collection methods; they have not been finalized yet, but there are
drafts of them available at the following page:
"Study Questionnaires" (for Research Doctorate Programs Assessment):
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/Study_Questionnaires.html


Regarding the graduate programs included in the study see:
"Taxonomy for Research Doctorate Programs Assessment":
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/Taxonomy.html


The new methodology study project is named "Committee to Examine the
Methodology of the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs", and its
current status is COMPLETED:
"Committee to Examine the Methodology of the Assessment of
Research-Doctorate Programs":
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/ECSU-M-99-02-A

This Committee has released a report with a full description of the
recommendations and the proposed new methodology, you can access to
the complete report by to ways:
Download it from the National Academies Press site (PDF file - 7.5
MB), you will need to sign in at the site, but the report is free to
download:
"Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study (2003)":
http://fermat.nap.edu/catalog/10859.html

Read it on line at the National Academies Press site:
"Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study (2003)":
http://newton.nap.edu/books/030909058X/html


You can also read the following documents:
The Press Summary (PDF):
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/Summary.pdf

The Press Briefing PowerPoint:
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/Powerpoint_presentation.ppt


The project's site is:
"Research Doctorate Programs: Study on Methodology and Assessment":
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html


Related projects are:
BHEW-Q-03-02-A An Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs:
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/BHEW-Q-03-02-A

BHEW-Q-03-02-B Data Panel for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs:
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/BHEW-Q-03-02-B
 
ECSU-M-99-02-B Panel on Taxonomy (COMPLETED):
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/ECSU-M-99-02-B

ECSU-M-99-02-C Panel on Quantitative Measures (COMPLETED):
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/ECSU-M-99-02-C

ECSU-M-99-02-D Panel on Reputational Measures (COMPLETED):
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/ECSU-M-99-02-D

ECSU-M-99-02-E Panel on Student Processes and Outcomes (COMPLETED):
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/ECSU-M-99-02-E

 
                 -------------------        

Search strategy:
At Google.com:
"National Research Council" nrc
"National Research Council" doctoral
"National Research Council" rankings

At National Academies search page
(http://www4.nas.edu/cp.nsf/Projects+_by+_Subjects?OpenView):
Doctorate Programs
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/projectsearch/?searchview&query=doctorate%20programs

                 -------------------        

I hope this helps you. Please feel free to use the clarification
feature if you need it.

Regards,
livioflores-ga
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