The survey focused next on the number of research assistants (RAs) and postdocs supervised by the faculty, and the amount of available clerical support. For faculty, supervising RAs and postdocs is both an advantage and disadvantage. Such supervision may take a lot of faculty time and effort, yet support staff contributes a great deal to faculty research and publications, and thus, the avail
ability of support staff can increase the productivity of faculty. Finally, supervising postdocs, who are the next generation of scholars, is recognized as one of the key activities of research faculty.
Faculty reported supervising between zero and 23 RAs, although 80 percent reported supervising between zero and 5 RAs. There was no difference between male (3.18 RAs supervised) and female (3.36 RAs supervised) faculty in the mean number of RAs supervised. Differences were small in every field.
Turning to postdocs, more than half of the faculty reported that they supervised no postdocs (see Appendix 4-15). The binary case (supervising no postdocs and supervising some postdocs) was then examined.[74] In general, there was no difference between male and female faculty in the probability of faculty who reported supervising one or more postdocs. The field with the largest difference was in biology where 49 percent of the women compared to 62 percent of the men supervised postdocs.
Finally, we examined clerical support. Faculty were asked whether they had all of the clerical support they needed, some of the clerical support they needed, or no clerical support. The variable was collapsed to focus on those who reported that they were satisfied compared to those who had less than they wanted or no access. In general, 54 percent of men reported that they had all of the clerical support that they needed, compared to 40 percent of women (see Appendix 4-16). Examined by discipline (Figure 4-4 and Appendix 4-16), men were more likely to report that they had all of the clerical support that they needed in chemistry and civil engineering.