The Surveys

The committee designed the surveys to collect information that has gone largely uncollected—or has been done for a few universities, but not across many institutions. As noted earlier in the chapter, the committee designed the depart­mental survey to focus on processes, particularly tenure, promotion, and hiring, as well as on departmental characteristics. The faculty survey, on the other hand, was designed to assess the resources individual faculty received and to collect suffi­cient information on faculty to allow for comparisons across fields or by ranks.

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) was contracted to craft the final survey instruments and implement the surveys. The surveys were developed during September 2004. The departmental questionnaire was primarily a mailed instrument. The faculty questionnaire was primarily a Web-based instrument. For both surveys, multiple follow-ups occurred by mail for departments and by e-mail for faculty.

The theoretical population for the departmental chair survey consisted of 534 departments. This represents 89 departments from the 89 Research I institutions multiplied by the six disciplines: biological sciences, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, and physics. In actuality, a few institutions did not offer all six programs. One institution, Rockefeller University, had an organizational structure that seemed very different from the traditional notion of a “department.” This school was not included in the survey. As a first step, the committee consulted the institutions’ Web sites and identified the names of the six programs. The names of each program and a link to the program’s Web site are listed at the conclusion of this summary.[98]

In the case of biology, 87 units were identified. Biology was the most compli­cated, since it is an evolving discipline. Biology “departments,” as thought of in the traditional sense and possessing initial decision-making authority for hiring, tenure and promotions, are called by a variety of names. They are often at least minimally interdisciplinary among the biological sciences, so some units included biochemistry or biophysics; in other cases, the units were subsets of the biological sciences. Departments of molecular and cellular biology are an example of this latter case. In one instance, all the departments had been merged into a single school and so this was included for that institution.

In chemistry, 87 departments were identified. The majority were departments of chemistry, while a few were chemistry and biochemistry. In civil engineering, 69 departments were identified. Often civil engineering was bundled with envi­ronmental engineering, and less often with construction engineering, architectural

engineering, or mechanical engineering. In electrical engineering, 77 departments were identified. Electrical engineering departments often included computer engi­neering. In mathematics, 86 departments were identified. One of the remaining three institutions only offered mathematics as part of an undergraduate college, and so it was excluded. In a few instances, mathematics departments also included statistics. In one case, a joint mathematics and computer science department was included. Finally, in physics, 86 departments were identified. One of the remain­ing three institutions only offered physics as part of an undergraduate college, and so it was excluded. About half of the departments included astronomy in the department.

The result of this was 492 departments. Initially, the committee’s goal was to examine a sample of departments. After further reflection, however, the commit­tee decided a census would be more fruitful. Partly, this reflected a concern that there would be very few responses for women. For example, the questionnaire asked how many faculty were hired in the past 2 years. While many departments were hiring, few hires were women. To increase this latter number, all depart­ments received the sample. Second, the advantage of the census lies in being able to make comparisons between disciplines, e. g., chemistry versus biology, for all Research I institutions.

In all 417 departments responded to the questionnaire. This gives an overall response rate of 85 percent, which is a respectable response. By discipline, elec­trical engineering had the lowest response rate, while physics had the highest. One might speculate that the fact that AIP sent the survey, and was familiar with physics departments from other survey projects, might have contributed to the higher return for physics departments.

Discipline	Responded	Sample	Percent
Biological sciences	76	87	87
Chemistry	76	87	87
Civil engineering	55	69	80
Electrical engineering	59	77	77
Mathematics	74	86	86
Physics	77	86	90

To generate the faculty sample, the committee collected faculty rosters, for assistant, associate, and full professors, at each of the 492 departments. This was done by consulting each department’s Web site for a faculty list. Second, the com­mittee identified the assistant, associate, and full professors in the department. This step was more complex. The committee started with the faculty roster on the individual institution’s departmental Web sites. If it identified these three types of faculty, then those faculty members’ names were entered into a spreadsheet. If the Web site did not identify faculty members’ ranks, then the committee turned to university catalogues. In the event that this failed (because catalogues were not available on line), the committee examined individual faculty members’ Web sites.

The following faculty were not included: lecturers, instructors, emeriti professors, research professors, adjunct faculty, visiting faculty, and courtesy appointments. In addition, jointly appointed faculty, where the department in question was the secondary appointment, were not included. Thus, an associate professor of chem­istry with a joint appointment in biology, would be counted in chemistry, but not in biology. This process resulted in a final tally of approximately 16,400 faculty.

There are obvious, potential limitations to this approach. Specifically, depart­mental roster Web sites and college catalogues may be out of date. Recently hired faculty may not have been added to Web sites, while faculty who have left posi­tions might not have been removed. Faculty may have received promotions that have yet to be reflected on departmental Web sites. As a result, it is likely that a few professorial faculty will be missed or misplaced.

Third, the committee identified the gender of each faculty member. This was done primarily by relying on faculty names and photographs on departmental roster Web sites. Where there was some question as to the faculty member’s gender, internet research was attempted, and failing that, the department was called. The results of these efforts are captured in the following table.

Population of Faculty in Six Disciplines at Research I Institutions Associate Assistant Department Gender Professor Professor Professor Total Biology Male 1222 481 427 2130 Female 262 176 199 637 Total 2767 Chemistry Male 1513 331 408 2252 Female 150 72 101 323 Total 2575 Civil Male 787 371 302 1460 engineering Female 57 50 78 185 Total 1645 Electrical Male 1579 575 531 2685 engineering Female 79 76 70 225 Total 2910 Mathematics Male 2153 565 445 3163 Female 151 76 102 329 Total 3492 Physics Male 1994 413 407 2814 Female 119 49 67 235 Total 3049 Total 10066 3235 3137 16438

The committee then took a systematic sample of 50 faculty per gender, rank, and field. Fowler (1993) describes the general procedure: “When drawing a sys­tematic sample from a list, the researcher first determines the number of entries on the list and the number of elements from the list that are to be selected. Dividing the latter by the former will produce a fraction. Thus, if there are 8,500 people on a list and a sample of 100 is required, 1/85 of the list (i. e., 1 out of every 85 per­sons) is to be included in the sample. In order to select a systematic sample, a start point is designated by choosing a random number from 1 to 85. The randomized start ensures that it is a chance selection process. Given that start, the researcher proceeds to take every 85th person on the list.” In some cases, because there are so few women in a particular field at a particular rank, all were selected.[99]

Pre-notice letters were sent to deans/provosts and to department chairs to alert them to the forthcoming questionnaires and also to ask for their assistance and encouragement in filling out the form. Anecdotally, feedback from the administra­tion was positive and encouraging. The departmental census was offered as both a mail-based and Web-based questionnaire. The departmental questionnaire was mailed in November, 2004. A series of follow-ups was undertaken.

The faculty questionnaire was designed as a web-based survey, although some respondents requested a hard copy from the contractor. Faculty received an e-mail request to fill out the survey along with a link to the survey, hosted on the contractor’s server.[100] Faculty received multiple e-mail follow-ups.

Some faculty had to be removed or re-classified for various reasons. These included accidental duplication of a faculty member in the sample, faculty member was deceased, information regarding faculty member (i. e., rank) was incorrect, and faculty member was no longer at the institution (and had not moved to another Research I institution). The most frequent problem was that the data on the departmental Web sites was incorrect; usually out of date. The final sample involved 1,834 individuals.

Final Sample, Including Respondents, Non-respondents, Refusals, Removals

			Associate	Assistant
Department	Gender	Professor	Professor	Professor	Total
Biology	Male	59	53	42	154
	Female	58	55	44	157
Total					311
Chemistry	Male	64	49	43	156
	Female	48	50	44	142
Total					298
Civil	Male	61	55	36	152
engineering	Female	44	56	56	156
Total					308
Electrical	Male	51	54	51	156
engineering	Female	53	50	45	148
Total					304
Mathematics	Male	69	43	43	155
	Female	53	46	44	143
Total					298
Physics	Male	61	42	50	153
	Female	58	48	56	162
Total					315
Total		679	601	554	1834

Of these 1,834 individuals, 91 had to be removed from the sample, because they should not have been included in the population (e. g., were deceased, no lon­ger at a Research I institution, or not one of the three professorial ranks). Overall, 41 men and 50 women or 24 professors, 29 associate professors, and 38 assistant professors were removed.

Individuals Removed from Sample
Department	Gender	Professor	Associate Professor	Assistant Professor	Total
Biology	Male	2	5	1	8
	Female	1	3	8	12
Total					20
Chemistry	Male	1	2	1	4
	Female	1	1	4	6
Total					10
Civil	Male	1	3	2	6
engineering	Female	1	1	0	2
Total					8
Electrical	Male	0	0	0	0
engineering	Female	2	3	2	7
Total					7
Mathematics	Male	5	4	8	17
	Female	4	2	7	13
Total					30
Physics	Male	0	2	4	6
	Female	6	3	1	10
Total					16
Total		24	29	38	91

Approximately, 1,743 individuals made up the corrected sample. Of these 1,347 responded to the questionnaire. Additionally, 1,278 filled out the survey, while 69 individuals responded by refusing to complete the survey.

Respondents (Including Those Who Responded by Refusing)

Department	Gender	Professor	Associate Professor	Assistant Professor	Total
Biology	Male	46	33	34	113
	Female	49	44	31	124
Total					237
Chemistry	Male	51	34	32	117
	Female	39	41	32	112
Total					229
Civil	Male	40	38	26	104
engineering	Female	31	48	48	127
Total					231
Electrical	Male	35	31	42	108
engineering	Female	40	39	31	110
Total					218
Mathematics	Male	44	25	25	94
	Female	35	36	27	98
Total					192
Physics	Male	50	34	30	114
	Female	41	34	51	126
Total					240
Total		501	437	409	1347

Non-respondents Department Gender Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Total Biology Male 11 15 7 33 Female 8 8 5 21 Total 54 Chemistry Male 12 13 10 35 Female 8 8 8 24 Total 59 Civil Male 20 14 8 42 engineering Female 12 7 8 27 Total 69 Electrical Male 16 23 9 48 engineering Female 11 8 12 31 Total 79 Mathematics Male 20 14 10 44 Female 14 8 10 32 Total 76 Physics Male 11 6 16 33 Female 11 11 4 26 Total 59 Total 154 135 107 396

To conclude:

• 1,834 individuals comprised the sample.

• 1,743 individuals comprised the corrected sample (excludes removals).

• 1,347 individuals responded (includes refusals).

• 1,278 individuals provided some data.

• 396 individuals did not respond.

The response rate for the survey (number of completed questionnaires divided by number of valid sample elements) is 1,278/1,743 or 73 percent.

Immediately following this text are the list of 492 departments surveyed, the departmental questionnaire, and the faculty questionnaire.

← Previous Post Next Post →