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OCR for page 213
Minority Statement
The inclusion of several different and independent possible mea-
sures reflecting the quality of graduate education in this report seems
to us a substantial addition and a significant improvement to the pre-
vious such studies. However, we are concerned with the possibility
that there are perhaps too many measures, some of which have little or
no bearing on the objectives of the present study. In particular, mea-
sures 06 and 07 (on the employment plans of graduates) are not informa-
tive, have little or nothing to do with the quality of the program, and
yield numbers that are not very dependable. Both measures come from
data in the NRC's Survey of Earned Doctorates. Measure 06, the frac-
tion of FY1975-79 program graduates with definite employment or study
plans at time of doctorate, is vague because the "time of doctorate"
may vary considerably from the time of year when, say, academic ap-
pointments are offered--and this in,turn can vary substantially among
institutions. This measure may be associated with the prosperity of
the program, but its connection with quality is tenuous. Measure 07,
the fraction of FY1975-79 program graduates planning to take positions
in Ph.D.-arantino universities is even more nebulous. What is meant
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-
_ - - ~
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by 'iplanningn? How firm are those plans? (We can't know; all there
is is a check somewhere on a questionnaire.) What about the variation
in quality among different Ph.D.-granting universities? It can be
considerable, and such considerable differences are precisely those the
whole study is attempting to measure. Such data obscure the differ-
ences. Further, measure 07 betrays the inherent bias of the present
study and previous ones in that the program graduates planning to take
positions in Ph.D.-granting universities" is tacitly offered as a mea-
sure of the "goodness" of the program.
nothing can be farther from the truth.
sures 06 and 07 is that they are irrelevant.
In the late 1970's and 1980's
The kindest evaluation of mea-
These two measures do not result from careful plans made by the
committee for this study in order to find other useful new measures.
Such plans were considered, but for various good reasons could not be
carried out. These two particular measures just happen to be available
in the vast data collected and recorded (but not critically evaluated)
over the years by the Commission on Human Resources of the National Re-
213
OCR for page 214
214
search Council. Their inclusion in this report might be explained by
bureaucratic inertia, but this inclusion adds nothing to the report.
SAUNDERS MAC LANE
C. K. N. PATE L
ERNEST S. KUH
Representative terms from entire chapter:
graduates planning
