Computing Professionals Changing Needs for the 1990s (1993) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A: Comparison of Data Sources and Data
Appendix A: Comparison of Data Sources and Data
Pages 97-119
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From page 99... ...
Indirect data include information on salaries, demographic changes, student plans and aspirations, and legislative changes such as those dealing with immigration or with particular appropriations, such as research budgets. NOTE: A paper prepared for a computer science and technology workshop sponsored by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel of the National Research Council, and held at the National Academy of Sciences Beckman Center, Irvine, California, October 28-29, 1991.
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From page 100... ...
, with its ongoing survey of new doctorates awarded and its biennial survey of the doctoral population; the Engineering Manpower Commission (EMC) , which collects both enrollment and degree data in computer engineering and in computer technology; and the Computing Research Association (CRA)
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From page 101... ...
· The Institute for International Education's annual surveys of foreign students studying in the United States give some field information. · The American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America surveys of Ph.D.s in mathematics offer a useful companion study to the Taulbee survey.
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From page 102... ...
Reasons for differences in data reported on similar populations include differences in taxonomy, such as definition of the field; differences in time frames covered by surveys (fiscal years, academic years, calendar years, and/or different starting and stopping places in the calendar) ; differences in the cutoff date for a survey, and importantly, differences in the person or persons responding to the survey e.g., individuals reporting on themselves (as in the NRC Doctorate Records File)
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From page 103... ...
Computer Science and Computer Engineering Degrees Reported, 1986 to 1991 Year CRA NCES EMC CBMS Computer Science 1985 1986 10,947 42,195 32,348 1987 10,540 39,927 1988 10,759 34,896 1989 8,796 30,963 1990 9,037 21,704 1991 8,232 Computer Engineering 1986 2,192 4,999 1987 2,103 2,021 5,012 1988 1,928 2,115 4,275 1989 1,810 2,198 4,398 1990 1,628 4,355 1991 1,632 NOTE: Data from annual and other surveys of the Computing Research Association (CRA) , National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
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From page 104... ...
Indeed, as the number of computer science degrees increased during the 1970s, the number of mathematics degrees dropped steadily (Figure Aid. Some of the degrees counted by one data source as computer science degrees may be counted as mathematics degrees in other data sets.
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From page 105... ...
Doctoral Degrees Data on doctoral degrees awarded should be fully compatible, since the number of schools awarding doctorates is limited and all of them should be included in each of the available data sources. Further, after a dozen years of reporting on these degrees, it should be possible to assume some agreement about what constitutes a Ph.D.
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From page 106... ...
The early increase in bachelor 's-level computer science degrees came at the expense of mathematics degrees, and that appears to have happened also for doctoral degrees through the first half of the 1970s (Figure Aid. Then as computer science degrees leveled off for a decade, so also did degrees in mathematics, through 1985.
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From page 107... ...
. 107 In each of the three sources that provide information about the citizenship of doctoral graduates, the data refer to foreign graduates on temporary visas rather than the more inclusive "r~on-U.S.
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From page 108... ...
degrees awarded in computer engineering (39 percent) were earned by foreign students on temporary visas.
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From page 109... ...
The reason for the discrepancy is not obvious. Looking at the citizenship status of computer scientists and engineers in the same data set (NRC)
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From page 110... ...
It is particularly difficult to sort out data on faculty from data describing other academic employees; to determine what proportion of each group is made up of women; and, among the faculty, to determine how many are tenured. Table A.7, which includes data on computer specialists employed in academic institutions, indicates that, for the two data sets that break out the computer scientists from the computer engineers, the data on computer engineers are a closer match than the data on computer scientists.
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From page 111... ...
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From page 112... ...
Nonetheless, the BLS reports 22,000 computer science faculty in 1989, whereas NSF, reporting on NRC data from the biennial survey of the doctoral work force, notes only 6,553 academically employed Ph.D.s in computer science in 1989. Could this mean that 70 percent of higher-education faculty in computer science do not have a doctorate?
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From page 113... ...
The BLS reports that in 1990 32.5 percent of computer scientists and systems analysts were women, 5.6 percent were African American, and 3 percent were Hispanic. The NSF, which has no data past 1986, has estimated that in 1988, 31 percent of employed computer specialists were women, 0.4 percent were African American, 1.2 percent were Hispanic, and 6.6 percent were Asian.
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From page 114... ...
For dealing with the future, of course, no data exist. We operate with indicators of probable oversupply or undersupply, including unemployment rates and rates for starting salaries compared with those for other fields (and changes in starting salaries, where increases substantially above those offered in other fields are a definite indicator of a current shortage of graduates to fill open positions)
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From page 115... ...
Although this appears obvious, I confess that I know less about the data on supply or demand in the computer sciences than I thought I knew a few weeks before I started diving, far too confidently, into this assignment. I thought I knew, within a very few percentage points, how many computer scientists and engineers are graduating each year at each degree level; approximately how many faculty are currently employed teaching computer science; and within wide margins, about how many people now make their living in the United States based on their knowledge and use of computers.
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From page 116... ...
· We need to know in considerably more detail about our academic work force for computer science, including whether currently funded faculty positions are filled; how many such positions exist; whether vacant positions (if any) are for teaching slots, for research, for administration, or for some combinations of these tasks; and what the incumbents in occupied positions are responsible for doing.
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From page 117... ...
Whether that will change sufficiently and soon enough to protect the American investment in computer expertise, or whether our dependence on foreign students, foreign graduates, and even foreign workers will increase, is not yet clear. The safest prophecies for the future, however, carefully omit both "data" and dates.
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From page 118... ...
1992. The 1990-1991 Taulbee Survey Report: The Computing Research Association s Survey on the Production and Employment of Ph.D.'s and Faculty in Computer Science and Engineering.
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From page 119... ...
21-ST-03. Educational Testing Service, for the National Center for Education Statistics.
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