| The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Science Resources Statistics (SRS) is engaged in a multi-year project to determine the feasibility of gathering in-depth information on postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) and other recent PhDs, i.e., early career researchers, across employment sectors.
Decision-makers, researchers, and members of the US scientific enterprise have requested these data – as these parties are interested in better understanding the impact of the large number of early career researchers (including postdocs who are temporary visa holders) on US and global scientific markets.
This project, the Postdoc Data Project (PDP) aims to:
- Collect a comprehensive postdoc count that includes all employment sectors
- Construct a sampling frame of all postdocs that includes non-US PhD degreed early career researchers
In addition to providing much-needed data on postdocs, the PDP provides a valuable example of building a sampling frame using a tailored list-assessment approach. A formidable challenge, however, rests with finding a data source for temporary visa holders in the US science and engineering workforce.
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