The questionnaire design was guided by a set of assumptions, including:
Target population
The target population is early-career scientists—specifically, postdocs (researchers with a PhD or PhD-equivalent degree obtained within 10 years of the baseline survey).
Sample
The sample will be drawn from the SED surplus after the SDR is drawn. It will be supplemented by other sources to capture postdocs with foreign PhDs and PhD-equivalent degrees.
For cases drawn from the SED, the survey will be tailored to exclude questions that overlap with the SED instrument. This customization would be accomplished using skip logic based on preloaded variables.
Longitudinal design
The postdoc survey is a longitudinal survey. This draft is designed as the initial baseline questionnaire. The periodicity of the survey is every two years with a design that will integrate applicable SDR data.
Instrument
The questionnaire will be in English only. It will include:
- Core sections that are administered to all participants or at all data collection points
- Modules that touch on secondary topics of interest that are administered to subgroups of respondents or at periodic data collection points
The questionnaire is a web-based instrument, with the core sections targeted at 20-25 minutes in length, and the total interview targeted at 30-35 minutes in length.
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