A Year Without New Grad Students: CHE article

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They=NSF
Survey = Survey of Earned Doctorates (which is completed by almost all PhD recipients)

The report itself seems to use the phrase "have a definite commitment" rather than "plan" as in the article. The latter does end up being problematically ambiguous.

Not directed at Hibush:

1. The survey suffers from survivorship bias. It does not account for people who started a doctoral program but didn't finish.

2. The survey probably also suffers from nonresponse bias, given that doctorate recipients without employment or plans are less likely to receive the survey or respond.

3. Table 44 shows that of the respondents who were humanities/arts doctorate recipients and who indicated commitment/plans, the percentage reporting "employment" as type of plan fell from 92.0 in 1999 to 79.2 in 2019. The percentage reporting "postdoctoral study" increased from  8.0 to 20.8.

4. "Employment" in Table 44 is not defined as full-time, part-time, in academia, not in academia.

5. Table 55 shows 33.5% of humanities/arts doctorate recipients who responded in 2019 "seeking employment/study." This is by far the highest percentage of any of the doctorate field categories.

6. Also in Table 55, of respondents indicating "definite employment," 73.1% of humanities/arts doctorate recipients indicated "academe." Again this is by far the highest percentage of any of the doctorate field categories.