National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-93), 1993: Methodology Report

The 1988 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-88), later named the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, was the first comprehensive study of higher education instructional faculty conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics since 1963. This report provides a description of the 1993 NSOPF and the data generated by its methodology. The report is organized into 11 chapters and begins by introducing NSOPF-93 in the context of the earlier study in 1988. Chapter 2 details the data collection instruments, while chapter 3 discusses the NSOPF-93 sample design and implementation. Chapter 4 reviews institutional recruitment procedures and their results. Data collection procedures are discussed in chapter 5, and chapter 6 discusses data processing and control. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with institution and faculty response and nonresponse and questionnaire item response. Chapter 9 examines data quality in terms of validity and reliability. Chapter 10 examines faculty counts and summarizes the procedures used to reconcile discrepancies and to calculate best estimates for the NSOPF-93 faculty dataset. Recommendations for future NSOPF studies are found in chapter 11. The full-scale NSOPF-93 included an institution-level survey of 817 colleges and universities in the United States and a survey completed by 25,780 faculty members. Eighteen appendixes contain survey instruments, cover letters, and additional details about the research methodology. (Contains 61 exhibits.) (SLD)