Back to Technical Tables
Download to excel NCSES GSS 2012 TTA 6 SAS Output Newer information icon. Newer information is available.
TABLE A-6. Response rates for science, engineering, and health organizational units: 1975–2012

  Complete response Partial response Nonresponse
Year Total Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
1975a 9,162 8,998 98.2 NA NA 164 1.8
1976 9,275 9,148 98.6 NA NA 127 1.4
1977 9,513 9,432 99.1 NA NA 81 0.9
1978b 8,242 8,077 98.0 NA NA 165 2.0
1979 9,796 9,446 96.4 NA NA 350 3.6
1980 9,930 9,593 96.6 NA NA 337 3.4
1981 9,917 8,594 86.7 613 6.2 710 7.2
1982 9,776 8,104 82.9 744 7.6 928 9.5
1983 9,663 8,070 83.5 816 8.4 777 8.0
1984 8,748 7,490 85.6 643 7.4 615 7.0
1985 9,025 7,818 86.6 672 7.4 535 5.9
1986 9,097 7,817 85.9 779 8.6 501 5.5
1987 9,254 8,030 86.8 715 7.7 509 5.5
1988 10,295 8,812 85.6 970 9.4 513 5.0
1989 10,318 8,908 86.3 891 8.6 519 5.0
1990 10,483 8,884 84.7 1,053 10.0 546 5.2
1991 10,705 9,052 84.6 1,186 11.1 467 4.4
1992 10,936 9,066 82.9 1,538 14.1 332 3.0
1993 11,146 9,156 82.1 1,555 14.0 435 3.9
1994 11,411 8,863 77.7 2,109 18.5 439 3.8
1995 11,598 9,514 82.0 1,730 14.9 354 3.1
1996 11,592 9,851 85.0 1,522 13.1 219 1.9
1997 11,597 9,720 83.8 1,665 14.4 212 1.8
1998 11,718 9,822 83.8 1,706 14.6 190 1.6
1999 11,833 9,396 79.4 2,289 19.3 148 1.3
2000 11,899 9,818 82.5 1,965 16.5 116 1.0
2001 11,967 10,121 84.6 1,731 14.5 115 1.0
2002 12,126 10,434 86.0 1,567 12.9 125 1.0
2003 12,261 10,343 84.4 1,709 13.9 209 1.7
2004c 12,240 10,426 85.2 1,609 13.1 205 1.7
2004d 12,240 10,524 86.0 1,474 12.0 242 2.0
2005d 12,396 10,783 87.0 1,270 10.2 343 2.8
2006d 12,320 10,814 87.8 1,177 9.6 329 2.7
2007e 12,629 11,020 87.3 1,290 10.2 319 2.5
2008 13,166 11,574 87.9 1,436 10.9 156 1.2
2009 13,285 11,709 88.1 1,478 11.1 98 0.7
2010 13,711 11,703 85.4 1,880 13.7 128 0.9
2011 13,785 11,694 84.8 1,933 14.0 158 1.1
2012 13,952 11,914 85.4 1,984 14.2 54 0.4

NA = not available; organizational units providing partial responses are included in complete response column prior to 1981 and reported separately beginning in 1981.
a 1976 survey also collected 1975 data from master's-granting institutions.
b Master's-granting institutions were not surveyed in 1978; totals represent estimates based on 1977 and 1979 data.
c Calculated using response-rate formula used through 2003. See appendix A, "Technical Notes."
d Calculated using response-rate formula used from 2004 to 2006. Schools closed in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina were counted as nonrespondents.
e Calculated using response-rate formula implemented in 2007. See appendix A, "Technical Notes."
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.
Data from survey cycle FY 2012, as of 16 January 2014.