Issues of validity in reporting the number of doctorates in mathematics education

ABSTRACT

The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) has historically been used to report the number of new doctorates entering over 100 different academic disciplines annually, including the field of mathematics education. In this article, we examine the validity of the use of this measure for this purpose by analyzing data from 23 institutions that grant mathematics education doctoral degrees and a specific university. Results showed that the SED underestimated the number of doctoral graduates by 5–15%, raising concerns about the use of the SED for this purpose.

KEYWORDS:

• Doctoral preparation
• mathematics education
• validity

Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 1434442. The opinions expressed are the authors’ and do not reflect any endorsement by the National Science Foundation.

Notes

¹ City University of New York, Michigan State University, Ohio University, Penn State University, Rutgers University, University of Arizona, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Santa Cruz, University of Delaware, University of Georgia, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania, University of Tennessee, University of Wisconsin, West Virginia University, and Western Michigan University.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 1434442. The opinions expressed are the authors’ and do not reflect any endorsement by the National Science Foundation.