We examine the American landscape of higher education quantitative research concerning how gender and sex demographic information is collected. We use a directed content analysis to examine the prevalence and operationalization of gender and sex among widely used higher education survey instruments. Our findings illuminate a seemingly haphazard…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the care crisis in the United States to the fore. Unprecedented closures of child care programs throughout 2020 placed a disproportionate burden on families, and mothers in particular. For parents enrolled in college or considering postsecondary enrollment at the time of the pandemic, the loss of child care services…

The U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is the nation's preeminent source of information on how students and their families pay for college. This paper explores how NCES can leverage linkages to federal and non-federal data sources to improve…

To promote inclusivity in quantitative research about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students, scholars must first understand how sexual orientation data are collected in higher education survey research (Garvey, 2014; Rankin & Garvey, 2015). There is one research question that guides this study: How is sexual orientation demographic…

The resources needed to conduct high-quality and large-scale survey research are often beyond the reach of institutional researchers and higher education analysts. However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) provides many national student surveys that researchers can utilize. We outline four NCES studies--the High School…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Institute of Education Sciences, is requesting clearance for data collection materials and procedures for the full-scale collection of the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/14) first follow-up, including the student…

This study focuses on the differences in college student dropout behavior among racial/ethnic groups. We employ event history methods and data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) surveys to investigate how financial aid may differentially influence dropout risks among these student…

This report describes the methods and procedures used for the full-scale data collection effort of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First Follow-Up 1996-98 (BPS:96/98). These students, who started their postsecondary education during the 1995-96 academic year, were first interviewed during 1996 as part of the National…

Describes the design and methodology of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First Follow-up, including overall outcomes of data collection and evaluations of the quality of data collected. (SLD)

This report describes the methods and procedures used for the full-scale data collection effort of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Second Follow-up Student 1996-2001 (BPS:1996/2001). These students, who started their postsecondary education in the 1995-1996 academic year, were first interviewed during 1996, and subsequently interviewed in…

This CD-ROM disc contains data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First Follow-up (BPS:90/92) in the form of a Data Analysis System (DAS) public release. This DAS release does not contain all of the variables collected as part of BPS:90/92, but it does contain most that are of interest to analysts for descriptive…

This document provides a summary and evaluation of the methodological procedures and results of the full-scale implementation of the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study Second Follow-up, 1990-94 (BPS:90/94). The study was conducted for the National Center for Education Statistics by Research Triangle Institute with the assistance of…

This report describes the methods and procedures used for the field test of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First Followup 1996-98 (BPS:96/98). Students in this survey were first interviewed during 1995 as part of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 1996 field test. The BPS:96/98 full-scale student sample includes…

This report examines the relationship between high school academic curricula and students' persistence path through college, approximately 3 years after first enrolling. Data are from the 1995-1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students Survey, a longitudinal study of beginning postsecondary students who first enrolled in a four-year college in…

This comprehensive profile of students with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary education is based on four national surveys which examined the following questions: (1) how represented are students with disabilities in postsecondary education?; (2) which high school students with disabilities gain access to postsecondary education?; (3) how well…