The Survey of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers (SDSE) itself was the first of a planned series of biennial surveys of manpower in the physical, life and social sciences, mathematics, and engineering, prepared for the National Science Foundation by the Commission on Human Resources of the National Research Council. This evaluation report attempted to examine the SDSE for evidence of nonresponse bias and to identify strengths and weaknesses for the improvement of future manpower studies. Analysis of the rate of survey response by sex, employment status, type of employer, and reported salary in the four successive survey mailings suggests that nonresponse had no effect on accuracy of estimates of manpower distribution. The SDSE gives an estimate of the number of U.S. science and engineering doctorate recipients who were awarded degrees as of July 1, 1972, and who were employed in the sciences as of spring 1973. It probably underestimated the number of foreign Ph.D.s employed in the U.S. by 25 to 40 percent. Specific results--when compared with membership studies conducted by the American Chemical Society, the American Psychological Society, and the American Institute of Physics--indicated the SDES is generally an accurate and reliable measure of population characteristics. (Author/CP)