Initial Report: Information on Political Scientists in the NSF Register

During 1968, members of the Association received questionnaires distributed as part of the Association's agreement with the National Science Foundation to administer the political science section of the National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel. Responses were received from 5,176 professional political scientists, and these responses were coded under the direction of Mrs. Carol Wheeler, the Association's Register Supervisor, then forwarded to the National Register Group, Office of Economic and Manpower Studies of the NSF for tabulation. The 1968 Register is the first to include political science. Next survey of political scientists will take place in 1970.The National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel obtains data pertaining to the academic training, employment, economic, and other professional characteristics of the scentific community directly from individual scientists. The seventh biennial registration of scientists, conducted in 1968, included scientists in the fields of chemistry, earth and marine sciences, atmospheric and space sciences, physics, mathematics, statistics, agricultural sciences, biological sciences, psychology, economics, sociology, linguistics, anthropology, and—for the first time—computer sciences and political science. Engineers are not included in this registration because an engineers register is maintained separately from the scientists register.A summary of the characteristics of political scientists from the 1968 survey follows. Among the findings are that 59% have doctorates, 76% work for educational institutions, and 57% have the primary work activity of teaching. Among all 298,000 scientists surveyed 37% have doctorates, 40% work for educational institutions and 21% teach as a primary work activity.