Title: Higher education surveys from United States' National Center for Education Statistics

Authors: Pilar Mendoza; Enyu Zhou; Nathan Abdelmalek; Ze Wang

Addresses: Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis, College of Education, University of Missouri Columbia, 202 Hill Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA ' Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis, College of Education, University of Missouri Columbia, 202 Hill Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA ' Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis, College of Education, University of Missouri Columbia, 202 Hill Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA ' Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri Columbia, 13A Hill Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

Abstract: In this article, we analysed the use of surveys conducted by the United States' National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) related to postsecondary education in studies published in 2015. We discuss topics studied, methods used and limitations reported. Based on the review of the 27 published articles in 2015, we found that the most commonly used NCES postsecondary surveys are ELS:2002 and IPEDS, followed by BPS:04/09, NPSAS, NELS:1988, B&B:1993/1997/2003 and HSLS:2009. The issues studied in the articles reviewed include college access and choice, student outcomes and higher education finances. In addition, our analysis indicates that these articles applied appropriate and advanced analytical methods and the majority of them took into consideration the complex sampling designs and data structures of these NCES surveys. We concluded with a series of recommendations for both users and leaders developing these surveys in order to maximise their utility. These recommendations, if adopted, will undoubtedly result in more use of NCES data for research.

Keywords: higher education; large-scale secondary data; NCES.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQRE.2017.086510

International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education, 2017 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.3 - 30

Received: 22 Nov 2016
Accepted: 19 Apr 2017
Published online: 10 Sep 2017 *