National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) Series

Investigator(s): United States Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics

The National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) series was initiated in response to a continuing need for data on faculty and instructional staff in American colleges and universities. It is conducted by the United States National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and cosponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). NSOPF includes a nationally representative sample of full- and part-time faculty and instructional staff at public and private not-for-profit two- and four-year institutions in the United States. The study was initially conducted during the 1987-1988 school year and was repeated in 1992-93 and 1998-99. NSOPF-88 represents the first comprehensive survey of higher education faculty conducted by NCES. The next data collection will occur in the 2003-2004 school year. The NSOPF was designed to provide data about faculty and instructional staff to postsecondary education researchers, planners, and policymakers that will serve to assess changes over time in faculty characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes. It provides data on faculty backgrounds, responsibilities, workloads, salaries, benefits, and attitudes, national estimates of faculty composition, turnover, recruitment, and retention, as well as on institutional policies on retirement and tenure.