ASHE Membership Survey Results

3 9 ASHE MEMBERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS Samuel E. Kellams University of Virginia A questionnaire was included in the May issue of the ASHE Newsleft er to slightly over 300 members of our organization. The purpose was to find out who the ASHE members are, where they work, what they do and what their particular program and publication interests are. Approximately 110 completed ques­ tionnaires were returned since May 1977. The report which follows is based upon responses from 106 members of ASHE, about 1/3 of the membership. Graduate students appear to be under-represented in the return. Otherwise, the responses appear to be representative of the membership as a whole. Table. 1 and Table 2 show the academic degree held and the field in which the highest degree was earned. Ninety percent of our membership hold a doctoral degree. Eightyeight percent are students of education by training. Because the master's degree has not been analyzed for major field, one cannot conclude that our membership has no formal training in the disciplines. We simply don't know from the data here. TABLE 1 TABLE 2 HIGHEST DEGREE HELD N % JD 2 2 PhD 65 61 EdD 29 27 EdS 1 1 MS, MS 9 9 FIELD OF STUDY OF HIGHEST DEGREE N c f t o Higher Education 67 63 Education 26 25 Behavioral, Social Sciences, Humanities 9 8 Natural Sciences 1 1 Law 2 2 Business 1 1 Oyer 3/4 of our membership work in a university. Of those working in uniyersities, about 55% have major respon­ sibilities in departments or centers of higher education. About 13% work in a non-college setting— in government agen­ cies, foundations or proprietary organizations. Only 2% actually work in a community college- Table 3 summarizes this information. 4 0 TABLE 3 PLACE OF WORK N % University 82* 77 Four-r-year College 9 8 Government Agency 7 7 Private Agency 6 6 Community College 2 2 * 45 of these 82 work in departments or centers of higher education within universities Table 4 gives, some hint of what our members do by looking at ranks and titles. The categories are not mutually exclusive since some respondents listed more than one title. Eor example, all 14 chairpersons of departments are also included in the faculty ranks. TABLE 4 RANKS & TITLES N .% Faculty Ranks 74 70 Professor 39 37 Associate Professor 20 19 Asst. Prof., Instructor, Lecturer 11 10 Graduate Student 4 4 Administrative Titles 53 50 Chairpersons of departments 14* 13 Asst, or Assoc. Dean 7 7 Vice President or Dean 6 6 Chancellor or President 2 2 Assistant to, staff 10 9 Director, Coordinator, Other 14 13 * Chairpersons also included in faculty ranks Research Titles 7 7 Institutional Researcher Project Researcher (Research 3 3 Associate, etc.) 4 4 Table 4 shows that 66% of our members are primarily faculty 4 1 members; 50% are administrators; the 13% who are department chairpersons are included in both of these figures- About 7% report titles suggesting research as the chief orientation. Table 5 gives perhaps a more accurate measure of what ASHE members do. It indicates the way time is spent among the various functions often performed. Regardless of one's title, most members do some kind of research, teach and perform ad­ ministrative functions as column. 2 in Table 5 shows. Some 59% also provide local, state or national services. About 10% do a variety of "other" activities, most often consulting. Other examples include editing, product or materials develop­ ment, development work. TABLE 5 ALLOCATION OF TIME BY FUNCTION N Mean % Range of % Function Spending Some % Time Spent Time Spent Time in Activity In Activity* In Activity Teaching 82 80 37 30 0 - 8 0 Research 94 91 28 25 0 - 100 Administrâtion 79 77 43 33 0-100 Service 61 59 15 9 0 - 6 0 Other 10 10 42 4 0 - 100 * The first figure in this column includes only those who spend some time in the activity (N=82). The second figure includes those who spend no time (N=103). It is apparent from Table 5 that the ASHE organization is comprised of members who perform a variety of...