Robert K. Toutkoushian

Using Publications Counts To Measure an Institution's Research Productivity.

Studies that attempt to evaluate and rank institutions often overlook the research activities of an institution. In this article, we show how readily available data from the Institute of Scientific Inquiry (ISI) may be used to estimate the number of scholarly articles written by an institutions faculty. We show how institutions are ranked according to total publications and the ratio of publications to full-time faculty, how these measures vary by type of institution, and how they are correlated with other selected measures of research resources and institutional quality.

The status of academic women in the 1990s No longer outsiders, but not yet equals

Abstract This paper reexamines the status of women in the academic labor market relative to men to determine how much progress has been made in achieving equity. Two questions will be addressed here: (1) do men and women have equal access to faculty employment in higher education, and (2) are they equally successful with regard to traditional career goals and compensation? Analyses are conducted on the educational attainment of women, their representation among faculty, their time allocation and research productivity, and their success in academia as represented by their rank attainment and earnings. While the results show that women have made considerable strides in entering the academic labor market, there is still an unexplained gap between men and women in terms of their earnings and career progression.

Using Panel Data To Examine Legislative Demand for Higher Education.

Empirical studies of legislative demand for higher education, using cross-sectional date for all 50 states, have not found much evidence that economic and demographic factors influence state higher education appropriations. This study uses panel data on state appropriations from 1982 through 1996 to examine the sensitivity of the results from the legislative demand model to changes in statistical methodology employed. The results show that the signs and significance levels of variables used in the legislative demand model vary widely when ordinary least squares, fixed effects and two-stage least squares are used. In particular, after controlling for state effects in the panel data, a number of the expected relationships between state appropriations and both economic and demographic factors emerge. There is also some evedence that K-12 education is a significant competing interest group for higher education, and that the legislative demand functions for higher education vary by geographical region and whether funding formulae are used to help determine higher education appropriations.

The Effects of Part-Time Employment and Gender on Faculty Earnings and Satisfaction: Evidence from the NSOPF:93

Using the NSOPF:93, we examined the employment, earnings, and satisfaction of faculty. We found that demand-side factors explained most of the gender difference in parttime employment, part-timers earned more per hour from all work than full-timers, and part-time and full-time faculty were equally satisfied with their compensation.

The Interaction Effects of Gender, Race, and Marital Status on Faculty Salaries.

We used data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:99) to examine the ways in which gender, race/ethnicity, and marital status can interact to influence faculty compensation. Overall, we found that gender, race/ethnicity, and marital status still matter in determining faculty salary, but they do not exhibit many interaction effects.

Sex Matters Less for Younger Faculty: Evidence of Disaggregate Pay Disparities from the 1988 and 1993 NCES Surveys

Abstract This study uses data from the 1988 and 1993 NCES national surveys of faculty to examine what has happened to the earnings of women in higher education. The data show that the aggregate unexplained wage gap between men and women is between 7 and 10%, which is comparable to findings from earlier national studies conducted during the 1970s and 1980s. Perhaps the most important finding in the study is that the unexplained wage gap for younger women is much lower than for older women in academe. The results of the analysis suggest that some progress is being made with regard to the relative earnings of men and women in academe, despite the lack of movement in the aggregate level of pay disparity. [ J E L 16, 71, 31]

Do parental income and educational attainment affect the initial choices of New Hampshire's college-bound students?

Abstract While other studies have explored the application and enrollment decisions of students, none have explicitly considered how selected factors affect an individuals choice to initially consider a particular institution. This study uses data on where New Hampshire seniors have their SAT scores sent to examine what factors influence a students decision to consider attending different types of institutions in the region, and whether student choice is affected by parental education and income. The results show that first-generation students and students with college-educated parents consider attending similar postsecondary institutions. Likewise, having a low family income does not appear to restrict college-interested students from considering more exclusive and/or expensive institutions. Students are also found to be most interested in institutions where their ability more closely matches the average ability profile of enrolled students.

Using Citations to Measure Sex Discrimination in Faculty Salaries.

Using a salary model developed at the University of Minnesota, this author found that the unexplained salary differential between male and female faculty was reduced by approximately 14 percent when he added faculty citations to the model. This methodology will interest researchers responsible for analyzing the salary structure for faculty at their institutions.

The Impact of State Appropriations and Grants on Access to Higher Education and Outmigration.

The question of how states can best use financial policy to achieve their goals is very important for many higher education stakeholders. In this study, the authors use panel data for all 50 states over a 20-year period to examine how state appropriations, need-based grants, and merit-based grants affect student enrollment in college and whether students migrate to other states for their postsecondary education. We find that increases within states in both appropriations and merit-based grants, but not need-based grants, lead to gains in postsecondary enrollment rates, and that merit-based grants are most effective at reducing outmigration for postsecondary education.

THE VALUE OF COST FUNCTIONS FOR POLICYMAKING AND INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

This study uses data from the 1994-95 IntegratedPostsecondary Education Data Surveys (IPEDS) to estimatecost functions for postsecondary institutions. The focusis on the applications of these functions for policymaking and institutional research.The results show how factors such as enrollment levels,institution location, research intensity, and facultycharacteristics influence institutional costs. Many of these relationships have directimplications for how institutions can reduceexpenditures per student and the possible consequencesof such changes. The cost functions are also used toestimate the marginal costs of undergraduate instructionand to compare actual and predicted expenditures perstudent across institutions. Particular emphasis isgiven throughout as to the policy implications of the results.