Study title

Doctoral Graduates of Years 2008-2009: Career and Employment Survey 2011

Dataset ID Number

FSD3078

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3078

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Ollikainen, Jyrki (University of Tampere. School of Information Sciences. Statistics)

Abstract

The survey charted the employment and early careers of people who had obtained a doctoral degree from Finnish universities in 2008 and 2009.

The respondents were first asked how they had financed their doctoral studies and what their reasons had been for taking up a doctoral degree. Relating to employment situation and quality of work, questions charted what the respondents' occupational status was, how well their work corresponded to their qualifications, and what reasons had potentially hindered their employment. The respondents who were in paid work were asked their employer type, tasks at work, gross monthly income, satisfaction with work, and ability to make use of skills learned in doctoral studies in their job.

With regard to the significance of a doctoral degree in occupational life, opinions were charted on whether the topic of doctoral dissertation had been useful in employment, whether having a doctoral degree had led to an increased salary and better standing in occupational life, and whether doctoral education was useful when it came to employment and skills needed in occupational life. Relating to developing and improving doctoral education, views were probed on the guidance received during studies, satisfaction with the studies, and things that should be emphasised in the education (e.g. teaching skills, entrepreneurship).

Background variables included the respondent's gender, university, field of study, and age at the time of graduation (categorised).

Keywords

career; career development; doctoral degrees; employment opportunities; higher education institutions; labour and employment; occupational life; recruitment; tertiary education (second stage)

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Higher and further education (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Employment (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Career and Employment Survey of Finnish University Graduates

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland

Time Period Covered

2008 – 2011

Collection Dates

2011

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Doctoral degree graduates who graduated in 2008 and 2009 from the universities of Vaasa, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Tampere and Turku as well as Svenska Handelshögskolan, Åbo Akademi University, Tampere University of Technology and Aalto University.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Each of the participating universities sent the questionnaire to their doctoral graduates.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

48.8

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The response rate was calculated from all doctoral graduates who had graduated in 2008 and 2009 (2,678 persons). In total, 1,308 persons responded to the survey.

In accordance with the data series anonymisation plan, background variables regarding nationality, mother tongue, and home municipality were removed to prevent identification, as well as some background variables regarding studies (year of starting studies, faculty, degree, major subject).

Furthermore, following open-ended variables were removed for confidentiality reasons: q11 "In which municipality does your workplace operate?", q13 "Current employer", q14 "Job title", q32 "Municipality of residence during dissertation defence", q17 "What central competences does your current work require?". Variable q31 contained general comments and feedback and was removed to prevent identification. Open-ended variables regarding previous degrees from other universities were also removed. In addition, all open-ended variables of the type "other, please specify" were removed during archiving.

Respondents from Aalto University were removed from the data in accordance with the archiving agreement. Alternatives "Hanken" and "University of Vaasa" in variable bv1 "University" were categorised into a single category to prevent identification. Bv2 "age at the time of graduation" was also categorised (under 36, 36-45, over 45). Due to a small number of male graduates of education sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, one female was coded as a male to prevent identification, and these males' ages were removed from the background variable bv2. For the same reason, one graduate of technical sciences at the University of Vaasa was coded as a graduate at Åbo Akademi.

Background variable bv13 "field of study" was categorised according to Statistics Finland's "National Field of Education" classification. The variable q21 "gross income" was top-coded with regard to the persons with the highest incomes (8000 euros and over). Variable q34 "time spent on doctoral degree" was also categorised into four categories. Identifiers were removed from open-ended responses in variables q10_1, q10_2, q17, q27, and q30; responses in English were removed completely. Anonymisations performed at FSD were marked with [square brackets].

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland: Doctoral Graduates of Years 2008-2009: Career and Employment Survey 2011 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2018-06-12). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3078

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

The data are available only for research purposes. A special permission is required to access the data until six years have passed from data collection. In order to be allowed access to the data during this time, you must present a research plan in which you indicate which variables you intend to use.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Tohtoreiden uraseurannan tulokset (2014) [verkkodokumentti]. Vaasa: Vaasan yliopiston Urapalvelut. http://docplayer.fi/4173470-Tohtoreiden-uraseurannan-tulokset-urapalvelut.html. [viitattu 13.6.2018].