this group 61 percent are employed by four-year 

 colleges and universities and 2 percent by two- 

 year colleges. During the period 1966-70, there 

 was a shift in the proportion of doctoral 

 scientists employed by business and educational 

 institutions, the former declining and the latter 

 increasing. However, in view of enrollment 

 trends and financial problems of institutions of 

 higher education, this shift is not expected to 

 continue. 



Doctoral engineers as a separate group exhibit 

 a different pattern of employment from scien- 

 tists, with nearly half of them employed in the 

 industrial sector. 



Primary work activities of doctoral scientists 

 and engineers. The activities in which doctoral 

 scientists and engineers were primarily involved 

 are indicated in figure 5-3. The data do not show 

 the time allocated among the several activities of 

 doctoral scientists and engineers, but rather the 

 activity reported as occupying the largest 

 portion of their time. Teaching and R&D 

 represent the primary work activities of doctoral 

 scientists, the majority of whom are employed in 

 universities and colleges. A declining proportion 



of the doctoral scientists, however, were in- 

 volved in R&D as a primary work activity during 

 the period 1966-73. This decline of about 10 

 percent was accompanied by a relatively larger 

 increase in the fraction reported as primarily 

 teaching^ (figure 5-4). 



Of the 32 percent of the doctoral scientists 

 primarily engaged in R&D, over one-half were 

 working in basic research, over one-third were 

 involved in applied research, and only a small 

 percentage in development and design. The 

 number of such scientists primarily engaged in 

 management activities, however, was nearly the 

 same as the total number primarily involved in 

 basic research (30,851 versus 31,213). 



The preceding discussion concerning the 

 utilization of doctoral scientists and engineers 

 provides, for the most part, a description of the 

 characteristics of these doctorate holders in 

 1973. Over time, however, there has been 

 movement from initial doctoral disciplines into 

 other fields of science, while others have shifted 



' This topic is discussed in more detail later in this chapter. 



Figure 5-3 



Percent distribution of employed doctoral scientists and engineers, 

 by primary work activity, 1973 



Teaching 



Research and 

 development 



Management or 

 administration 



Sales 



Consulting 



Other activities 



Scientists 

 and engineers 



(Percent) 

 10 20 30 



I I 



Scientists 



(Percent) 

 10 20 



Engineers 



(Percent) 



40 





SOURCE: National Science Foundation. 



Key: Types of R&D Types of management and administration 



I I Basic research I I R&D management and administration 



I I Applied research i i NonR&D management and administration 



I I Development i i Both types of management and administration 



119 



