How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1975 1985 1995 2005

0

History

Political science

Economics Philosophy

Anthropology

English

Figure 3.1Number of PhD degrees given in selected disciplines, 1975–

2005. Yearly data on the number of PhDs granted from 1975–2005 in the
      fields of English, history, economics, political science, and anthropology are
      taken from theSurvey of Earned Doctorates(SED) conducted by National
      Opinion Research Center. See National Opinion Research Center (2006);
      Hoffer et al. (2006). Data on the number of PhDs granted from 1975–1995
      in the field of philosophy are taken from two reports by the American
      Philosophical Association (APA): information for 1975 and 1985 is from
      “Degrees Awarded in Philosophy by U.S. Universities, 1949–1994” and in-
      formation for 1995 is from “PhDs in Philosophy by Gender/Race/Ethnic-
      ity.” The number of philosophy PhDs awarded in 1975 and 1985 was ob-
      tained by averaging the number of PhDs granted in 1974–1975 and 1975–
      1976, and the number of PhDs granted in 1984–1985 and 1985–1986. Since
      theSEDdata are obtained through a government research project and the
      APA data are taken from a survey conducted by a professional association,
      there may be some discrepancy in coding. Note that the APA has not yet
      compiled or released data on PhDs in philosophy after 1996.