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ASA Fellows Analysis

1 October 2020 1,733 views 2 Comments
Lucy D’Agostino McGowan and Katherine Monti

    The 2020 ASA Fellow awards were presented this year virtually for the first time. Although the festivities were curtailed, the honor to the recipients is as distinguished as ever.

    There were 57 new fellows selected from 124 nominations in 2020. Per the ASA bylaws, the maximum number of fellowships awarded each year is one-third of one percent of the current membership.

    This article is an update to previous articles published in Amstat News (most recently in 2015) detailing the breakdown of ASA Fellow awards and nominations by employment sector and gender.

    Employment Sector

    As of February 2020, the percentage of ASA members in each employment sector is approximately 48 percent in academia, 42 percent in business/industry/other (including unknown), and 10 percent in government. These figures reflect a slight change during the last four years, with the largest shifts being increases in the percentage of academic members (up 42–43 percent earlier) and decreases in the percentage of business/industry/other members (down from 46–47 percent). The number of ASA Fellow awards given by employment sector for the most recent 17 years is presented in Table 1 and Figure 1.

    The number and percentage of fellow nominations in each employment sector are shown in Table 2 and Figure 2. Those in academia have been nominated at a consistently high rate (at least 60 percent of nominations compared to 42–48 percent of membership), and those in business/industry have been nominated at a consistently low rate (no more than 26 percent of nominations compared to 42–47 percent of membership). Government employees have constituted about 10–11 percent of the membership and about 7–20 percent of the nominations in the last 17 years.

    Figure 3 displays the rate of success for nominations in each employment sector. Averaged across the past 17 years, nominations submitted from academia fared slightly better than business/industry and government; however, both business/industry and government had high success rates (53 percent and 67 percent, respectively) compared to academia (43 percent) in 2020.

    There is a caveat to the interpretation of the employment sector data, namely that it is difficult to ascertain the employment sector of some members. The “business/industry” category includes approximately 10–12 percent in the “other” category. Additionally, while identifying the employment sector of nominees, and thus newly named fellows, is usually relatively straightforward, that identification applies only to the sector in which the nominee is currently employed and not necessarily the sector in which they have spent all, or possibly even most, of their career.

    Gender Analysis

    As of February 2020, 64 percent of ASA membership self-reported their gender as male and 33 percent self-reported their gender as female. Three percent declined to answer. This distribution is comparable to self-reported percentages in 2010—67 percent male, 31 percent female, 1 percent declined to answer—but is consistent with the gradual increase in female membership over time.

    The number and percentage of ASA Fellow awards given by gender for the most recent 17 years is presented in Table 3 and Figure 4. The percent of female fellow awards and the overall percent of female ASA members are increasing over time.

    The number and percentage of Fellow nominations by gender for the most recent 17 years is presented in Table 4 and Figure 5.

    Figure 6 displays the rate of success for nominations by gender. Averaged across the past 17 years, nominations submitted on behalf of females fared slightly better than males. In 2020, 49 percent of female nominees were successful and 44 percent of male nominees were successful. The success rates for both genders were low in 2019 and 2020 due to the relatively high number of nominations.

    Conclusions

    From the above analysis, we can draw a few conclusions regarding the fellow awards over the last 17 years:

    1. Members in academia have consistently received the most fellow awards and the highest percentage of awards (Table 1 and Figure 1). This trend reflects the fact that there are far more nominations from the academic sector (Figure 2), with nomination rates for academics being high relative to membership rates.
    2. Members from business and industry have consistently received fairly low numbers and percentage of awards (Table 1 and Figure 1). This trend reflects the fact that there are fewer nominations from this sector (Figure 2), with nomination rates for business/industry being low relative to membership.
    3. Members in all employment sectors are selected as fellows in approximately the same proportions as their nomination rates (Figure 3).
    4. The percentages of women who are nominated and who are selected as ASA Fellows have both increased over time (Figure 4 and Figure 5). These trends reflect the changing demographics of the ASA, which has had an increase in ASA members who self-report as women.
    5. Once nominated, women often receive awards at a slightly higher rate than men (Figure 6). This slightly higher success rate may suggest a slight preference toward women nominations; however, perhaps women are waiting until they have accomplished somewhat more professionally before the nomination is submitted, making them more likely to be selected.
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    2 Comments »

    • Josh King said:

      I am surprised to see a so high proportion of female members in the ASA Fellow Committee in 2020. This may cause certain bias. To be fair, the gender distribution in the committee should be proportional to the overall gender distribution among all the members. Just my 2 cents.

    • E Benn said:

      Thank you for conducting this analysis. It is very informative.

      @JoshKing…I don’t understand your concern. If you look at Table 3, you will see the distribution by gender over time of ASA fellows. In every year, the majority of ASA fellows have been males and more recently the gender distribution of fellows reflects the gender distribution of ASA membership. Your suggestion of the threat of bias based on the gender distribution of the selection committee does not seem to hold.