Budgetary and personnel support levels of psychology departments offering graduate programs.

The present survey of psychology departments was started in August 1968 to provide comparative data relating to such items as average number of students per staff member, average number of secretaries per staff member, and average dollar support per student. A cover letter and questionnaire were sent to the 226 psychology departments in the US offering graduate programs. Timely and complete responses were received from 104 departments. The most important feature of the present survey was the wide variability in support levels of psychology departments. While there was considerable variance on most items, it was of interest that there were no differences as a function of geographic region. Cursory examination with regard to breakdown by athletic conferences, for example, Big Ten, Big Eight, etc., also indicates no large discrepancies with regard to critical items involving number of students per staff member, support per student, etc. The present survey, in addition to providing a comparative base for department heads, may prove helpful to students examining graduate programs and to candidates interviewing for academic positions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)