Graduate programs in physics education research: A USA based survey

Abstract

This article outlines survey results seeking to understand USA Physics Education Research (PER) Ph.D. programs. The survey explored research group composition, the number of graduates, courses taken and more. The survey was sent to a list of PER research group leaders created by crowdsourcing from the PER community. Of the 46 PER Ph.D. programs identified and invited to the survey, 25 usable responses were received. The majority of programs were in departments of physics with fewer in schools of education or institutes of science education. Most programs required graduate physics course work, with fewer requiring research methodology courses. Only five required a course in PER. The majority of graduates into academic careers. However, a robust minority pursued careers in the private sector. The survey results allow us to estimate the size of the PER community in research groups at PhD granting institutions to be n=487 people with n=156 P.h.D. students.