May 14, 2004

Excluding Social Work From National Survey

To the Editor:

The forthcoming National Research Council survey of research-based doctoral programs will be less useful than could be the case due to the failure of the survey to include a number of important research-based disciplines ("'Gold Standard' for Rating Doctoral Programs Is Stalled," The Chronicle, April 9). There has been a decision, apparently based on erroneous assumptions by the NRC staff regarding the nature of doctoral education in social work, to exclude this field