Humanities Indicators

Humanities Indicators
Name	Humanities Indicators
Type	Research project
Established	2008
Parent	American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts

Humanities Indicators is a data project produced by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that compiles quantitative information about the humanities in the United States. It aggregates statistics on subjects such as degrees, employment, funding, and public participation to inform policy debates and scholarly research. The project connects empirical measures with discussions involving institutions like the National Endowment for the Humanities, foundations such as the Mellon Foundation, and agencies including the National Science Foundation.

Overview

The project presents dashboards and reports on topics ranging from undergraduate degree completions to employment in sectors like museums, libraries, and publishing, linking trends to actors such as the American Council on Education, the Modern Language Association, and the Association of American Universities. It synthesizes data from federal collections overseen by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System alongside surveys conducted by organizations like the Pew Research Center, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The initiative is situated amid debates involving policy-makers in the U.S. Congress, administrators at Ivy League universities, and leaders at cultural institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.

Historical Development

Origins trace to deliberations within the American Academy of Arts and Sciences prompted by concerns from stakeholders such as the National Humanities Alliance, the American Historical Association, and the Association of Departments of English about data scarcity. Early phases involved collaborations with scholars from Harvard University, Yale University, and Columbia University as well as with analysts at the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation. Major milestones include the project's public launch in the late 2000s, updates timed with reports by commissions like the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, and integrations with bibliometric work from organizations such as the Modern Language Association and the Association of American Publishers.

Methodology and Data Sources

The project relies on administrative datasets and survey instruments administered by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, combined with occupational classifications from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and curricular taxonomies used by the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association. It employs approaches comparable to those of the National Science Board and research teams at the Urban Institute and the Pew Research Center for weighting, sampling, and trend analysis. Data cleaning, disaggregation, and longitudinal linkage are informed by practices used at the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and by metadata standards promoted by the Library of Congress and the Digital Public Library of America.

Key Indicators and Metrics

Core metrics include counts of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in fields such as history, philosophy, languages, and literature as classified by the Classification of Instructional Programs; employment counts in sectors represented by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Research Libraries; and measures of federal and private funding flows analogous to grants tracked by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Other indicators mirror outputs monitored by the Modern Language Association and the American Council on Education, including enrollment trends, faculty demographics, median wages in occupations catalogued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and public engagement metrics similar to audience statistics collected by the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Findings and Trends

Analyses show patterns comparable to those reported by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Pew Research Center: declines in undergraduate degrees in some humanities majors alongside growth in interdisciplinary programs linked to professional schools and centers housed at universities such as Stanford University, the University of California system, and the University of Michigan. Employment data align with broader labor-market shifts noted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Science Foundation, indicating variable wage trajectories for humanities graduates relative to peers from institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. Funding trends reflect cycles documented by the National Endowment for the Humanities and philanthropic behavior observed at the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Uses and Impact

Researchers at institutions such as Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and Duke University employ the data in studies on curricula and career outcomes; policy analysts at think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute use indicators in reports for members of the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Academic departments in fields represented by the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association cite the project in strategic planning, while cultural organizations including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and regional humanities councils leverage findings for grant-making and advocacy. The resource also informs media coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Criticisms and Limitations

Critiques echo concerns raised by scholars at institutions like the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association about the limits of quantitative measures for capturing curricular diversity, interpretive labor, and public scholarship. Methodological limitations mirror debates encountered by the National Science Board and the National Center for Education Statistics regarding occupational misclassification, the granularity of Program Classification codes, and the time lags in federal data such as the American Community Survey. Commentators from advocacy groups including the National Humanities Alliance and state humanities councils have urged complementarities with qualitative research used by organizations like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation to address dimensions not visible in numerical indicators.

Category:American Academy of Arts and Sciences projects