The Department of Programs and Research (PAR) at the American Sociological Association has long provided disciplinary data, including data about ASA’s membership, the Job Bank, degrees awarded, and graduate enrollments. This information helps members and departments make decisions about programming, strategic planning, and careers. We also maintain an archive of past research on departments, graduate career trajectories, and more. Although the research webpage provided valuable information, we wanted to make it more user-friendly and accessible.
In late 2025, we set out to create a new Data Dashboard that would compile the information in an intuitive, easy-to-use webpage. Inspired in part by dashboards from other professional associations, Senior Research Associate Berfu Aygenc, PAR Senior Assistant Mattin Avalon, and I led the effort with support from Web Specialist Janene Martin, from the Communications Department. Berfu and I (mostly Berfu) developed the vision for the dashboard, and Mattin, with support from Janene, implemented various versions until everything was just right.
The process was challenging. We needed a coherent aesthetic, streamlined navigation, and to make the content as accessible as possible, all of which were more difficult than expected, given the integration of numerous data elements and the variety of draft dashboards created in the process. But it paid off—the new dashboard is clearly organized, with easy navigation, better accessibility, more interactive features, and the ability to integrate new data tools, such as Flourish, to offer a wider range of visualizations. We are also proud of our new Quarterly Research Snapshots, which provide information on emerging trends and will be highlighted in the Featured Data section at the top of the dashboard page when they are published.
What Can You Expect to See?
Membership Data
Information on membership trends, including student membership, Section and Community engagement, diversity in leadership, and members’ first-generation and social class backgrounds.
Data on the Discipline
Each year, we compile data on degrees awarded at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels; enrollment patterns across sociology and other social sciences; and enrollments by gender and race/ethnicity. Departments can use this information for program review and strategic discussions.
Employment Trends
We analyze each year’s posts in the Career Center to provide a picture of the sociology job market. We’ve also analyzed employment and wage data for postsecondary sociology teachers, and median salaries for full-time employed sociology PhDs. These resources provide crucial context for navigating the job market, benchmarking salaries, and supporting career planning.
Archive and External Data Resources
Our Archive section brings together historical data, publications, and documentation that traces the development of the field and association over time. We also provide links to major national datasets to expand access to high-quality external data resources.
What’s Next?
We’ll continue to add resources to the data dashboard as we complete new analyses. In addition, we continue to build out the interactive elements of the dashboard, using tools such as Flourish. Any ASA member is invited to suggest a potential analysis for the future or to add a link to a specific external data resource. Contact us at [email protected].