\n\u00a0Manager<\/td>\n | \u00a0$7,600<\/td>\n | \u00a0$14,600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Table 1: 2009 Salary regression coefficients 95% Confidence Interval boundaries.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nThe confidence intervals tell us that if we were to have data on all professionals in the usability profession, we’d expect a PhD to add, on average, between $11.5 and $22.4k to a salary. Keep in mind that this is about the average salary based on these factors. It does not mean that you cannot earn a lot more than this amount because of a PhD, it just means that on average a PhD will contribute around $17k more per year.<\/p>\n 2005 Salary Data vs. 2009 Salary Data<\/h3>\nThe value of a PhD in 2009 is about the same as it was in 2005.<\/div>\n As an additional check on the stability of this estimate of the value of a PhD, I also examined the 2005 Salary survey data. In 2005, certainly a different economic climate than 2009, the estimates are strikingly similar. The 2005 regression equation is:
<\/p>\n 2005 Salary = $51,798 + $2452 (Years of Experience) + $12,251(PhD) + $12,228 (Manager)<\/span><\/p>\nThese variables explain almost the same amount of variation as the 2009 data (Adjusted R-squared = 32.4%).\u00a0 The confidence intervals for the independent variables for 2005 are:<\/p>\n \n\n<\/tr>\n \n<\/td>\n | 95% Confidence Intervals<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\u00a0Variable<\/td>\n | \u00a0Lower Boundary<\/td>\n | \u00a0Upper Boundary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n\u00a0Base Salary<\/td>\n | \u00a0$48,900<\/td>\n | \u00a0$55,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n\u00a0Years of Experience<\/td>\n | \u00a0$2,200<\/td>\n | \u00a0$2,800<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n\u00a0PhD<\/td>\n | \u00a0$7,000<\/td>\n | \u00a0$17,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n\u00a0Manager<\/td>\n | \u00a0$8,800<\/td>\n | \u00a0$15,600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Table 2: 2005 Salary regression coefficients 95% Confidence Interval boundaries.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Figure 1 (below) shows the mean and 95% confidence intervals for the 2005 and 2009 data. There was some fluctuation in the data with a bit more money going to PhD’s in 2009 than 2005 and a bit less for managers. The large overlap in the confidence intervals suggests that much of the fluctuation is due to the random variability of the sample.So how many dollars is a PhD worth?\u00a0 Our best guess is about $17k per year. If we need a firm estimate, we can be 95% sure it’s worth at least $12k. Over a career $12-17k per year can add up, but is it worth it financially?<\/p>\n Figure 1: Difference in regression coefficient weights for 2005 vs. 2009. The overlap of the 95% confidence intervals show a rather consistent weighting of variables over the four year period.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nDelaying entry into the workforce for 5 years would cost $265k–a deficit unlikely to be made up over a lifetime of earnings.<\/div>\n Is a PhD worth it financially?<\/h3>\nThe education and experience garnered from a PhD is undoubtedly valuable in other ways and you’re in an elite group in this profession. But does it pay off financially? We can use the data here to get a rough idea. There is a 5-figure annual premium for PhD’s, but there is also an opportunity cost assuming you pursue the degree full time and delay entrance into the usability profession. We’ll assume the PhD costs nothing (all expenses paid for by the school), which is of course a big assumption. Let’s also assume it takes 5 years to complete a PhD after completing a bachelor’s degree.\u00a0 If you had skipped the extra years at school and took a job right after getting your bachelor’s degree, then you would have forgone around $50k per year, plus the $3k annual increase from your experience. After 5 years, the baccalaureate usability professional would have made approximately $292k\u2014which is the opportunity cost.<\/p>\n Upon entering the workforce, with PhD in hand, you immediately get a higher pay of around $68k, but you’re well behind the bachelor. Assuming you slog it out in the profession (and we’re all still around in 25 years) you’d never quite catch up because the premium of $17k becomes a smaller and smaller proportion of the lifetime earnings. To help make up the difference the PhD perhaps should consider becoming a manager, although even this wouldn’t be enough. Another alternative is to consider pursuing a PhD part-time where you don’t have to forgo a full-salary (especially if any tuition is offset by an employer). <\/p>\n Figure 2: Lifetime earnings of a PhD vs. not having a PhD (Bachelor, Masters or less).<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nI haven’t met a PhD in the field who regrets their commitment and the long hours in the library with drunken undergraduates.\u00a0 A PhD opens doors to academic positions (where it is usually required) and may even help you get a job faster. I do know many who have or had considered pursuing a PhD full-time and wondered if they could justify it financially. Individual differences will play a large role in compensation, but the data here suggests that on average a full-time PhD should be pursued for more than just financial reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Does a PhD pay off financially? I recently helped conduct the statistical analysis of the UPA 2009 salary survey[pdf], and used this opportunity to look into the data to see if I could calculate how much a PhD affects salaries in this profession.\u00a0 The dataset contains salary information for a wide range of jobs in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,39],"tags":[164,160,40],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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