Appendix A.4. National Science Foundation

Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development

The annual Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development is the primary source of information about federal funding for research and development in the United States. It is used by policymakers in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government in determining policies, laws, and regulations affecting science; it is also used by those who follow science trends in every sector of the economy, including university administrators and professors, economic and political analysts, research and development managers inside and outside the government, the science press, and leading members of the science community in the United States and around the world.

The survey's target population consists of the federal agencies that conduct research and development programs, which are identified from information in the President's budget submitted to Congress. In the survey cycle for data collection on fiscal years 2015–17, a total of 28 federal agencies (15 federal departments and 13 independent agencies) reported research and development data. Because multiple subdivisions of a federal department were requested to complete the survey in some cases, there were 74 individual respondents. Federal funds data, as collected, span 3 government fiscal years: the fiscal year just completed, the current fiscal year, and the next fiscal year. Actual data are collected for the year just completed; estimates are obtained for the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year.

The data are collected and managed online; this system was designed to help improve survey reporting by offering respondents direct online reporting and editing.

The federal funds survey has an unweighted response rate of 100 percent with no known item nonresponse. The information included in this survey has been stable since fiscal year 1973, when federal obligations for research to universities and colleges by agency and detailed science and engineering fields were added to the survey.

Further information on federal funds for research and development may be obtained from

Michael Yamaner
Research and Development Statistics Program
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230
myamaner@nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics

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Survey of Earned Doctorates

The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) has collected basic statistics from the universe of doctoral recipients in the United States each year since 1957. It is supported by six federal agencies: the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. With the assistance of institutional coordinators at each doctorate-awarding institution, a survey form is distributed to each person completing the requirements for a research doctorate. Of the 55,006 persons receiving research doctorates granted in 2015, approximately 90 percent responded to the survey. The survey questionnaire obtains information on sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, citizenship, disabilities, dependents, specialty field of doctorate, educational institutions attended, time spent in completion of doctorate, financial support, education debt, postgraduation plans, and educational attainment of parents.

Further information on the Survey of Earned Doctorates may be obtained from

Lynn Milan
Project Officer
Human Resources Statistics Program
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
lmilan@nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates

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Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering

The Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, also known as the graduate student survey (GSS), is an annual survey of all U.S. academic institutions granting research-based master's degrees or doctorates in science, engineering, or selected health fields. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, the survey provides data on the number and characteristics of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers in selected health fields. Results are used to assess shifts in graduate enrollment and postdoctorate appointments and trends in financial support.

Data collection for the 2015 GSS began in fall 2015. The survey universe consisted of 412 doctorate-granting and 299 master's-granting institutions, for a total of 711 institutions. There were 824 schools affiliated with these institutions: 525 at doctorate-granting institutions and 299 at master's-granting institutions.

New procedures to improve coverage of GSS-eligible units were introduced in the 2007 survey cycle and were continued in subsequent cycles. Increased emphasis was given to updating the unit list by providing an exhaustive list of GSS-eligible programs within existing GSS fields. In previous years, only a representative list was provided for each GSS field, which may have resulted in not reporting all eligible units. The set of GSS-eligible fields was also modified. Due to these changes, data for 2007 and later years are not directly comparable with data from previous years.

More recently, the survey universe was modified in 2014 to include 151 new institutions and exclude 2 for-profit institutions; these changes were the result of a comprehensive frame evaluation study conducted from 2010 to 2013 and the annual frame evaluation conducted in the 2013–14 cycle. Additionally, in 2015 some new institutions became eligible for GSS, some institutions changed GSS degree-granting status, and some institutions merged. These changes resulted in the increase in the total number of institutions included in the GSS from 706 in 2014 to 711 in 2105.

Further information on the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering may be obtained from

Kelly Kang
Human Resources Statistics Program
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230
kkang@nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvygradpostdoc/