Previous terms of clearance remain in effect and should be addressed prior to the next full clearance request.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2013
10/31/2013
10/31/2013
912
0
2,643
36,096
0
43,014
0
0
80,098
The survey provides academic R&D Expenditures data by source and discipline, including research equipment. Data are used for planning and policy formulation related to academic science and engineering infrastructure. Users include Congress, Federal agencies, States, industry, universities, etc. Affected public-higher education and associated federally funded R&D centers.
US Code:
42 USC 1862
Name of Law: National Science Foundation Act of 1950
The first change requested for the FY 2012 survey is to reduce the number of questions required for institutions who reported between $150,000 and $1 million in R&D expenditures on the FY 2011 survey. Due to the identification of over 180 additional institutions with R&D activity during the FY 2010 expanded population review, the FY 2011 survey population included 912 institutions. Many of these newly added institutions had very small amounts of R&D expenditures. In FY 2010 the survey had 155 schools reporting between $150,000 and $1 million in total R&D expenditures, in FY 2011 this number increased to 264. Combined, these 264 institutions accounted for $126 million in R&D expenditures, or 0.2% of the total higher education R&D expenditures reported in FY 2011.
NSF considered raising the survey threshold to $1 million in order to reduce the survey burden, but ultimately decided to keep all institutions in the survey but only collect minimal information from those reporting under $1 million. Their data allow NSF to present complete state and national level totals. Many of the institutions desire having their R&D expenditures included in the national totals. Also, completing this survey allows for easy entry into the full survey when these schools do exceed $1 million in R&D expenditures.
Therefore NSF would like to use an abbreviated form that will collect the core survey information but significantly reduce the burden for 264 of the institutions currently included in the survey (29% of the survey population). The abbreviated version of the questionnaire (officially titled the HERD short form) will contain a subset of 5 questions rather than 18. The burden estimates provided by these institutions when responding to the full survey in FY 2011 averaged 14 hours. The burden is expected to be significantly lower than 14 hours when answering 5 questions, but for the purposes of this clearance amendment we are using 14 hours as the maximum burden for this subset of institutions.
Conversely, the burden reported for those institutions with over $1 million in R&D expenditures in FY 2011 was 50 hours, which is slightly higher than our current estimate of 48 hours. Since the burden estimate is being reduced for the under $1 million group, NSF is also updating the estimate for the over $1 million population.
The second change requested for the FY 2012 HERD survey is the addition of a one-time check-box question and related instructions on institutionally financed research. If approved, the question will be added to both the FY 2012 regular form and short form. The purpose of this question, which would be question 1.1 (a sub-item of question 1), is to determine the types of expenditures that are currently being included within the institutional funds category of the survey. Over the past year, NSF has investigated the issue of internally funded research and how it is coded and tracked across institutions. Our interview and workshop findings have highlighted inconsistencies in how survey respondents are defining and reporting this category of R&D. NSF revised the survey instructions in FY 2011 in an attempt to clarify what should be included, but interpretation issues still remain. NSF expects this question will provide greater transparency regarding what is currently being reported by each institution, and the new instructions should aid respondents' understanding of what can be included on the survey.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
OMB Amendment to FY 2012 HERD Survey 8-15-12.doc
OMB Amendment to FY 2011 HERD Survey revised 112811.docx
Attachment 5 Kauffman letter attachment.pdf
FY 2012 Higher Education R&D Survey Short Form