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