Appendix A.4. National Science Foundation

Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development

The annual federal funds survey is the primary source of information about federal funding for research and development (R&D) 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, R&D 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 is completed by the 15 federal departments and their 72 subagencies and 12 independent agencies that conduct R&D programs. The sample is obtained from information in the President's budget submitted to Congress.

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
Division of Science Resources Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
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 1958. It is supported by six federal agencies: the National Science Foundation, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the National Institutes of Health; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

With the assistance of graduate deans, a survey form is distributed to each person completing the requirements for a first research doctorate. Of the 49,562 new research doctorates granted between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009, 92.3 percent of degree recipients responded. The 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

Mark Fiegener
SED Project Officer
Human Resources Statistics Program
Division of Science Resources Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates
http://www.norc.org/projects/survey+of+earned+doctorates.htm

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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 academic institutions in the U.S. and its territories that grant research-based master's degrees or doctorates, appoint postdocs, or employ doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers in science and engineering and selected health fields. It is an institution-based survey that provides data on the number and characteristics of graduate science, engineering, and health students enrolled in approximately 600 U.S. academic institutions.

Data for the 2008 GSS were collected at the beginning of academic year 2007–08. This survey includes all branch campuses, affiliated research centers, and separately organized components—such as medical or dental schools, nursing schools, and schools of public health—from all academic institutions that offer doctor's and master's degree programs. Only those graduate students enrolled for credit in a master's or doctoral program in science or engineering in the fall of 2007 were included in the survey. M.D., D.O., D.V.M., or D.D.S. candidates, interns, and residents were counted if they were concurrently working on a master's or doctoral degree in science or engineering or were enrolled in a joint medical/Ph.D. program.

The 2008 survey universe consists of 579 institutions, including 376 doctorate-granting institutions and 203 master's-granting institutions. There are 708 schools affiliated with these institutions: 505 at doctorate-granting institutions and 203 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 the 2008 GSS. 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 2008 are not directly comparable with data from previous years.

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

Emilda Rivers
Division of Science Resources Statistics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/survey.cfm