R&D Expenditures Survey

Survey Materials

FY 1995 Questions and Answers

This page answers common questions about the R&D expenditures survey.

Contents

Field of Science Classifications TOP

How should I assign field classifications for research and development (R&D) performed in interdisciplinary centers?

Interdisciplinary research should be categorized by individual research project according to the nature of the research performed. When individual projects encompass multiple fields of science and engineering (S&E), prorate expenditures to report the proportions of each discipline involved. Do not lump funds together into "other" field categories unless the type of research is actually defined as "other." NSF recommends crediting such research to the appropriate S&E discipline when the project first begins.

How should I allocate research dollars spent for computing or supercomputing services?

Report research dollars spent for computer usage to the individual fields of science and engineering for which the R&D is performed. Do not report these funds in computer science, unless computer science research was performed.

What fields should be excluded?

Exclude fields that are considered to be non-science, education, law, humanities, business, music, the arts, library science, and physical education. Note that you would report separately budgeted R&D for the philosophy of science (a science category), but not philosophy (one of the humanities). The NSF/NCES Crosswalk included with the questionnaire lists all S&E fields.

Sources of Funding TOP

Should faculty practice plan income be included in the survey?

Expenditures for faculty practice plans are not considered research and should not be included. If income from such plans is used to fund other research and the funds are separately budgeted, then the expenditures should be included in institutional funds.

How much of our administrative costs can be reported in the survey?

Administrative salaries and other administrative costs, particularly at your organized research units, can be reported only if funded through projects specifically restricted and budgeted for research. General administrative costs should not be reported.

How should I report institutional funds?

All research dollars reported for your institution should be funds that are separately budgeted and restricted for research, such as sponsored research accounts or general accounts that are specifically budgeted for research. Do not include funds not specifically budgeted for research. If your institution does not track underrecovery of indirect costs, use the underrecovery formula included in the questionnaire instructions. Do not forget to include and distribute unreimbursed indirect costs by detailed field in survey item 2. Be sure to report all indirect costs related to your institutional funds.

Can I report donated research equipment in the survey?

Since donated research equipment is not often captured in university accounting systems, the value of donated research equipment should not be reported.

Collaborative Research Arrangements TOP

Should I report expenditures received through collaborative research ventures with other institutions?

Report only what your institution actually expends and accounts for when participating in joint research ventures.

How do I distinguish between being a subrecipient of pass-through funds and being a subcontractor of R&D services?

A subrecipient is an entity that receives Federal financial assistance from the State or any other entity to administer a program (OMB Circular A-110). The subrecipient actually administers or controls the program, as opposed to the subcontractor who contracts for a specific service on a per-unit basis. A key factor in determining if a subrecipient arrangement exists is determining if the entity assumes the responsibility to administer the program. Subrecipients tend to be the co-authors of publications, writers of technical reports discussing findings, inventors, etc. Unlike a subrecipient relationship, a subcontract is a procurement of goods and/or services. Payments to subcontractors are expenditures for services, not expenditures for research, and are different from pass-through funds to subrecipients.

Organizational Units TOP

Which organizational units should I include in the survey?

Include research conducted through units that are considered part of your institution's organizational structure. For example, report expenditures from branch campuses, medical schools, agricultural stations, research centers and institutes, and any other units whose expenditures are separately budgeted and are accounted for by your institution's financial system. Exclude R&D expenditures performed by federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), nonprofit institutions, and private laboratories. Do not report salaries of faculty doing research at outside institutions unless your institution accounts for the funding of that research.

Basic Research TOP

How should basic research be calculated?

The percentage of basic research should be defined at the individual grant level by each principal researcher. Where this is not possible, grants should be reviewed by each department head or other relevant research coordinator.

Here is another method used by one institution to estimate the amounts of basic and applied research: All federally funded grants and R&D funded from other universities, foundations, and nonprofit organizations are considered to be basic research. R&D funds received through Federal cooperative agreements and Federal contracts, all State-funded R&D (except that from the State's Advanced Research Program), and R&D funds received from private for-profit institutions are considered to be applied research.

Data Uses and Availability TOP

How are these data typically used?

Congress and Federal and State government planners use the data for science policy analysis, national and international studies, legislative hearing reports, budget formulation sessions, and other measurements of the adequacy of the Nation's research base. Academic institutions use the information for policy analysis, publicity, and other purposes. Industrial firms often request data to prepare for on-campus recruiting. The data often appear in higher education studies and publications.

How are the data made available?

NSF's annual Academic Science and Engineering: R&D Expenditures compiles detailed data in a comprehensive document, available on request. NSF also produces a smaller Selected Data report to disseminate the most recent data as soon as they are released. Institutional profiles show trend data for responses at the institutional level from all academic S&E surveys.

Survey data are now available through the World Wide Web on the Internet. To obtain the most recent survey publications and data tables, data files, institutional profiles, and access to the Computer-Aided Science Policy Analysis and Research (CASPAR) database system, direct your browser to http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/.

For more information, contact Marge Machen at 703-306-1772 (e-mail: mmachen@nsf.gov).

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