Survey Materials

FY 1995 Cover Letter to Responents

<"BASEFONT SIZE=2"> National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230

Dear Colleague:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) requests your participation in its annual Survey of Scientific and Engineering Expenditures at Universities and Colleges (R&D expenditures survey), Fiscal Year (FY) 1995. This national survey, one of a series on academic science and engineering (S&E) resources, collects data on current fund expenditures for separately budgeted research and development by S&E field and source of funds, and on current fund expenditures for related research equipment.

These data are solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, and are for statistical use only. Members of Congress, Federal and State governmental planners, and officials in the academic sector use the data to assess the adequacy of the Nation's research base. By contributing timely and accurate information to this survey, you can ensure that your institution is represented in data used by these decisionmakers. You may also find the data useful to your own institution for internal and/or peer analyses.

The survey covers U.S. institutions that currently have doctoral programs in S&E fields and/or annually perform at least $50,000 in separately budgeted research and development S&E activities. While participation is voluntary and failure to respond will not have any adverse effect upon your institution, the reliability of the data and therefore the soundness of institutional, State, and national decisions based upon them are in large measure contingent upon receipt of complete and accurate data from all surveyed institutions. The survey questionnaire is due January 5, 1996.

This packet contains the following items:

• Postcard to acknowledge that you have received this package
• FY 1995 R&D Expenditures Survey Questionnaire (NSF Form 411), with instructions and NSF/NCES Crosswalk
• FY 1995 Optional Item Survey Form
• "FYI" flyer describing the NSF academic survey system
• Facsimile showing data reported for your institution on the FY 1992-94 surveys
• Question-and-Answer booklet
• Automated Survey Questionnaire (ASQ) diskette, with instructions
• Envelope for returning the completed survey questionnaire

Postcard

Please take a moment to let us know you have received this package by completing and mailing the enclosed postcard, giving the name and telephone number of the person responsible for completing the survey form.

FY 1995 Survey Questionnaire (NSF Form 411) with Instructions and NSF/NCES Crosswalk

The data items requested on the enclosed FY 1995 questionnaire are identical to those requested for FY 1994. The Crosswalk shown on the last two pages of the questionnaire maps NSF's fields of science and engineering to corresponding codes defined by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in A Classification of Instructional Programs. Respondents whose institution's records systems use the NCES classification should find the Crosswalk useful.

To help us monitor survey response burden, we ask you to estimate and report the number of hours you needed to complete the survey.

Optional Item 1 Survey Form

Optional item 1 is an alternative format for reporting data in item 1 (current fund expenditures for separately budgeted R&D in the sciences and engineering, by source of funds) of the R&D expenditures survey. This format may become part of the survey questionnaire in FY 1996, but remains optional this year. Item 1A identifies the components of institutionally funded R&D expenditures. Item 1B requests the amounts of your total and Federal R&D expenditures that were passed from your institution to subrecipients.

Please complete the optional item and return it with the survey questionnaire. All data reported by individual institutions on the optional item are STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. These data will not be published nor made available at any level to the public; they will be used only for internal analyses.

Automated Survey Questionnaire

A diskette is enclosed containing the Automated Survey Questionnaire, which provides you with a more convenient way to report your data. The ASQ allows you to check your responses for both arithmetic and trend errors before returning your report to NSF. To use the automated questionnaire, you will need an IBM PC or compatible computer system and DOS 3.0 or a more recent upgrade.

World Wide Web

An R&D expenditures survey home page is now available through the World Wide Web on the Internet. The page contains information about the survey and provides direct access to publications and data. To reach it, direct your browser to the following URL address: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/, and move down to select the Survey of Scientific and Engineering Expenditures at Universities and Colleges under the heading, Statistical Reports on Research and Development Funding and Performance. We would be very interested in hearing your comments or suggestions about the project.

For More Information

If you have questions about the survey or would like information about our publications or data, please call Marge Machen of NSF at (703) 306-1772.

If you prefer to submit your data electronically (either in a layout similar to the questionnaire or in ASQ format), please send e-mail to mmachen@nsf.gov.

Thank you for your efforts in providing timely and meaningful statistics to NSF.

[ Cover Letter | FYI Flyer | Questions and Answers | Acknowledgement Postcard | Optional Item ]