R & D Topics

Redesign of the Survey of R&D Expenditures at Universities and Colleges

Cognitive Site Visit Topics

General Topics

Preferred methods of NSF informing institutions of changes

Institutional response to incremental changes versus all change at one time (e.g., taxonomy is a work in progress)

Reactions to additional questions and overall response burden

General Instructions

Use and comprehension of general instruction page; recognition of changes

Response to including all R&D fields

Compatibility with institutional records

Response procedure (assembling response within institution)

Sources of Funds for R&D

Comprehension of instructions, use and interpretation of definitions embedded within items

Response to new items (nonprofit, categories of institutional funds)

Interpretation, examples of sources, availability of information, effort to provide

Institutional practices in reporting of gifts and donations

Calculation of separate components of institutional funds (organized research, cost sharing, and unrecovered indirect costs)

Sources included by institutions in "all other sources."

Availability of information on expenditures from grants vs. contracts.

Foreign Sources

Ability to provide information

Comprehension and application of definition of "foreign"

Records and process involved in reporting foreign sources

Medical School Expenditures and Clinical Trials (where applicable)

Comprehension of instructions

Availability of information, ability to separate expenses

Process of providing response

Appropriate respondent: central finance/sponsored research office or medical school

Basic Research, Applied Research, Development

Comprehension of definitions of basic, applied, and development

How institutions would prepare the response

Receipt of Pass-Through Funding and Funding to Subrecipients

Response to revised presentation of instructions

Response to order of items

Expenditures by Sources of Funds

Response to separate questions for R&D expenditures from federal sources and nonfederal sources

Response to inclusion of R&D expenditures from non-S&E fields

Federal sources

Response to illustrative fields on same page as expenditures items and impact on reporting

Other agencies to include, agencies funding non-S&E R&D

Alternate question asking about all federal agencies

Nonfederal sources

Effort in providing expenditures by field and by sources

Capturing information on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary R&D

Response to overlay question

Interpretation of definition and suggested alternatives

Process involved in reporting R&D expenditures for interdisciplinary research

Equipment

Purchased versus leased equipment, consortium agreements for equipment use

Types of arrangements (purchase, lease-to-own, rental, consortium, how they appear in institutional records, how they are reported in the survey)

Use of current fund expenditures vs plant funds for R&D equipment

Cost Elements

Interpretation of different cost elements

Reporting R&D salaries of faculty paid by institutional funds or endowed chairs

Relationship of cost elements to other expenses reported (e.g., item 1 and equipment expenditures)

Distinction between equipment and capitalized software in records and survey response

Payments to subrecipients, vendors, and subcontractors as accounting attributes

Personnel

Identifying correct respondent/office for this topic

Ability to calculate FTE and headcount as requested

Positions included in the institutional definition of "faculty"

Reporting faculty FTE and headcount when faculty are paid by institutional funds or endowed chairs

Proposals and Awards

Identifying correct respondent/office for this topic

Counting proposals and those awarded, denied, and pending

Collaborative proposals and their distinction from proposals involving subrecipients

Intellectual Property and Commercialization

Interpretation of definitions, need for additional specification

Process of responding

Suggested alternative measures

Draft DC/MCH October 14, 2008