[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 112 (Monday, June 10, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29431-29432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-14560]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences;
Proposed Collection Available for Public Comment: Comments Requested by
August 4, 1996
In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on
proposed data collection projects, the National Science Foundation
(NSF) will publish periodic summaries of proposed
[[Page 29432]]
projects. To request more information on the proposed project or to
obtain a copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call the
NSF Clearance Officer on (703) 306-1243.
Comments are invited on (a) whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents,
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other
forms of information technology.
Proposed Project: Separately budgeted current fund expenditures on
research and development in the sciences and engineering performed by
universities and colleges and their affiliated federally funded
research and development centers--A mail survey, the Survey of
Scientific and Engineering Expenditures at Universities and Colleges,
originated in fiscal year (FY) 1954 and has been conducted annually
since FY 1972. The survey is the academic expenditure component of the
NSF statistical program that seeks to ``provide a central clearinghouse
for the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on the
availability of, and the current and projected need for, scientific and
technical resources in the United States, and to provide a source of
information for policy formulation by other agencies of the Federal
government'' as mandated in the National Science Foundation Act of
1950. the proposed project will continue the current survey cycle for
three to five years. The FY 1996 and FY 1997 will be a statistical
sample of approximately 518 institutions and FY 1998 a full survey
population of about 700 institutions. The survey is conducted as a full
survey population every 5 years and as a statistical sample in each of
the 4 intervening years. These institutions account for over 95 percent
of the Nation's academic R&D funds. The survey has provided continuity
of statistics on R&D expenditures by source of funds and by science &
engineering (S&E) field, with separate data requested on current fund
expenditures for research equipment by S&E field. Statistics from the
survey are published in NSF's annual publication series Academic
Science and Engineering R&D Expenditures and are available
electronically on the World Wide Web.
The survey will be mailed primarily to the administrators at the
Institutional Research Offices. To minimize burden, institutions are
provided with (in addition to paper copy) an automatic survey
questionnaire (ASQ) diskette, pre-loaded with the institutions previous
years data and a complete program for editing and trend checking.
Respondents are encouraged to submit their response via the ASQ
diskette or electronically via internet. Approximately 60% responded
via ASQ or electronically to this voluntary survey in FY 1994 and a
total response rate of 99.6% was obtained. Burden estimates are as
follows:
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Bachelors degree or
below
Total number of institutions Doctorate-granting Masters-granting ------------------------
Burden hours
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FY 1992 480......................... 20.8 hours............. 12.0 hours............. 4.4 hours.
FY 1993 700......................... 21.0 hours............. 8.1 hours.............. 5.2 hours.
FY 1994 518......................... 21.6 hours............. 7.7 hours.............. 4.3 hours.
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Send comments to Herman Fleming, Clearance Officer, National
Science Foundation, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard,
Suite 485, Arlington, VA 22230. Written comments should be received by
August 4, 1996.
Dated: June 5, 1996.
Herman G. Fleming,
NSF Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 96-14560 Filed 6-7-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-M
