[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     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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