[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21162-21164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08153]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Intent to Establish an Information Collection

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), and as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the National Science Foundation 
(NSF) is inviting the general public or other Federal agencies to 
comment on this proposed information collection. The NSF will publish 
periodic summaries of the proposed projects.
    Comments: 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.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by May 9, 2013, 
to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date will be 
considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to address below.
    For Additional Information or Comments: Contact Suzanne H. 
Plimpton, NSF Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 295, Arlington, Virginia 22230; telephone 
(703) 292-7556; or send email to [email protected]. Individuals who use 
a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1- 800-877-8339, which is 
accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (including 
Federal holidays).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: Early Career Doctorates Survey
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-NEW
    Expiration Date: Not applicable.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval for new information 
collection.
    1. Abstract: Established within the NSF by the America COMPETES 
Reauthorization Act of 2010 Sec.  505, codified in the National Science 
Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, the National Center for Science and 
Engineering Statistics (NCSES) serves as a central Federal 
clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, analysis, and 
dissemination of objective data on science, engineering, technology, 
and research and development for use by practitioners, researchers, 
policymakers, and the public. The Early Career Doctorates Survey will 
become part of an integrated survey system that meets the human 
resources part of this mission.
    The Early Career Doctorates Project was established to gather in-
depth information about early career doctorates (ECD), including 
postdoctoral researchers (postdocs). Early career doctorates are 
critical to the success of the U.S. scientific enterprise and will 
influence U.S. and global scientific markets for years to come. Despite 
their importance, current surveys of this population are limited, and 
extant workforce studies are insufficient for all doctorates who 
contribute to the U.S. economy. The NSF's Survey of Earned Doctorates 
and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients are limited to individuals who 
received research doctorates from U.S. academic institutions, thereby 
excluding individuals who earned professional doctorates and those who 
earned doctorates from institutions outside the United States but are 
currently employed in the United States. The NSF's Survey of Graduate 
Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) provides 
aggregate level data for all postdocs and nonfaculty researchers 
regardless of where they earned the degree. However, the GSS is limited 
to science, engineering, and selected health (SEH) fields in U.S. 
academic institutions and their related research facilities and is 
collected at the program rather than the individual level.
    Through its multi-year Postdoc Data Project, NCSES determined the 
need for and the feasibility of gathering information about postdocs 
and ECD working in the United States. Efforts to reliably identify and 
gather information about postdocs proved difficult due to substantial 
variation in how institutions characterize postdoc appointments. As a 
result, NCSES expanded the target population to include all individuals 
who earned their first doctorate within the past 10-years, defined as 
ECD. Expanding the population to doctoral degree holders ensures a 
larger, more consistent and reliable target population. Unique in 
scope, the key goals of the ECD Project are:
     To broaden the scope and depth of national statistics on 
the ECD population both U.S. degreed and non-

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U.S. degreed, across employment sectors and fields of discipline.
     To collect nationally representative data from ECD that 
can be used by funding agencies, policy makers, and other researchers 
to better understand the labor markets and work experiences of recent 
doctorate recipients.
     To establish common definitions for different types of ECD 
(e.g., postdocs, junior faculty, and other nonfaculty researchers) that 
can be applied across and within employment sectors.
    The current focus of the Early Career Doctorates Project is to 
conduct a survey of ECD working in three areas of employment: U.S. 
academic institutions, Federally Funded Research and Development 
Centers, and the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research 
Programs. NCSES, under generic clearance (OMB 3145-0174), has 
conducted a methodological study to test a data collection strategy 
that uses institutional contacts as the conduit for questionnaire 
dissemination to ECD in the above employment settings. This data 
collection strategy will be used in the survey of ECD (ECDS). The ECDS 
will be a two stage sample survey design.
    Beginning in August 2013, NSF will collect lists of ECD from 201 
institutions nationwide, then sample and survey 8,250 ECD from these 
lists. Sample members will be invited to participate in a 30-minute 
web-based questionnaire. The survey will cover: Educational 
achievement, professional activities, employer demographics, 
professional and personal life balance, mentoring, training and 
research opportunities, and career paths and plans. Participation in 
the survey is voluntary. All information will be used for statistical 
purposes only.
    The NSF will publish statistics from the survey in several reports, 
including NCSES' Science and Engineering Indicators report. These 
reports will be made available in print and electronically on the NSF 
Web site. Restricted-use and public use data files will also be 
developed.
    The survey will be collected in conformance with the Privacy Act of 
1974 and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical 
Efficiency Act (CIPSEA). Responses from individuals are voluntary. The 
NSF will ensure that all individually identifiable information 
collected will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for 
research or statistical purposes, analyzing data, and preparing 
scientific reports and articles.
    2. Expected Respondents: There are four types of respondents to the 
ECDS: institutional high authority (HA), list coordinator (LC), ECD 
contactor (EC), and individual ECD. At the first stage of sampling, the 
ECDS will select 201 institutions. At each institution, a high 
authority (HA) will authorize the institution's participation in the 
study, designate a list coordinator (LC) and an ECD contactor (EC), and 
provide a letter of support for the survey. The primary responsibility 
of the LC is to prepare a list of ECD employed at the institution. The 
LC will provide a list of all ECD, that is, individuals working at 
their institution who earned their first doctorate or doctorate-
equivalent degree within the past 10 years, including postdocs, 
nonfaculty researchers, tenured or tenure-track faculty members.
    In the second stage, the EC will notify the sampled individual of 
their selection and NSF will survey these individuals. The ECDS is 
intended to cover both U.S. and Non-U.S. degreed and U.S. and Non-U.S. 
Citizens. The ECDS will sample 8,250 ECD from 201 institutions. It is 
expected that 80% of the sampled ECDs will participate, yielding 6,600 
ECD respondents.
    3. Estimate of Burden: In the methodological study, HAs required 1 
hour on average to complete these tasks while the LCs required an 
average of 6 hours to fulfill their duties. Assuming that 100% of the 
institutions will participate, we estimate the total HA burden to be 
201 hours and total burden for LCs is 1,206 hours. Most ECs were able 
to complete this task in less than 30 minutes in the methodological 
study. It is expected that 5% of the sampled institutions will choose 
to have NSF contact the ECD directly without involvement of ECs. We 
estimate a total burden of 96 hours for ECs.
    NCSES estimates that respondents will take 30 minutes on average to 
complete the questionnaire based on the time to completion data from 
the methodological study. Assuming 6,600 respondents, we estimate the 
total burden for ECD to be 3,300 hours.
    Taking into account all four respondent types (HAs, LCs, ECs, and 
ECD), we estimate the total respondent burden to be 4,803 hours. The 
below table showed the estimated burden by stage and respondent type.

                               ECDS Estimated Burden by Stage and Respondent Type
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                                                               Minutes per        Number of      Estimated total
                      Respondent type                          respondent        respondents          hours
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Stage 1: Frame Creation
    High Authority (HA)...................................                60               201           \1\ 201
    List Coordinator (LC).................................               360               201          \1\1,206
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
        Subtotal..........................................  ................  ................             1,407
Stage 2: ECD Survey
    ECD Contactor (EC)....................................                30               201            \2\ 96
    Early Career Doctorate (ECD)..........................                30             8,250         \3\ 3,300
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
        Subtotal..........................................  ................  ................             3,396
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
            Total.........................................  ................  ................             4,803
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\1\ Assumes 100% of the institutions will participate.
\2\ Assumes 5% of the institutions will have NSF contact the ECD directly without involvement of the EC.
\3\ Assumes an 80% response rate.



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    Dated: April 3, 2013.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2013-08153 Filed 4-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P