[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 84 (Thursday, May 1, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24756-24757]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-09954]



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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Submission for OMB review; comment request.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has submitted the 
following information collection requirement to OMB for review and 
clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). This is the second notice for public comment; 
the 60-day Federal Register notice was published for public comment on 
April 9, 2013, at 78 FR 21162, and amended on April 12, 2013, at 78 FR 
21979. No comments were received. NSF is forwarding the proposed 
submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance 
simultaneously with the publication of this second notice. The full 
submission may be found at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
    Comments: Comments regarding (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
NSF, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) 
the accuracy of NSF'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 appropriate automated or other forms of information technology 
should be addressed to: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of 
OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for National Science Foundation, 725 7th 
Street NW., Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, and Suzanne H. Plimpton, 
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson 
Boulevard, Suite 1265, Arlington, VA 22230 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).

DATES: Comments regarding these information collections are best 
assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of this 
notification. Copies of the submission may be obtained by calling 703-
292-7556. NSF may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control 
number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to 
the collection of information that such persons are not required to 
respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title of Collection: Early Career Doctorates Survey.
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-NEW.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval for new information 
collection for three years.
    1. Abstract: The National Center for Science and Engineering 
Statistics (NCSES) was established within the NSF by Section 505 of the 
America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. 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-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), 
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 
survey will be a two stage sample survey design.
    Beginning in June 2014, 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

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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 
survey: Institutional high authority (HA), list coordinator (LC), ECD 
contactor (EC), and individual ECD. The HA, LC, and EC are involved at 
the first stage of the sample survey design. 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 survey will 
sample 8,250 ECD from 201 institutions. It is expected that 80% of the 
sampled ECD 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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                                                                                     Expected
                 Respondent type                    Minutes per      Number of     response rate     Estimated
                                                    respondent      respondents         (%)         total hours
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Stage 1: Frame Creation:
    High Authority (HA).........................              60             201             100             201
    List Coordinator (LC).......................             360             201             100           1,206
        Subtotal................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,407
Stage 2: ECD Survey:
    ECD Contactor (EC)..........................              30             201              95              96
    Early Career Doctorate (ECD)................              30           8,250              80           3,300
        Subtotal................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           3,396
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
            Total...............................  ..............  ..............  ..............           4,803
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    Date: April 28, 2014.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2014-09954 Filed 4-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P