[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 79 (Wednesday, April 26, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19275-19277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08427]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Intent To Renew a Current Information Collection

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to 
request renewal of the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates 
in Science and Engineering (OMB Control Number 3145-0062). In 
accordance with the requirement of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
NSF is providing opportunity for public comment on this action. After 
obtaining and considering public comments, NSF will prepare the 
submission requesting that OMB approve clearance of this collection for 
three years.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by June 26, 
2017 to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to the 
address below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Ms. Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports 
Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, 
Suite 1265, 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: 
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the NSF, including whether the information will have 
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the NSF's estimate of the burden 
of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, use, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of automated, mechanical, 
or other technological collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Title of Collection: Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates 
in Science and Engineering.
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-0062.
    Expiration Date: November 30, 2017.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to renew an information 
collection for three years.
    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 Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and 
Engineering (GSS), sponsored by the NCSES within the NSF and the 
National Institutes of Health, is designed to comply with legislative 
mandates by providing information on the characteristics of academic 
graduate components in science, engineering and health fields. The GSS, 
which originated in 1966 and has been conducted annually since 1972, is 
a census of all departments in science, engineering and health (SEH) 
fields within academic institutions with graduate programs in the 
United States. The GSS data are solicited under the authority of the 
National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended. Data collection 
starts each fall in October and data are obtained primarily through a 
Web survey. All information will be used for statistical purposes only. 
Participation in the survey is voluntary.
    The total number of respondents surveyed in the 2017 survey is 
estimated to be 15,970 departments (reporting units) located in about 
700 SEH graduate degree-granting institutions. The GSS is the only 
national survey that collects information on the characteristics of 
graduate enrollment and postdoctoral appointees (postdocs) for specific 
SEH disciplines at the department level. It collects information on:
    (1) Graduate students' ethnicity and race, citizenship, gender, 
source of support, mechanisms of support, and enrollment status;
    (2) Postdocs' ethnicity and race, citizenship, gender, source of 
support, mechanism of support, type of doctoral degree, and degree 
origin (U.S. or foreign); and
    (3) Other doctorate-holding non-faculty researchers' gender and 
type of doctoral degree.
    To improve coverage of postdocs, the GSS periodically collects 
information on postdocs employed in Federally Funded Research and 
Development Centers (FFRDCs) by ethnicity and race, gender, 
citizenship, source and mechanism of support, and field of

[[Page 19276]]

research. This survey of postdocs at FFRDCs will be conducted as part 
of the 2018 cycle of GSS.
    Starting in 2017, the GSS will be redesigned to improve the data 
utility, data reporting, and to reduce response burden. The redesign 
changes to be implemented include: (1) Separate reporting of enrollment 
and financial support data for master's and doctoral students; (2) 
reporting of data based on the Classification of Instructional Programs 
(CIP) codes for the departments; and (3) expanding the institutional 
use of a file upload option for data submission, instead of the manual 
entry of data in the GSS Web survey instrument.
    The initial GSS data request is sent to the designated respondent 
(School Coordinator) at each academic institution in the fall. The 
School Coordinator may upload a file with the requested data on the GSS 
Web site, which will automatically aggregate the data and populate the 
cells of the Web survey instrument for each reporting unit 
(departments, programs, research centers, and health care facilities). 
The School Coordinator will be also able to upload partial data (e.g., 
student enrollment information) and delegate the provision of other 
data (e.g., financial support information) to appropriate reporting 
units at their institution. Institutions which do not want to upload 
data files will be able to complete the survey through manual entry of 
data in the Web survey instrument as in the past.
    Use of the Information: The GSS data are routinely provided to 
Congress and other Federal agencies. The GSS institutions themselves 
are major users of the GSS data. Professional societies such as the 
American Association of Universities, the Association of American 
Medical Colleges, and the Carnegie Foundation are also major users. 
Graduate enrollment and postdoc data are often used in reports by the 
national media. The GSS (along with other academic sector surveys from 
both NCSES and the National Center of Education Statistics) is one of 
the inputs into the NCSES data system, which provides access to science 
and engineering statistical data from U.S. academic institutions. Among 
other uses, this online data system is used by NSF to review changing 
enrollment levels to assess the effects of NSF initiatives, to track 
graduate student support patterns, and to analyze participation in 
science and engineering fields by targeted groups for all disciplines 
or for selected disciplines and for selected groups of institutions. In 
addition to the availability of the GSS data in an online data system, 
a GSS public use file is also made available for download through the 
NCSES Web site.
    The NCSES will publish statistics from the survey in several 
reports, including the National Science Board's Science and Engineering 
Indicators and NCSES' Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities 
in Science and Engineering. These reports are made available 
electronically on the NCSES Web site.
    Expected Respondents: The GSS is an annual census of all eligible 
academic institutions in the U.S. with graduate programs in science, 
engineering and health fields. The response rate is calculated based on 
the number of departments that respond to the survey. The NCSES expects 
the annual response rate to be around 99 percent.
    Estimate of Burden: The amount of time it takes to complete the GSS 
data varies dramatically among institutions, and depends to a large 
degree on the extent to which the school's records are centrally stored 
and computerized. It also depends on the number of institutions using 
manual data entry or the file upload option to provide the GSS data. A 
pilot version of the data collection is currently being fielded during 
the 2016 GSS to test the feasibility of the file upload option as part 
of the GSS redesign. Based on preliminary results, NCSES expects that 
majority of the GSS institutions, including those with large number of 
units, will use the file upload option. The response burden may be 
slightly higher in the first year of the redesign implementation due to 
the changes required at the institution, but the burden is likely to 
decline substantially after the first year.
    The 2015 GSS asked the unit respondents to provide an estimate of 
time spent in providing the GSS data. The average burden for completing 
the GSS was 2.5 hours per reporting unit, which includes providing unit 
listing and aggregate counts for each unit. The NCSES estimates the 
average burden of 2.75 hours per reporting unit in 2017, which would be 
the first year of the GSS redesign implementation. For 2018 and 2019, 
the average burden is estimated to be 2.25 hours per reporting unit. 
The number of units in the subsequent survey cycle will include the 
units in the previous year plus an approximately 2.5 percent increase 
in units. The estimated burden for 2017 GSS is 43,923 hours from 15,972 
units; for 2018 GSS is 36,835 hours from 16,371 units; and for 2019 GSS 
is 37,755 hours from 16,780 units. Since the FFRDC postdoc data 
collection will take place in 2018, the estimated burden for that year 
will increase by 159 hours from 43 FFRDCs (based on 100 percent 
response rate in 2015 survey with the average burden of 3.7 hour per 
FFRDC) to a total of 36,994 hours (see table 1).

                 Table 1--GSS Estimated Response Burden
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                                            Respondents
                Category                    (Number of     Total burden
                                              units)          (hours)
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Total burden for 2017...................          15,972          43,923
Total burden for 2018...................          16,414          36,994
    GSS institutions....................          16,371          36,835
    FFRDCs..............................              43             159
Total burden for 2019...................          16,780          37,755
Future methodological studies (across     ..............             800
 all 3 years)...........................
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    Total estimated burden..............          49,166         119,472
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        Estimated average annual burden.          16,389          39,824
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    The total estimated respondent burden of the GSS, including 800 
hours for the methodological studies to improve the survey procedures, 
will be 119,472 hours over the three-cycle survey clearance period. 
NCSES may review and revise this burden estimate based on completion 
time data collected during the 2016 GSS, which is ongoing.


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    Dated: April 21, 2017.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2017-08427 Filed 4-25-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P