[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43792-43794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19889]


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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 on the Survey of 
Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. NSF 
may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the 
collection of information displays a currently 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.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including 
the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

DATES: Comments regarding these information collections are best 
assured of having their full effect if received October 19, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to: Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for National Science 
Foundation, 725 17th Street NW., Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, and 
to Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1265, Arlington, Virginia 
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).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton at 
[email protected]. Copies of the submission may be obtained by calling 
703-292-7556.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is the second notice for public comment 
on plans to obtain OMB clearance for the Survey of Graduate Students 
and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering; the first notice was 
published in the Federal Register at 82 FR 20921, and no comments were 
received. NSF is forwarding the proposed renewal 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.
    Title: Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science 
and Engineering
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-0062.
    Summary of Collection: 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

[[Page 43793]]

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 NCSES within NSF and the National 
Institutes of Health, is designed to comply with legislative mandates 
by providing information on the characteristics of graduate students 
and postdoctorates appointees (postdocs) in science, engineering and 
health (SEH) fields. The GSS, which originated in 1966 and has been 
conducted annually since 1972, is a census of all departments in SEH 
fields within academic institutions with graduate programs in the 
United States.
    The GSS is the only national survey that collects information on 
the characteristics of graduate enrollment for specific SEH disciplines 
at the department level. It collects information on ethnicity and race, 
citizenship, sex, sources of support, mechanisms of support, and 
enrollment status for graduate students; information on postdocs by 
ethnicity and race, citizenship, sex, sources of support, mechanism of 
support, doctorate type and degree origin; and information on other 
doctorate-holding non-faculty researchers by gender and doctorate type. 
To improve coverage of postdocs, the GSS also periodically collects 
information on the ethnicity and race, sex, citizenship, source of 
support, field of research for the postdocs employed in Federally 
Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). The data are 
solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 
1950, as amended, and the Privacy Act of 1974. All information will be 
used for statistical purposes only. Participation in the survey is 
voluntary.
    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 file transfers for data submission, instead of manual entry of 
data in the GSS Web survey instrument. The redesigned data collection 
will not ask new questions but the primary method used to report the 
graduate student enrollment and financial support data will change for 
the institutions.
    The initial GSS data request will be sent to the designated 
respondent (School Coordinator) at each academic institution in the 
fall. The School Coordinator may upload a file with requested data on 
the GSS Web site, which will automatically aggregate the data and 
populate the cells of the Web survey instrument for each eligible 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 unit 
respondents at their institution. The GSS 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 are major 
users of the GSS data, along with professional societies such as the 
American Association of Universities, Association of American Medical 
Colleges, and the Carnegie Foundation. 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 (S&E) 
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 S&E fields by 
targeted groups for all disciplines or for selected disciplines and for 
selected groups of institutions.
    NSF 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 will be made available 
electronically on the NSF Web site. A public use file is also made 
available.
    Expected Respondents: The GSS is a census of all eligible academic 
institutions in the U.S. with graduate programs in SEH fields. The 
estimated total number of respondents surveyed in 2017 survey is 15,972 
departments or programs in about 826 schools within 700 SEH graduate 
degree-granting institutions. The response rate is calculated on the 
number of departments that respond to the survey. NCSES expects the 
response rate to remain around 99 percent.
    Estimate of Burden: The amount of time it takes to complete the GSS 
data varies dramatically across institutions, and depends to a large 
degree on the number of reporting units, and the extent to which the 
school's records are centrally stored and computerized. It also depends 
on the number of institutions using the manual data entry or the file 
upload option to provide the GSS data. Based on the Pilot data 
collection conducted during the 2016 GSS that was designed to test the 
feasibility of the GSS redesign, a large majority of the institutions 
are expected to use the file upload options to submit data.
    Burden estimate calculations are based on the survey completion 
times reported by the 2016 Pilot GSS respondents, as compared to their 
completion times reported in the 2015 GSS. Because completion time 
differs by reporting institution type, burden is estimated separately 
based on three types of institutions and the proportion they constitute 
in the GSS frame--institutions enrolling only master's students, 
institutions enrolling both master's and doctoral students with 15 or 
fewer reporting units, and institutions enrolling both master's and 
doctoral students with more than 15 reporting units (see Table 1).

             Table 1--Expected Composition of 2017 GSS Frame
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                                             Number of
            Institution type                  schools         Percent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Master's Only...........................             339            41.0
Master's/Doctorate: 15 or fewer units...             205            24.8
Master's/Doctorate: More than 15 units..             282            34.2
                                         -------------------------------
    Total...............................             826           100.0
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[[Page 43794]]

    Burden estimates for each reporting institution type are shown in 
Table 2.

                                   Table 2--Burden Estimates for the 2017 GSS
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                                                                    Respondents
                           School type                              (number of    Average burden   Total burden
                                                                     schools)         (hours)         (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Master's Only...................................................             339             5.9           2,000
Master's/Doctorate: 15 or fewer units...........................             205            17.1           3,506
Master's/Doctorate: More than 15 units..........................             282            86.6          24,421
FFRDCs..........................................................              43             3.7             159
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Estimated total.............................................             869  ..............          30,086
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    The number of units in the subsequent survey cycle will include the 
institutions in the previous year plus an approximate 1 percent 
increase in institutions. The FFRDC postdoc data collection will take 
place in 2017 and 2019, and the estimated burden for those years will 
increase by 159 hours from 43 FFRDCs (based on 100 percent response 
rate in 2015 with the average burden of 3.7 hours per FFRDC) to a total 
of 30,086 and 30,738 hours, respectively (see Table 3). Estimates of 
the 2018 GSS burden are 30,262 hours. An additional 800 hours across 
three years are requested to conduct methodological testing.

             Table 3--Total Burden Estimates for 2017-19 GSS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            Respondents
              Survey cycle                  (number of     Total burden
                                             schools)         (hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017 GSS................................             869          30,086
    GSS Institutions....................             826          29,927
    FFRDCs..............................              43             159
2018 GSS................................             836          30,262
2019 GSS................................             888          30,738
    GSS Institutions....................             845          30,579
    FFRDCs..............................              43             159
Future methodological testing (across     ..............             800
 all 3 years)...........................
                                         -------------------------------
    Total estimated burden..............           2,593          91,886
Estimated average annual burden.........             864          30,629
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The total estimated respondent burden of the GSS, including 800 
hours for the methodological studies, will be 91,886 hours over the 3-
survey clearance period.

    Dated: September 14, 2017.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2017-19889 Filed 9-18-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P