[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 119 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40870-40871]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13279]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; 2023 
Survey of Doctorate Recipients

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 request for revision of the approved collection of research 
and development data in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995. This is the second notice for public comment; the first was 
published in the Federal Register and one comment was 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.

DATES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAmain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance 
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 
Alexandria, VA 22314; 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: 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.
    Title of Collection: 2023 Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
    OMB Number: 3145-0020.
    Type of Request: Revision to and extension of approval of an 
information collection.

Proposed Project

    Abstract: Established within the NSF by the America COMPETES 
Reauthorization Act of 2010 section 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.
    NCSES is the primary sponsor of the Survey of Doctorate Recipients 
(SDR); the National Institutes of Health (NIH) serves as a co-sponsor. 
The SDR has been conducted biennially since 1973 and is a longitudinal 
survey. The 2023 SDR will consist of a sample of individuals under 76 
years of age who have earned a research doctoral degree in a science, 
engineering, or health (SEH) field from a U.S. academic institution. 
The purpose of this panel survey is to collect data to provide national 
estimates on the doctoral science and engineering workforce and changes 
in their employment, education, and demographic characteristics. NCSES 
uses these data to prepare essential congressionally mandated reports 
(explained below). Government agencies and academic researchers use SDR 
data and publications to make planning decisions regarding science and 
engineering research, training, and employment opportunities. Employers 
also use the SDR to understand trends in employment sectors, industry 
types, and salary. Students who want to learn about the relationship 
between graduate education and careers often obtain valuable 
information from the SDR. Data and publications from the SDR are 
available to the public on the NCSES website: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctoratework/.
    The SDR will collect data by web survey, mail questionnaire, and 
computer-assisted telephone interviews beginning in July 2023. The 
survey will be collected in conformance with the Confidential 
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) of 2018 
and the individual's response to the survey is voluntary. NCSES will 
ensure that all information collected will be kept strictly 
confidential and will be used only for statistical purposes.
    Use of the Information: NCSES uses the information from the SDR to 
prepare two congressionally mandated reports: Diversity and STEM: 
Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities and Science and 
Engineering Indicators. NCSES publishes statistics from the SDR in many 
reports, primarily in the biennial series, Characteristics of 
Scientists and Engineers with U.S. Doctorates. As with prior SDR data 
collections, a cross-sectional public release file of collected data 
designed to protect respondent confidentiality will be made available 
to researchers on the NCSES website: https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/datadownload/. In addition, the first SDR longitudinal data products 
were released in 2022.
    Expected Respondents: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) previously directed that NCSES enhance and expand the sample to 
measure employment outcomes by the fine field of degree taxonomy used 
in the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). NCSES initiated this change 
in the 2015 cycle and has since maintained it by developing a detailed 
field of degree taxonomy based on the SED fine fields that is 
aggregated to a level that is reportable and sustainable. (For 
information defining these fields, see the survey technical notes.) The 
SDR sample is drawn using the SED as a frame. The SDR uses a fixed 
panel design with a sample of new doctoral graduates added to the panel 
in each biennial survey cycle. The sample stratification, allocation, 
and estimation precision targets are described in the survey 
description.
    For the 2023 SDR, a statistical sample of 125,426 individuals with 
U.S. earned doctorates in science, engineering, or health will be 
contacted. The sample consists of all eligible cases from the previous 
cycle (115,246) after removing cases that have never responded (6,684), 
including those from the 2017 SDR new sample and the 2019 SDR 
supplemental sample, as well as a sample of 10,000 new doctoral 
graduates. For 2023, the new graduate sample received their U.S. 
doctorate between July 2019 and June 2021. Across the full sample, 
NCSES estimates approximately 89% of individuals will reside in the 
U.S. and the remaining 11% will reside abroad.
    Estimate of Burden: NCSES expects the overall 2023 SDR response 
rate to be approximately 70 percent. The amount of time to complete the 
questionnaire may vary depending on an individual's circumstances; 
however, based on 2021

[[Page 40871]]

SDR completion times and the addition of new retirement-related items 
for a subsample of respondents, NCSES estimates an average completion 
time of approximately 22 minutes. Additionally, a pre-field survey will 
be sent to approximately 30% of sample members (37,574) before the 2025 
cycle to ask for updated contact information, which is estimated to 
take 3 minutes to complete and will have a 30% response rate. NCSES 
estimates that the average annual burden for the 2023 survey cycle over 
the course of the three-year OMB clearance period will be no more than 
10,903 hours [(125,246 individuals x 70% response x 22 minutes) + 
(37,574 individuals x 30% response x 3 minutes)/60 minutes/3 years].
    Comment: On 6 December 2022, NCSES published in the Federal 
Register (87 FR 2022-74664) a 60-day notice of its intent to request 
reinstatement of this information collection authority from OMB. In 
that notice, NCSES solicited public comments for 60 days ending 6 
February 2023. One public comment was received. On 6 December 2022, Dr. 
Andrew Reamer of George Washington University sent an email to NSF on 
behalf of the American Economic Association and the Industry Studies 
Association. He requested the draft information collection request 
(ICR) materials for the 2023 SDR. NSF responded to Dr. Reamer on 22 
December 2022, explaining that the 2023 SDR ICR materials were in the 
process of being prepared and that there were no substantive changes 
planned, except that all the COVID-related items will be removed from 
the questionnaire and items pertaining to retirement will be added. He 
was directed to past cycle SDR questionnaires on the NSF website, which 
would be updated to reflect the survey year. Relative to the first 
notice, there are two substantive changes: (1) The first notice 
estimated the respondent burden to be no more than 12,639 hours based 
on an average completion time of 25 minutes. The average time to 
complete has been revised to 22 minutes based on the finalized 2023 SDR 
survey content and actual survey administration times from the 2021 SDR 
which was 19.2 minutes on average in online modes, decreasing the 
estimated respondent burden by 1,736 hours. (2) The survey launch date 
is now planned for August 2023 rather than June 2023 to allow for 
additional survey design planning, including inclusion of a new survey 
item module about retirement.
    Comments are invited on (a) whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
NCSES, including whether the information shall have practical utility; 
(b) the accuracy of NCSES's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, use, and 
clarity of the information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (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.

    Dated: June 16, 2023.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2023-13279 Filed 6-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P