[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71938-71939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19850]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request;
National Survey of College Graduates
AGENCY: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and
Engineering Statistics.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to
renew this collection. In accordance with the requirements of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are providing opportunity for
public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public
comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) clearance of this collection for no longer
than 3 years.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by November 4,
2024 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: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite
E6300, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; 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: 2023 National Survey of College Graduates.
OMB Control Number: 3145-0141.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: April 30, 2025.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to extend an information
collection for three years.
Abstract: Established within 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 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) is designed to
comply with these mandates by providing information on the supply and
utilization of the nation's scientists and engineers. The purpose of
the NSCG is to collect data that will be used to provide national
estimates on the size, composition such as demographics, fields of
degree and veteran's status, and activities such as work activities,
work-related training, professional conference attendance of the
science and engineering workforce and changes in their employment,
education, and demographic characteristics (for example, race and
ethnicity, citizenship, gender, age, disability status, place of
birth). The NSCG has been conducted biennially since the 1970s. The
2025 NSCG sample will be selected from the 2023 American Community
Survey (ACS) and the 2023 NSCG. By selecting the sample from these two
sources, the 2025 NSCG will provide coverage of the college graduate
population residing in the United States.
The U.S. Census Bureau, as the agency responsible for the ACS, will
serve as the NSCG data collection contractor for NCSES. The survey data
collection is expected to begin in March 2025 and continue for
approximately six months. Data will be collected using web and mail
questionnaires. The individual's response to the survey is voluntary.
The survey will be conducted in conformance with Census Bureau
statistical quality standards and, as such, the NSCG data will be
afforded confidentiality protection under the applicable Census Bureau
confidentiality statutes.
Use of the Information: NSF uses the information from the NSCG to
prepare congressionally mandated reports such as Diversity and STEM:
Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/) and Science and Engineering Indicators (https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators), both of which are available online. A public
release file of collected data, designed to protect respondent
confidentiality, will be made available on the internet and will be
accessible through an online data tool (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/ids/
).
Expected Respondents: A statistical sample of approximately 161,000
individuals (103,000 returning sample members and 58,000 new sample
members) will be contacted in 2025, using the ACS as the sampling frame
in the rotating panel design. Under the rotating panel design, the 2025
NSCG production sample will include 161,000 sample cases which
comprises:
1. Returning sample from the 2023 NSCG (originally selected from
the 2017 ACS);
2. Returning sample from the 2023 NSCG (originally selected from
the 2019 ACS);
3. Returning sample from the 2023 NSCG (originally selected from
the 2021 ACS); and
4. New sample selected from the 2023 ACS
Based on recent survey cycles, NCSES expects the overall response
rate to be 60-65 percent.
Estimate of Burden: The amount of time to complete the
questionnaire may vary depending on an individual's educational
history, employment status, and past response to the NSCG. The time to
complete the 2023 NSCG web survey ranged from 19.6 minutes on average
for the returning sample members to 26.3 minutes on average for the new
members, and approximately 91% of respondents completed the survey by
using the web mode. Among respondents who completed the survey using
Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Telephone
Questionnaire Assistance (TQA) modes, in which sample members contacted
Census's call center and took the survey over the phone, their
interview times ranged from 33.6 minutes for returning sample members
to 44.3 minutes for new sample members, and less than 2% of respondents
completed the NSCG questionnaire by using the telephone mode. It was
estimated that all forms of the 2023 NSCG paper questionnaire took 30
minutes to complete, and about 7% of respondents completed the paper
form. Although the 2023 NSCG include a CATI mode, this mode is proposed
to be discontinued in the 2025 NSCG due to increasing costs, reduced
budget and low response in the 2023 cycle. TQA staff will take incoming
interviews.
Based on the 2023 cycle's survey completion times, it is estimated
that it will take approximately 23 minutes, on average, to complete the
2025 NSCG questionnaire. This takes into account the proposed removal
of CATI and the continuation of TQA. This estimate also takes into
account the continuation of
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web and paper modes. The estimated response burden has been adjusted by
proportionally allocating the number of CATI cases in the previous year
to mail, web, and TQA cases in the previous year. NSF estimates that
the average annual burden for the 2025 survey cycle over the course of
the three-year OMB clearance period will be no more than 13,372 hours
[(161,000 individuals x 65% response rate x 23 minutes)/3 years].
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 shall 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 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: August 29, 2024.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2024-19850 Filed 9-3-24; 8:45 am]
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