[CHAPTER 1, Introduction] Description: Slide, Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities Respondent Webinar. Michael Gibbons, NCSES, and Eric Jodts - Westat. July 30, 2019. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Michael: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Facilities Survey webinar. I'm Michael Gibbons, the project officer for the Facilities Survey at the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. I've been in this role since 2012. I also serve as the project officer for our Higher Education R&D Survey, also known as the HERD Survey. Overall, I've been collecting higher education R&D data for 20 years. I'm here with Eric Jodts, the project director for the Facilities Survey at Westat. Westat is our survey contractor. Eric has been on this project for more than 10 years, as have several key members of his team. The Westat team are the primary points of contact for our respondents, and I think they do a great job of providing support to our survey institutions while ensuring that all of the data are published accurately. I'd like to thank you for joining us today. And thank you for your continued survey participation. Description: Presentation Outline. Part one, survey overview. Background and purpose, research space trends, web survey demonstration. Part two, common data provider challenges and questions. Part three, questions and answers. Michael: We're conducting this webinar for several reasons. We'd like to provide some context for those who are newer to the survey, and we'd also like to address some common questions that we receive. We hope the webinar will be informative and make it easier for you to respond. I'm going to begin with an overview of the Facilities Survey, including a brief mention of the background and purpose. I'll then provide a couple of slides on research space trends that we track from the survey. Hopefully, this will provide some context as to why we conduct the survey. After I discuss the survey background, Eric will review the Facilities Survey web platform to give you some navigation insights. He'll also discuss minor changes to the upcoming survey. We'll then work through a few specific questions and challenges you presented through our informal registration poll. Finally, we'll take time at the end to answer some of your questions. Throughout today's webinar, you can feel free to submit questions using the chat function in Webex and we'll address as many of these at the end of the talk as possible. [CHAPTER 2, Survey Background] Description: Overview of NCSES Michael: The survey is conducted by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, which is one of 13 principal federal statistical agencies. For context, some of the other statistical agencies are the Census Bureau, which conducts the decennial census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which measures the gross domestic product, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which calculates the inflation rate. NCSES is located within the National Science Foundation's social, behavioral, and economic sciences directorate. As noted here, NCSES provides data users with objective, high-quality statistical information on U. S. and international science, engineering, technology, and R&D, and fosters research that improves the measurement and understanding of the science and engineering enterprise. We accomplish this to a large extent through the 15 surveys that we manage. Nine of these cover R&D by sector (the business sector, federal government, nonprofit, higher education, and state and local government sectors). Another 6 surveys focus on enrollments, degrees, and the S&E workforce. NCSES publishes data tables and short, policy-neutral reports for these surveys. Our surveys, including the Facilities Survey, are also used to support the Biennial Science & Engineering Indicators Report produced for the National Science Board. Access to all NCSES surveys, analysis, data and documentation are available at the URL noted here. Description: All resources available at www.ncses.nsf.gov Survey of S&E and Engineering Research Facilities. Overview. Congressionally mandated, conducted biennially from Fiscal Years 1986 to 2017. Michael: In 1986, congress mandated NSF to identify and assess the research facilities needs of colleges and universities by individual science and engineering field. This mandate stemmed from a growing awareness in the 1970s and 80s that the research facilities at academic institutions were deteriorating and impeding progress in science and engineering research and education. A number of reports detailing the problems were published in the early '80s. The reports helped inform Congress of the need for federal support of academic R&D facilities and the implications if the trends continued. Congress named several specific areas that needed to be accounted for in the survey. NSF has fulfilled this mandate through the biennial Facilities Survey ever since. The survey is a census of all U.S. universities and colleges with a minimum of $1 million in S&E, R&D spending as identified through our HERD Survey. Description: N = 575 in fiscal year 2017. Michael: NSF is mandated to conduct the survey, but the survey is voluntary for the universities. We've been fortunate enough to have consistently high participation, which has reached 98% for each survey cycle since 2011. Description: Data availability. InfoBriefs highlighting results from recent surveys and analyses. Detailed tables containing extensive tabulated survey data. Periodic reports compiling data from multiple surveys and sources, most notably, "Science and Engineering Indicators." Databases and special data tabulations. All at nsf.gov/statistics. Michael: Data from this survey serve several audiences. At the national level, the data provide congress and federal agencies with a quantitative picture of the availability and condition of existing S&E research space at research-performing academic institutions. The survey also provides data on the current and future capital expenditures for research facilities by universities and colleges, sources of funding for research facilities at these institutions and plans for future repairs and renovations and new construction of science and engineering research facilities. Specific mentions of the Facilities Survey data periodically appear in the President's budget proposals and briefs from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. State legislatures and agencies also use the data for funding purposes. Private sector architectural, engineering, and construction firms have used the data to understand trends in the industry as well. Several professional associations use the data to assess the needs of their members and more effectively lobby congress for funding in their associated fields of science. Finally, many universities use these data in combination with other R&D data to benchmark themselves versus their peers. To meet these needs, we produce national totals as well as institutional-level data tables, overview reports - called InfoBriefs, entire survey-year data files, and data through our report writing tool. Data are also available in our S&E state profiles, which display data across a range of S&E indicators for each of the states. All of these are available on the NSF website. So again, I'd like to thank you for your efforts to provide these data. This helps us serve the data user communities. [CHAPTER 3, Data Trends] Description: S&E Research Space at Academic Institutions, by field, 2007 and 2017. A bar chart detailing fiscal year 2007 in blue and 2017 in orange, measured in increments of ten, representing millions of net assignable square feet, Michael: I'm now going to present just a few quick slides to give you a sense of some of the trends in research space that we track. Then Eric is going to discuss the survey navigation and changes to the FY 2019 survey. The main point that we often highlight from the Facilities Survey is the total research space by field. I've provided a snapshot of the changes over the last 10 years of these data. Total S&E research space at U.S. colleges and universities totaled 188 million square feet in 2007. By 2017, the total had increased 17% to 220 million square feet. You can see that biological and biomedical sciences has grown the most. Space in those fields increased 28% since 2007 and accounted for about 40% of the total growth in research space. All the fields, except for computer and information sciences increased space over this period. I'll also note that research animal space, which is included in several fields, increased by over 7% as well. Description: New and Planned Construction of S&E Research Space at Academic Institutions, 2002 to 2019. A bar chart detailing planned construction in blue and started construction in orange, measured in increments of two, representing net assignable millions of square feet. Michael: After we began collecting data on construction of research space in more detail in 2002, each survey cycle year we saw generally lower estimates of the amount of planned new research space construction until the uptick beginning in 2014. And as the graph shows, the gap between the amount of space that universities planned to start (in orange) as reported in one data collection cycle vs how much was started (in blue) and reported in the succeeding data collection cycle grew closer from 2004 to 2013. New construction space decreased through the 2015 cycle and once again increased with the 2017 survey data. We look forward to analyzing the upcoming survey data to see if the new research space construction trend continues. While I'm always glad to present data trends, this webinar is primarily intended to keep you, the data providers, informed of any changes and to answer questions you might have about the survey. So, I'll let Eric address some of those issues. If you're interested in more data trends, you can access our Facilities Survey publications on the NSF website at the link provided earlier. [CHAPTER 4, Web Survey Platform] Eric: Hi everyone! As Mike mentioned, I'm Eric Jodts and I'm the project director for the Facilities Survey at Westat. Description: Slide features the Web Survey home page for FY 2017, requiring a coordinator ID and password. Eric: I'm going to start by reviewing where to find some of the content in the web survey. This is a partial image of the web survey login screen. Coordinators appointed by the institution president will receive an email with the login credentials in mid-October. Note that the survey for FY 2019 is still in development and so the screenshots that we are going to show today are from the FY 2017 survey. The survey layout and locations will largely stay the same, but year references and a few other items will be updated. One item that many folks have asked us is where to find your institution's previous survey. If your institution responded to the prior cycle, you can access a PDF of the completed survey by clicking on the "print 2017 survey" tab at the top of the screen. These tabs appear at the top of the screen wherever you happen to be in the survey. Note, in this image it is pointing to FY 2015 which was the prior cycle in the FY 2017 survey. Once you have clicked on that tab you will see the link to download the file or a message that there isn't a file available if your institution did not participate in the prior cycle. Once you've clicked the file link you can print the PDF or save it for future reference. We also had a lot of interest on where in the web survey to find a list of changes to the survey since the previous survey cycle. To find a list of changes to the survey since the previous cycle, you want to first click on the web instructions tab. This tab will be the default tab the very first time you login to the survey, but after that you can always navigate back to it by clicking the tab at the top of the survey from any page. Description: How to identify changes to the survey from the previous cycle. Eric: Once you've clicked on the web instructions tab, scroll down until you see the "changes from previous survey cycle" section. Reminder: this is from the 2017 web survey so the content for this cycle will be different. We aren't planning to make a lot of changes to the 2019 survey, Description: Changes to the 2019 survey. Eric: we are working on one item right now which is to provide a fuller list of disciplines to help you better identify the field of S&E under which space should be reported. The list of disciplines will be provided in searchable PDF format and available from within the web survey. In recent cycles, the disciplines and subfields displayed in Question 2 were examples and not intended to be exhaustive, but we've learned that wasn't always understood and even among those who understood that, it wasn't always obvious where to report disciplines that were not listed. To ensure that is more clear we will also add some text to explain that the disciplines listed within the question are examples and point you to the location of the PDF. [CHAPTER 5, What to Report] Description: What is considered S&E research for the purposes of this survey? What is not? Definition of Science and Engineering, S&E, research and research space. Eric: We often get questions during the survey to understand what is considered S&E research and research space for the purposes of the survey. Therefore, we thought it was worth reviewing the survey definitions in this regard. The definitions shown here are found on page 3 of the PDF version of the survey and also from a link within the web survey. Let's take a minute to read through these definitions. Research is defined as all research and experimental development, or R&D activities of your institution that are separately accounted for. These R&D activities comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge-- including knowledge of human kind, culture and society-- and to devise new applications of available knowledge. This research can be funded by your own institution, the federal government, a state government, foundations, corporations or other sources. Research space is the net assignable square feet of space in buildings within which research activities, take place. Research facilities are located within buildings. A building is a roofed structure for permanent or temporary shelter of persons, animals, plants, materials or equipment. Structures should be included if they are (1) attached to a foundation, (2) roofed, (3) serviced by a utility, exclusive of lighting, and (4) a source of significant maintenance and repair activities. Net assignable square feet is the sum of all areas on all floors of a building assigned to, or available to be assigned to, an occupant for a specific use, such as research or instruction. NASF is measured from the inside faces of walls. At the end of the list you can see the fields of science and engineering that are included in this survey. Please use these definitions when answering all questions in the survey. In the previous slide we covered the definition of a building, but we often receive questions from institutions on this topic so we wanted to review that item in more detail. As mentioned before, research space is located within buildings. Green houses, field labs, etc. may be reported to the extent that they fit the definition of a building shown here and reviewed on the previous slide. Description: Examples of research space. Research space includes controlled-environment space, technical and lab support space, laboratories, housing facilities, spaces for clinical trial research, offices, space with fixed equipment, space with non-fixed equipment costing over $1 million, and leased space. Eric: On page 4 of the PDF questionnaire and also from a link within the web survey there is a list of items which we consider research space for the purposes of this survey. Some examples of research space which should be included are: clean rooms, laboratory support space, core laboratories, research animal space, space for clinical trial research, offices that are used to support research; and leased space used for research. Description: Examples of non-research space. Research space does not include space for non-science and engineering fields, libraries, animal field buildings, federally-funded R&D centers, in-kind space used by your staff but administered by other organizations, space administered by your institution but leased to another organization, or outdoor areas such as ponds or fields. Eric: At the bottom of this list there are also examples of space which should not be included in this survey. For example, you should not include: non-science and engineering space, animal or agricultural space that does not support research or is not within a building as defined earlier, federally funded research and development centers; and space that your institution leases to an outside organization. Description: Tips for reporting on research space. Michael: Here are some other tips for reporting on research space: typically buildings include both research and non-research space (such as administrative, instructional, and unassigned space such as corridors). And most of our survey questions are limited to the research space parts of the survey. However, there are a few exceptions in the new construction project form. Almost all questions in this study ask about costs related to research space or the amount of research space measured in net assignable square feet, or NASF for short. Research space is that which is attributed to OMB's uniform guidance functionality of research, so please do not include other functionalities such as instruction. You should provide estimates if you do not have exact figures, although you should provide the most precise data possible, using exact figures if available. [CHAPTER 6, Research Animal Space] Description: Concerning research animal space. Michael: On this survey we do include research animal space both within the survey fields and in some questions focused on this topic. You should include housing facilities for research animals and associated maintenance areas, including: cage rooms, stalls, wards, isolation rooms, exercise rooms, feed storage rooms, cage-washing rooms, holding and storage areas, and so on. However, as noted earlier, you should not include animal field buildings sheltering animals that do not directly support research or that are not subject to government regulations concerning humane care and use of laboratory animals. Also, animal research buildings must meet the definition of a building, as described earlier. We want to reiterate that research animal space questions are confidential and will never be reported at the institutional level. [CHAPTER 7, Other Field] Description: Other field of S&E. Michael: Now we want to talk a little bit about the "other field of S&E" within the survey. As we discussed a little while ago, the disciplines listed in the survey under the fields of science and engineering are intended to be examples and within each of those lists we have a field called "other", for example "other field of computer science" or "other field of engineering". However, for instances where reporting the space under the listed fields of S&E is not possible, then we provide the "other field of S&E." This can be used when the research itself is so intertwined across fields that it would be impossible to separate out. However, we expect that most shared space can be prorated into the listed fields and we'll cover how to do that next. As noted earlier, you should not use this category to report space in non-S&E fields such as law, business, or education -- unless the S&E interdisciplinary research being conducted includes one of these fields and it is not possible to exclude the non-S&E space. We ask that you try to prorate the space by field and report it in the named S&E fields, keeping in mind that estimates are acceptable. Lastly, the "other field of S&E" space should not be used to report planned repair and renovation costs or planned new construction for a building that will be shared among various departments but for which the exact details are not known. We would like you to try to prorate the space by the fields of S&E that will be housed in the new building. If you cannot estimate the NASF by fields that will be used, you should provide the total amount and any other information that you do have (for example, the names of departments that will be using the space). That added information can be provided in Question 20, which allows you to comment on your reported data. [CHAPTER 8, Prorating Space] Description: Thresholds and guidelines for prorating research space. Eric: When research space is shared among fields or used for other purposes in addition to research, we ask that you report the portion of the space used for S&E research under each of the corresponding science and engineering fields listed. For example, if two S&E fields shared the space equally, you should report half of the space in one field and half in the other. Or, if an area was used for research one-fourth of the time and for other purposes the rest of the time, you should report one-fourth of the NASF as research space. Description: Prorating shared space, some examples. Eric: It might be helpful to review some prorating examples. First, let's assume the engineering lab at University X is approximately 5,000 square feet and is used three days of the week for instruction and two days of the week for research. The institution should report 2,000 square feet of research space in Question 2d (engineering), which is two-fifths of the space and corresponds to the two-fifths of the time used for research. For our second example, let's assume the life sciences lab at University Y is 2,000 square feet, and is used by both chemistry and biology staff for research purposes only. In this example, chemistry professors occupy 75% of the lab space and biology professors occupy the other 25% of the space. The institution should report 1,500 NASF for Chemistry (under Physical sciences) and 500 NASF for Biology (under Biological and biomedical sciences). This corresponds to 75% of the 2,000 NASF for Chemistry and 25% of the space for Biology. Description: Prorating shared space, additional guidelines. Eric: If you are unsure where to report data for a particular discipline, you should use the example list of disciplines shown under each S&E field in Question 2. If still unclear, you can review the larger list of disciplines that will be available in the PDF noted earlier. Multidisciplinary research space should be classified under the primary S&E field or fields. If you are unable to classify multidisciplinary S&E space within one or more of the provided fields, you should use the "other field of S&E" category. We understand that prorating can be difficult and that some scenarios are not straightforward. Our Help Desk would love to help you with any questions you may have during the survey completion, including issues with proration. Description: Prorating shared space, research animal space. Eric: Research animal space should be included under the appropriate S&E field or fields within each question. If you have a central animal facility shared by numerous fields, you should prorate the space, reporting the portion used for research by each field. For example, if animals supporting biology research occupy 2/3 of the central facility, then two -thirds of the space should be reported under biology. Similarly, research space at medical schools should be reported under the appropriate field or fields. [CHAPTER 9, Prorating Cost] Description: Cost questions. Question 8, repairs and renovations started in FY 2016 and FY 2017. Eric: In addition to questions on space, there are a number of questions that collect cost data starting with Question 8 (repair and renovations). Description: Cost questions. Eric: Cost data is also collected in Question 10, which is the individual project form for new construction, Question 12 for planned repairs and renovations, Question 14 for planned new construction, Question 16 for deferred repair and renovations, and Question 18 for deferred new construction. Description: Cost, key repair and renovation definitions. Eric: Similar to research space, the survey provides explicit definitions to help you define which costs should be included in your reporting. Let's review some of the key definitions for costs related to repairs and renovations. First, repairs and renovations are defined as activities such as fixing up facilities in deteriorated condition, capital improvements on facilities, conversion of facilities, and the building out of shell space. You should include any repairs or renovations to existing space that are performed in combination with new construction projects. You should not report building additions here, since they are reported in this survey under new construction. Start date for repairs and renovations is the date on which the physical work of the repairs or renovations actually began. Completion costs include planning, site preparation, construction, fixed equipment, nonfixed equipment that costs $1 million or more, and building infrastructure such as plumbing, lighting, air exchange, and safety systems either in the building or within 5 feet of the building foundation. Description: Cost, key new construction definitions. Eric: Now let's cover new construction, which in the Facilities Survey we report separately from repairs and renovations. Let's review two key definitions for new construction. First we define new construction as the construction of a new building as well as additions to existing buildings. Given the unique nature of new construction, we have a separate definition for start date which we distinguish with the term project. Project start date is defined as the first placement of permanent construction of a building or addition on site, such as the pouring of a slab or footing, the installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation. When determining project start date, please exclude planning, demolition, or other site preparation work. Since the nature of new construction projects varies quite a bit and we have found that people have different ideas of when a project has started, we developed this definition to allow for consistent reporting of new construction projects across time and staff. The very specific nature of this definition ensures that institutions can accurately determine in which fiscal year the project should be reported. The purpose of the definition is only intended to define the fiscal year in which a project is reported and not the costs to be reported. Therefore, although it may seem to conflict with the project start date definition, institutions should include all project costs that fit this definition, whether or not they occurred before the project start date. Description: Additional guidelines for prorating cost questions. Eric: As we do for space questions, we need to prorate costs for shared space. The proration guidelines with regard to sharing across fields or purpose is the same. However, unlike in the space questions we have a minimum threshold for reporting costs. Therefore, you should only include projects whose prorated cost was estimated to be $250,000 or more for at least one field of S&E. NSF uses this threshold to limit the number of projects that institutions need to report in order to ease survey burden. We review this threshold periodically when we conduct interviews and site visits with respondents to solicit their feedback of the survey content. Each of the survey questions on cost provides prorating examples for cost reporting and they are similar to the examples provided earlier on NASF. The important thing to keep in mind is that if a prorated cost falls below the minimum reporting threshold of $250,000 you should not report that cost in the survey. Therefore, a project that exceeded the minimum threshold, but supported multiple fields would only be reported after proration in the fields where the prorated costs exceed the $250,000 threshold. It may be helpful to review a cost proration example. Let's say a shared chemistry biology lab at University Z is being renovated. The total project cost is $500,000. 60% of the space is used for biology and the remainder for chemistry. After prorating that means that $300,000 of the cost are for biology and $200,000 of the costs are for chemistry. The institution should report $300,000 for Biology and 0% for Chemistry since the amount is below the reporting threshold of $250,000. [CHAPTER 10, Condition of Research Space] Michael: Next, let's review the question on condition of research space. Description: Question 7. Reminder, please see page 1 for confidentiality of this item. Question reads, At the end of your FY 2017, what percentage of the research NASF reported in Question 2 fell into each of the four condition categories below? Include research animal space. Categories are superior condition, satisfactory condition, requires renovation, requires replacement. Michael: This question collects estimates of the percent of the NASF reported in Question 2 that fell into each of four condition categories at the end of the reference fiscal year. We understand that this can be difficult to answer. However, this question is required as part of the congressional mandate. Let's start by reviewing the definitions. Spaces in superior condition would be suitable for the most scientifically competitive research in this field over the next two years. The upcoming survey that would be Fiscal Year 2020 and 2021. Spaces in satisfactory condition is suitable for continued use over the next two years for most levels of research in this field that may require minor repairs or renovation. The space that requires renovation will no longer be suitable for current research without undergoing major renovations within the next two years. And finally, space that requires replacement, you should stop using the space for current research within the next two years. Description: Guidance on rating the condition of space. Michael: While these general descriptions are provided for each of the four condition categories, the question is subjective and you should use your best judgment to answer as accurately as possible for your institution's space. If your institution does not have research space in a particular field, you should check the appropriate box and continue with the next field or row. As with many questions in the survey, research animal space should be included under the appropriate field or fields as reported in Question 2. We want to take a minute to reiterate that responses to this question are confidential and will not be made publically available. Your responses to this or any other question in the Facilities Survey are not used to determine NSF funding decisions (i. e., grant applications). Respondents should answer to the best of their knowledge to provide a current and accurate picture of research conditions at U.S. institutions. Before getting to the questions and answers portion of the webinar, I'd like to say that we try our best to make the survey process as smooth as possible for you. If you have questions, you can always call or email our Help Desk. You can contact me with survey questions or questions about data accessibility. The final question on the survey, Question 20, provides space for comments. We appreciate receiving any comments you provide. We review all of these to ensure that we understand the issues of concern to you. This can include uncertainties you have about how to address some questions or lack of clarity in our guidance or anything related to the survey. The comment box is a good way to get your message to us as you're wrapping up your survey. Finally, I'd like to thank you again for your work on the survey. We appreciate it and it helps us produce the best possible data for our data users. We'll now get into the question and answer portion of the webinar. In order to develop a webinar that best meets your needs, we administered a survey to identify the topics of most interest to you and that's what drove the previous content of this webinar. In the responses to that survey we also received some questions that we'll cover in the next few slides. After that we'll address questions that have come in during the webinar. [CHAPTER 11, Deferred Questions] Eric: We received several inquiries on the deferred questions. The last few questions of the survey deal with deferred projects. Question 16 asks about deferred repairs and renovations and Question 18 asks about deferred new construction. Aside from type of project the questions and instructions are similar so let's review Question 16 in detail to understand the definitions and instructions for deferred projects. Question 16 collects estimates of the costs of any deferred repair and renovation projects of S&E research facilities that are needed to meet current research program commitments, but are not yet funded and not yet scheduled to start in the two years following the survey reference year. You should not include projects planned for developing new programs or expanding current programs. Current research program commitments include current faculty and staff or those to whom offers have been made or grants awarded (whether or not research has actually begun) and programs which have been approved. As with all other questions, research animal, medical school and clinical trial space should be included in the appropriate S&E field or fields and the cost threshold to report projects is $250,000 in at least one field of S&E, after prorating. Description: Input fields for estimated costs per field of S&E, both for projects included and not included in institutional plans. Eric: If your institution does not have any fields with deferred repair or renovation projects that meet the guidelines, you should check the appropriate box and skip to Question 18. For the deferred questions, respondents should estimate costs separately for projects included in their approved institutional plans and projects not included in these plans. Institutional plans usually include goals, strategies, and budgets for fulfilling the institution's mission during a specific time period (for example, a master plan or 5-year capital plan). All other deferred projects should go in the right-hand column labeled: "For projects not included in your plan". [CHAPTER 12, Fiscal Year Defined] Eric: We also received questions about fiscal year and whose fiscal year we are talking about. For the purposes of this survey, fiscal year refers to your institution's fiscal year. Description: May vary. Eric: The fiscal year often ends June 30 or September 30 and institutions should respond to the survey as of the end date of their fiscal year referenced for that cycle (for example, Fiscal Year 2019). [CHAPTER 13, Ideal Respondent] A few respondents asked about 'best practices' and who should be responsible for responding to the survey at their institution. Description: Who makes a good respondent? Eric: While there are no specific guidelines, the ideal survey respondent is one who knows, has access to, or can gather information on: types of research space in use at the institution, measurements and conditions of research space, information on space sharing to allow for prorating of space, and recent, planned, and deferred new construction, repairs and renovations. In many institutions, information on space utilization is available by running reports in space management software, but in others it might need to be looked up in floor plans or by taking measurements. Institutions must follow established cost accounting guidelines in research funding ( i.e., OMB's uniform guidance) and through that process must classify their research space. As a result, some of the legwork may have already been conducted and be available through the office responsible for that process at your institution. Given the variety of organizational arrangements across institutions and specific responsibilities of each unit, the ideal survey respondent varies in title and position across institutions. Successful respondents to the Facilities Survey have a variety of titles -- though typically senior -- across the following areas and departments, such as: various research offices, facilities, grants and contracts, budget, capital planning and academic affairs. Staff at the director, chancellor, dean, and administrator levels often have the knowledge regarding where information resides across the institution as well as the authority to access/collect the information. However, it is quite common for coordinators at this level to delegate the actual collection and entry of information to more junior staff. Description: Survey definitions of clinical trials and research. [CHAPTER 14, Clinical Trials] Eric: We also received questions regarding how to report on clinical trials. A clinical trial (also known as clinical research) is a research study in human volunteers to answer specific health questions. Trials sometimes involve animals/rodents/etc. with the aim of supporting future trials with humans. For example, trials of drugs being developed for treatment of humans are frequently first done using animals. For the Facilities Survey, we include both of these types of trials. Clinical trials can serve various purposes such as prevention, screening, diagnostic, treatment, intervention, quality of life, and observational trials. Trials that involve drugs or treatment strategies are categorized by phase: Phase I tests a new drug or treatment in a small group; Phase II expands the study to a larger group of people; Phase III expands the study to an even larger group of people; and Phase IV takes place after the drug or treatment has been licensed and marketed, which means it is not R&D. When completing the Facilities Survey, all space in which clinical trials occur should be included throughout the questionnaire. If you have further questions about reporting clinical trials within your institution, please contact the Help Desk during data collection and they will be happy to provide guidance for your situation. Description: Differences between the Facilities and Higher Education R&D surveys. [CHAPTER 15, Facilities Survey vs HERD Survey] Michael: Here's another question we received. Several respondents asked us to clarify the differences between the HERD and Facilities Surveys. As I mentioned at the beginning of the webinar. I manage both the Facilities and HERD Surveys for NCSES. The HERD Survey has been conducted since the 1950s and focuses on R&D expenditures at U.S. degree-granting institutions reporting at least $150k in R&D expenditures. The survey is not limited to S&E like the Facilities Survey. And it includes more Higher Ed Institutions - that is, those with between $150k and $1m in R&D. That's about 900 total institutions with $150k or more in total R&D expenditures. The Facilities Survey focuses on a subset of the HERD, including only those reporting at least $1m in S&E R&D, which is usually about 600 universities. The HERD focuses on R&D performance by collecting expenditures by funding source, R&D field and type of research, while the Facilities Survey is primarily a capacity survey that focuses on the amount of research space by field. As you know, we also collect some expenditure data for capital expenditures such as new construction and repairs and renovations. The HERD Survey has about 40 R&D fields, while facilities has 12 broad fields of S&E. Of course, the HERD is an annual survey and the Facilities Survey is biennial. [CHAPTER 16, Questions and Answers] Eric: Another question that we received was from someone who's taking over the survey at their institution and wanted to know who to contact about making sure they receive emails going forward. So you can always send those emails to the Facilities Survey Help Desk but I know sometimes folks reach out to Mike at NSF and he forwards those on to us. So we'll make a note of it. But when it comes time for the actual data collection, we will send a letter to the president of your institution. And they will have to nominate the replacement coordinator. And so we are allowed to make those changes ourselves without that direction and we have a process in place that sort of takes care of that automatically. But if you know that you are the right person, you can reach out to the president's office in advance of our contacts in the early fall. That may facilitate the change when we do reach out to them. Michael: Okay, we have another question on deferred projects and the question is, how far forward do we look? We have a long list of capital projects that are planned. And so deferred projects, as Eric had said, are those that are not funded and are not scheduled for the next two fiscal years. Do not include project plans for developing new programs or expanding your current programs. But different institutions are going to have different plan timelines. And so come I would not imagine there would be a 20 year planning timeline for projects that are actually planned. And there is a variety, I guess I should say there is a range institutions will have. So we can't dictate what that will be for institutions and if you have a long list of capital projects that are planned and that is in your institutional plan, you would include them. We do want to guard against projects being included that sometimes referred to as a wish list. There are a lot of projects that we have to foresee doing, and some institutions, you know, basically, we don't want those. Just planned, if you have a 10-year plan, that is what you should do. Eric: Another question asked will multiple people be able to respond to the survey at the same time? The answer is, yes. The survey allows you to bounce around from one question to another. You can answer in any order as you get the information. There are some edit checks that go across questions so when you answer one question, if it relates to other questions, the survey will check the answers are consistent and may give error or edit warnings. So be mindful of that. But the survey will allow more than one person to login and respond at a time. And some folks can facilitate that off of a copy, print a hard copy of the questionnaire and distribute the pages for collection on hard copy and then enter them later. You can do that as well within the survey-like questionnaires available for printing if you find that useful. Michael: Another question, can the research expenditure dollars information and the HERD Survey be linked to the Facility Survey for the S&E disciplines? And so there are two things, that the HERD Survey is annual and the Facilities Survey is biennial and if we were looking at the research space for disciplines for the given year, the disciplines are the same. And so, you know, we have worked at NCSES to make sure across these surveys that we are asking for the same fields of science and engineering. So in that sense, I would say yes. Your institution, there should be a good match of those. I think that when we look at data, if we have ever matched data for the universities, we realize different people answer the surveys. Answer the HERD Survey versus the Facilities. When I've done comparison to the universities, we see, we see some ranges, but I think might be due to reporting variance, I think if you were going to try to compare universities versus HERD and Facilities, whether you're taking that at an institutional level, that you just want to look at the data and know the universities a little bit and say, you know, does this data match up perfectly? Because I think ideally, you would be able to do that. Sometimes we see a little bit of a variance. Eric: Okay, someone asked on Question 14 of the NSF survey, can we leave the NSF boxes blank if we don't know the answer yet? The answer to that is, all the survey questions reference the end of your fiscal year. In this case will be under Fiscal Year 2019. So the answer to planned new construction would be what with the planned amounts at the, you know that so your fiscal year ends in September. September 30, 2019 what is the planned new construction for the next two years? If you didn't have any or didn't know and eat the answer would be none. You can check the box. Theoretically, the survey happens after the end of the fiscal year and you should be able to look back in time and decide what the answer was as of that date. And if you do know that there is planned new construction, but not sure of the exact amounts of dollars, you can provide estimates. Michael: Okay, so we have a question, "Does the term research animal include livestock use in agricultural research and housed in pastures, not barns but in a farm setting?" No, you would not count that space as research space, even for research animals. And so, on the survey, we have a pretty decent list that says research space includes and it is a bunch of criteria, but some of those are space with fixed equipment. Let's see, a controlled environment space such as clean or cold or white rooms. You know, basically, there are for the animals we have housing facilities for research animals and associated maintenance areas, including cage rooms, stalls, isolation rooms, exercise rooms, feed storage rooms, and basically all of those are rooms and space with utilities. So pastures would not be included. That is all the questions that we have at this time. And if other questions come to you, you can email the address listed here. We will be glad to answer your questions. Description: Facilities survey at westat.com Michael: The same thing goes whenever we are conducting the survey. You know, you are glad, we encourage you to contact us either through email or by calling. And provide the support that you need to make sure you get the answers. Thank you again for dialing in, and thank you for participating in this survey. The next survey will begin in October and you will hear from us to let you know more information about that. Have a great day. Thank you. 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