Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U.S. Nonprofit Sector : Conceptual and Design Issues: Summary of a Workshop

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) of the National Science Foundation is responsible for national reporting of the research and development (R&D) activities that occur in all sectors of the United States economy. For most sectors, including the business and higher education sectors, NCSES collects data on these activities on a regular basis. However, data on R&D within the nonprofit sector have not been collected in 18 years, a time period which has seen dynamic and rapid growth of the sector. NCSES decided to design and implement a new survey of nonprofits, and commissioned this workshop to provide a forum to discuss conceptual and design issues and methods. Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U.S. Nonprofit Sector: Conceptual and Design Issues summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop. This report identifies concepts and issues for the design of a survey of R&D expenditures made by nonprofit organizations, considering the goals, content, statistical methodology, data quality, and data products associated with this data collection. The report also considers the broader usefulness of the data for understanding the nature of the nonprofit sector and their R&D activities. Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U. S. Nonprofit Sector will help readers understand the role of nonprofit sector given its enormous size and scope as well as its contribution to identifying new forms of R&D beyond production processes and new technology. Table of ContentsFront Matter1 Introduction2 A Profile of the Nonprofit Sector in the United States3 Understanding R&D within the Nonprofit Sector4 Approaches to Survey and Sample Design5 Question Design and Survey Implementation6 Summary of Key Themes from the WorkshopReferencesAcronyms and AbbreviationsAppendix A: Workshop AgendaAppendix B: Workshop ParticipantsAppendix C: IRS Form 990Appendix D: Biographical Sketches of Steering Committee Members, Presenters, and StaffCommittee on National Statistics