Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD), United States,1972-2023

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
fy-2023-herd-dug-text-file-format.pdf	application/pdf	395 KB	06/29/2025 08:54:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1972.zip	application/zip	173.5 KB	06/29/2025 08:54:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1973.zip	application/zip	339.6 KB	05/30/2025 05:30:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1974.zip	application/zip	320.4 KB	05/30/2025 05:30:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1975.zip	application/zip	298.5 KB	05/30/2025 05:31:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1976.zip	application/zip	308.8 KB	05/30/2025 05:31:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1977.zip	application/zip	300.7 KB	05/30/2025 05:42:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1978.zip	application/zip	140.8 KB	05/30/2025 05:42:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1979.zip	application/zip	355.1 KB	05/30/2025 05:42:AM
higher_education_r_and_d_1980.zip	application/zip	445.6 KB	05/30/2025 05:42:AM

Project Citation:

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD), United States,1972-2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-09-03. https://doi.org/10.3886/E234521V1

Project Description

Project Title: Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD), United States,1972-2023

Summary: The HERD Survey is an annual census of U.S. colleges and universities that expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted-for R&D in the fiscal year. The survey collects information on R&D expenditures by field of research and source of funds and also gathers information on types of research, expenses, and headcounts of R&D personnel

Funding Sources: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Original Distribution URL: https://ncses.nsf.gov/explore-data/microdata/higher-education-research-development

Scope of Project

Geographic Coverage: United States

Universe: The survey was a census of all known eligible universities and colleges. A total of 914 institutions.

Data Type(s): survey data

Collection Notes: Institution-level microdata from the Higher Education Research and Development Survey are provided in the files below. The files include all publicly releasable data. Data from the earlier version of the survey, the Survey of R&D Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, are available for the survey years 1972 through 2009. Beginning in FY 2012, a shorter version of the questionnaire was administered to all institutions reporting under $1 million in R&D expenditures in the previous year. The data for this population of institutions are included in the files named "2012 (short)", "2013 (short)", etc.

The file organization makes each year's institution data available in a single record. The files also allow researchers to link to other institutional data sources. The microdata are organized by year and are available in SAS and CSV formats. Detailed descriptions and instructions for the data files are provided below.

Correction(s) Date Jul 25, 2019: Data in the SAS, SPSS, and CSV formats of the 2010–16 Higher Education Research and Development Survey public use files were incorrect between 20 November 2018 and 25 July 2019. During this time, only the Excel format contained the latest data revisions. All formats for these years are now correct.

Methodology

Response Rate: Sampling error

Not applicable.

Coverage error

Coverage error of large research institutions is minimal because comprehensive lists exist. These institutions are easily identified using the NCSES Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. However, institutions with smaller amounts of R&D expenditures have been more difficult to identify because they often do not receive federal funding for R&D.NCSES annually screens all 4-year and above institutions reporting nonzero amounts of research expenses to the Department of Education Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to determine if new institutions qualify for inclusion in the survey.

Nonresponse error

The unit nonresponse was 4.4% in FY 2023. Nonresponse rates were less than 5.0% for all but three questions. Question 6, R&D expenditures by type of R&D (basic research, applied research, and experimental development); Question 15, R&D personnel headcount; and Question 16, R&D full-time equivalents (FTEs) had nonresponse rates of 6.2%, 10.1%, and 22.8%, respectively.

Measurement error

Potential sources of measurement errors include incomplete administrative data or differing categories used by the institutions to identify R&D.

Sampling: Survey Design

Target population

Public and private nonprofit postsecondary institutions in the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands that granted a bachelor’s degree or higher in any field, expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted-for R&D in FY 2023 and were geographically separate campuses headed by a president, chancellor, or equivalent.

Sampling frame

The frame for the HERD survey was constructed from three sources: the previous year’s HERD frame; the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS); and the Higher Education Directory. All academic institutions in these sources that had $150,000 or more in separately budgeted R&D expenditures for the previous year and were geographically separate campuses headed by a president, chancellor, or equivalent were included in the frame. In the FY 2023 cycle, there were 914 academic institutions on the frame.

Sample design

The survey is a census of all eligible institutions as defined above. In the FY 2023 cycle, there were 914 academic institutions surveyed.

Collection Mode(s): telephone interview; web-based survey

Geographic Unit: United States

Related Publications

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-09-03]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

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This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.