Higher Education Research and Development Estimates (HERD)

Detailed information for 2013

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

5109

Higher Education Research and Development Estimates (HERD) are funding based investments in sponsored research and development expenditures in the higher education sector in Canada.

Data release - July 29, 2015

Description

Quality estimates of research and development activities in the higher education sector are of increasing importance to policy developers, to the major funders of these activities, and also to the performing institutions. The program provides useful coherent indicators of Science and Technology activity in Canada. Higher Education Research and Development Estimates (HERD) also makes up the portion of the higher education sector estimates for gross domestic expenditures on research and development (GERD).

HERD estimates are produced by type of funder and by type of science for Canada and the provinces. Funders of HERD include the Federal Government, the provincial governments and provincial research organizations, the business sector, the private non-profit sector, foreign sources, and of course the universities and affiliated institutions (such as teaching hospitals).

Statistical activity

Research and experimental development includes systematic creative work to increase the body of knowledge, including knowledge of people, cultures and societies, and the use of this body of knowledge to create new applications.

Science and technology (S&T) and the information society are changing the way we live, learn and work. The concepts are closely intertwined: science generates new understanding of the way the world works, technology applies it to develop innovative products and services, and the information society is one of the results of the innovations.

People are looking to Statistics Canada to measure and explain the social and economic impacts of these changes.

The purpose of this program is to develop useful indicators of S&T activity in Canada and to present them coherently.

Reference period: Fiscal year

Collection period: April to June

Subjects

  • Research and development
  • Science and technology

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The higher education sector is composed of all universities, colleges of technology and other institutes of post-secondary education investing in research and development activities, whatever their source of finance or legal status.

Instrument design

This methodology does not apply.

Sampling

This survey is a census.

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore no sampling is done.

Data sources

Data are extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

Statistics Canada works closely with the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) in its efforts to improve the reporting of financial information, particularly with respect to sponsored research funding and inter-institutional awards. The latter is necessary to avoid double counting where several institutions working on the same project may report the same funds.

Two of the main areas of interest in HERD are the sectors funding R&D and the fields of science being funded. The methods by which source of fund allocations are made and also those by which allocations to the three fields of science are determined are described in the document "Estimation of Higher Education Research and Development Estimates" available in the documentation section below.

Imputation

This methodology does not apply.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

Data are analyzed and edited to ensure internal coherence and consistency for quality assurance. Activities are not based on standard accounts or classifications and inputs, but on financial data. Therefore, respondents generally estimate the data. Statistics Canada continually monitors the coverage of the population. Following the completion of the edit process, data are verified and are compared against previous years' estimates.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

Indirect expenditures: The assumptions concerning what constitutes indirect expenditures and also the assumption that sponsored research expenditures include 5% in indirect cost reimbursement will remain open to discussion, particularly among the established users of these data and those who have constituted the review and support partnership. The 5% estimate is particularly arbitrary because CAUBO does not have any information on the amount of indirect costs covered by reported sponsored research grants and contracts. These may be reported by universities as sponsored research or elsewhere under other types of expenditures. It is known that some of the indirect costs are covered by business and private not-for-profit awards and that Quebec covers 15% of indirect costs in its awards (but universities do not necessarily report these funds under sponsored research). The Quebec figure suggests that the 5% estimation overall for that province is likely low. Project staff will continue to work closely with CAUBO and the universities and related associations in the future to improve estimates in this area.

Historical continuity of data series: HERD estimates are based on the revised estimation procedure first used for 1998/1999 estimates.

During the 2000/2001 estimation procedure a better analysis of "teaching hospitals" expenditures was completed.

During the 2001/2002 estimation procedure the one-time grant awarded to the universities for indirect costs related to sponsored research was reviewed. Our estimation system had to be modified to ensure those costs were firstly sourced to the federal government and secondly were not double counted. In 2003/2004 the indirect costs grant awarded from the federal government became an annual payment to universities. The estimation system ensures these payments are not included in the indirect costs so there is no double counting.

During the 2013/2014 estimation procedure, new faculty time use coefficients on research and development were developed. These new coefficients were applied to the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 estimates. As such, data from previous years are not comparable.

Documentation

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