FY 2025 HERD Survey Population Review Screening Contact Procedures

FY 2025 HERD Survey Population Screening Contact Procedures
Summary of Contacts
Contact

Date

1

Tuesday, 26
August 2025

2

Tuesday, 9
September 2025

3

Monday, 22
September Friday, 26
September 2025

4

Monday, 6
October Wednesday, 8
October 2025
And
Thursday, 16
October Tuesday, 21
October 2025

Description/Message

Mode

Questionnaires launch email/letter
• Questionnaire PDF attached
• 5 September due date
• Version 1 to primary contact
from last year
• Versions 1.1 to institutions
that submitted FY2024
HERD surveys but were
dropped due to expenditures
less than $150K
• Version 2 to senior
administrator
• Tailored version to system
offices
Nonresponse reminder 1
• Screener PDF attached
• September 19 due date
• Version 1 to primary contact
from last year
• Version 2 senior
administrator
Nonresponse reminder 2
• Version 1 for calls to primary
contact from last year
• Version 2 for calls to senior
administrator
• Response needed within 1
week of calls
• Response by October 3

Email

Michael Gibbons of
NCSES

Email

Michael Gibbons of
NCSES

Phone

Contractor staff

Phone

Contractor staff

Nonresponse reminder 3 and 4
• Move to senior administrator
to schools where previous
primary contact had been
contacted.
• Call alternate offices if
previous contact is
unresponsive
• Response needed within 1
week of calls
• Response by October 15 or
October 24
1

From

Contact
5

Date
Tuesday, 28
October 2025

Description/Message

Mode

From

Nonresponse reminder 5
• To senior administrator office
• Screener enclosed
• Postage paid envelope
• November 14 due date

Priority
Mail

Michael Gibbons of
NCSES

Email

Michael Gibbons of
NCSES

Email

Michael Gibbons of
NCSES

Other Contacts—Thank You
Thank you for eligible institutions
• Email to senior administrator
copying designated point of
contact
Thank you for ineligible institutions
under threshold
• Email to senior administrator
copying designated point of
contact
Other Contacts—E-mail to system office
6

As completed

7

Tuesday, 26
August 2025

Questionnaires launch email/letter
• Questionnaire PDF attached
• 5 September due date

Description of Contacts
We propose two types of procedures for the population review. For typical, stand-alone degreegranting institutions, we propose to follow a standard set of procedures with form e-mail and
letters, which is described below. For institutions where we need to determine whether the
institution meets our criteria for inclusion in the population as a unit separate from a parent
institution, the population review will be conducted through individualized e-mails and phone
calls completed by experienced HERD Survey data collection staff and directed by the project
director.
If an institution responded to the questionnaire in the past two years and the respondent was not
the president, chancellor or equivalent, we will go directly to that respondent again this year to
request information. These contacts are labeled as version 1 in timeline and below sections. If the
institution is new to the frame this year, was a nonrespondent to the population review last year,
or the president was the respondent, then we will contact the senior administrator’s office. These
contacts are labeled as version 2. Version 1 and version 2 are identical except for the recipient. If
data collection staff identify that the previous respondent has left the institution, future contacts
2

will go to the senior administrator’s office. If an e-mail address for the senior administrator’s
office cannot be identified, a hard copy version of the survey and formatted letter are sent via
mail delivery. A tailored version of the launch is used for system offices which specifies we are
interested in knowing about non-pass through funding.
After two e-mails, we will contact institutions during three rounds of phone calls. During the
second and third round of phone calls, we will be looking for alternate contacts at all institutions.
At institutions where the senior administrator has not been contacted, that office will be the
alternate. After calls, we will send a reminder via 2-day priority mail to all institutions that have
not completed the questionnaire. The package will include a letter, a hard copy version of the
questionnaire, and a postage-paid return envelope.
After a response to the population review questionnaire is received and processed, an automated
thank-you e-mail will be sent to the school president or chancellor. The e-mail will indicate
whether the institution will be included in the upcoming survey population and will be copied to
the point of contact included in the questionnaire response. If eligible to participate in the HERD
survey, the e-mail also will serve as notification of the upcoming survey launch.
Once the contractor believes that no additional institutions will be responding to the population
review, we will send NCSES a list of institutions that refused to participate in the population
review or did not respond. NCSES can then decide which institutions should be included in the
population.

3

Contact Templates and Instructions
Contact 1, version 1
Population Questionnaire Launch Email
To: [[email]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Attachment: HERD survey questionnaire PDF
Dear [[firstname]] [[lastname]]:
I am writing to request your assistance in helping the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) measure nationwide spending on
research and development (R&D) at colleges and universities. By answering five short questions (see
attached questionnaire) for [[instnameletters]], you will help us update our list of institutions for NSF's
Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. Even if your institution has no R&D, it
is still very important that we hear from you so we can remove your institution from our list.
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
The NSF HERD Survey is an annual survey of U.S. institutions with annual R&D expenditures of
$150,000 or more. It covers nonprofit institutions that offer an accredited bachelor’s or higher degree.
NSF is the federal agency responsible for compiling and reporting the total amount spent on R&D within
the United States from all sources of funding, both private and public. The published statistics from our
surveys are used to show the contribution of U.S. academic institutions to research. Your assistance will
help us make sure that our list of institutions performing R&D is complete and accurate. Institutions are
often included in this review because they reported having research expenses in their previous year’s
IPEDS report, which indicates they may qualify to participate in the upcoming HERD survey. Additional
information can be found online at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/higher-education-research-development/
I would appreciate very much if you could return your response via e-mail by Friday, September 5,
2025. If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call
toll-free 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

4

Contact 1, version 1.1
Population Questionnaire Launch Email
To: [[email]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Attachment: HERD survey questionnaire PDF
Dear [[firstname]] [[lastname]]:
I am writing to request your assistance in helping the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) measure nationwide spending on
research and development (R&D) at colleges and universities. By answering five short questions (see
attached questionnaire) for [[instnameletters]], you will help us update our list of institutions for NSF's
Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. Even if your institution has no R&D or
expenditures are still less than $150K, it is still very important that we hear from you so we can
remove your institution from our list. Your institution last reported R&D expenditures of less than
$150K on the FY 2024 survey.
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
The NSF HERD Survey is an annual survey of U.S. institutions with annual R&D expenditures of
$150,000 or more. It covers nonprofit institutions that offer an accredited bachelor’s or higher degree.
NSF is the federal agency responsible for compiling and reporting the total amount spent on R&D within
the United States from all sources of funding, both private and public. The published statistics from our
surveys are used to show the contribution of U.S. academic institutions to research. Your assistance will
help us make sure that our list of institutions performing R&D is complete and accurate. Institutions are
often included in this review because they reported having research expenses in their previous year’s
IPEDS report, which indicates they may qualify to participate in the upcoming HERD survey. Additional
information can be found online at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/higher-education-research-development/
I would appreciate very much if you could return your response via e-mail by Friday, September 5,
2025. If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call
toll-free 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

5

Contact 1, version 2
Population Questionnaire Launch Email
To: [[adminemail]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Attachment: HERD survey questionnaire PDF
Dear [[adminsalutation]] [[adminlastname]]:
I am writing to request your assistance in helping the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) measure nationwide spending on
research and development (R&D) at colleges and universities. By answering five short questions (see
attached questionnaire) for [[instnameletters]], you will help us update our list of institutions for NSF's
Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. Even if your institution has no R&D, it
is still very important that we hear from you so we can remove your institution from our list.
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
The NSF HERD Survey is an annual survey of U.S. institutions with annual R&D expenditures of
$150,000 or more. It covers nonprofit institutions that offer an accredited bachelor’s or higher degree.
NSF is the federal agency responsible for compiling and reporting the total amount spent on R&D within
the United States from all sources of funding, both private and public. The published statistics from our
surveys are used to show the contribution of U.S. academic institutions to research. Your assistance will
help us make sure that our list of institutions performing R&D is complete and accurate. Institutions are
often included in this review because they reported having research expenses in their previous year’s
IPEDS report, which indicates they may qualify to participate in the upcoming HERD survey. Additional
information can be found online at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/higher-education-research-development/.
I would appreciate very much if you could return your response via e-mail by Friday, September 5,
2025. If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call
toll-free 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

6

Contact 2, version 1
Nonresponse Reminder 1
To: [[email]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Attachment: HERD survey questionnaire PDF
Dear [[firstname]] [[lastname]]:
We need your response as soon as possible to a short set of questions for the Higher Education Research
and Development Survey conducted by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
(NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF). Please complete and return the attached PDF
questionnaire. We would very much like to have your institution’s information so that our coverage of
academic institutions will be complete.
I would appreciate very much if you could return your response via e-mail by Friday, September 19,
2025. Even if [[instnameletters]] had no R&D expenditures, we still need to hear from you. NSF is the
federal agency responsible for estimating the total amount spent on R&D within the U.S. Your
institution’s response helps us provide complete and accurate national statistics.
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call tollfree 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

7

Contact 2, version 2
Nonresponse Reminder 1
To: [[adminemail]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Attachment: HERD survey questionnaire PDF
Dear [[adminsalutation]] [[adminlastname]]:
We need your response as soon as possible to a short set of questions for the Higher Education Research
and Development Survey conducted by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
(NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF). Please complete and return the attached PDF
questionnaire. We would very much like to have your institution’s information so that our coverage of
academic institutions will be complete.
I would appreciate very much if you could return your response via e-mail by Friday, September 19,
2025. Even if [[instnameletters]] had no R&D expenditures, we still need to hear from you. NSF is the
federal agency responsible for estimating the total amount spent on R&D within the U.S. Your
institution’s response helps us provide complete and accurate national statistics.
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call tollfree 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

8

Contact 3, version 1
Nonresponse Reminder 2
Call the office of the primary contact at each institution that has not responded to the questionnaire. If you
can readily identify that the individual being contact has left the institution or have reasonable suspicion
(typically based on automated responses, phone number status, or voicemail content), you should
immediately reach out to office of the president or chancellor and follow instructions for Contact 4.
In-person
Issues to be highlighted during a phone call to a nonrespondent from data collection staff:
1. Indicate that you are calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation regarding the Higher
Education Research and Development Survey questionnaire.
2. Confirm receipt of the Nonresponse Reminder questionnaire e-mail.
3. If the contact does not have a copy of the e-mail, verify their e-mail address, and resend the e-mail.
4. Inform the contact that NSF needs a response by Friday, October 3.
5. Ask if the questionnaire was forwarded to another office and if they can follow up on the status of the
institution’s response.
6. If the contact indicates that they know they do or do not have expenditures, you can take a response
over the phone. Just confirm that they are thinking about externally and internally sponsored R&D in
all field of study including non-science and engineering fields.
Leaving a message
1. If the primary contact’s office cannot be reached, leave a voicemail identifying yourself and the
survey, the purpose of the call, the date of the e-mail referenced, and the action the respondent must
take.
Voicemail Example: “Hello my name is [[survey staff]], and I’m calling on behalf of the National
Science Foundation about the Higher Education R&D Survey questionnaire. Please call us at 866936-9376 and let us know when you will be able to complete the brief five question survey that
was e-mailed to you on XXXX. If you have any questions about the survey or need us to resend
survey information, give us a call.”
A similar message, with needed revisions, can be left with an administrative assistant or coworker.
2. During a call cycle, typically a week, only one message should be left, but continue to try and contact
respondents at different times of day throughout the week-long cycle.

9

Contact 3, version 2
Nonresponse Reminder 2
Call the office of the senior administrator at each institution that has not responded to the questionnaire.
In-person
Issues to be highlighted during a phone call to a nonrespondent from data collection staff:
1. Indicate that you are calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation regarding the Higher
Education Research and Development Survey questionnaire.
2. Confirm receipt of the questionnaire Nonresponse e-mail. You do not need to speak directly to the
president/chancellor. You can speak to their assistant or whoever answers the phone (e.g., “I’m trying
to confirm whether Dr. Jones received a short survey we sent to her on …”)
•
•

If the contact does not have a copy of the e-mail, verify their e-mail address, and resend the email.
You can also use this as an opportunity to ask if there is someone else the survey should be sent
to.

3. Inform the contact that NSF needs a response by Friday, October 3.
4. Ask if the questionnaire was forwarded to another office and if they can follow up on the status of the
institution’s response.
5. If the contact indicates that they know they do or do not have expenditures, you can take a response
over the phone. Just confirm that they are thinking about externally and internally sponsored R&D in
all fields of study including non-science and engineering fields.
6. Ask the respondent if he/she has any questions and let them know that if they have any questions in
the future, they can send an email to support@herdsurvey.org or call you toll free at 866-936-9376.
Leaving a message
1. If the senior administrator’s office cannot be reached leave a voicemail identifying yourself and the
survey, the purpose of the call, the date of the e-mail referenced, and the action the respondent must
take.
Voicemail Example: “Hello my name is [[survey staff]], and I’m calling on behalf of the National
Science Foundation about the Higher Education R&D Survey questionnaire. Please call us at 866936-9376 and let us know when you will be able to complete the brief five question survey that
was e-mailed to you on XXXX. If you have any questions about the survey or need us to resend
survey information, give us a call.”
A similar message, with needed revisions, can be left with an administrative assistant or coworker.

10

2. During a call cycle, typically a week, only one message should be left, but continue to try and contact
respondents at different times of day throughout the week-long cycle.

11

Contacts 4
Nonresponse Reminder 3 and 4
Call the office of an alternate contact identified on the institution’s HERD event log screen from a
previous year or individuals identified on the institution’s website or through the HEP directory for each
institution that has not responded to the questionnaire. For schools where data collection has been
contacting a previous primary contact, this would be the office of the president or chancellor. The caller is
responsible for continuing contacts and contact identification until a new contact is identified or a
message has been left with a confirmed contact.
In-person
Issues to be highlighted during a phone call to identify a new contact from data collection staff:
1. Indicate that you are calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation regarding the Higher
Education Research and Development Survey questionnaire, which was sent to XXX on XXXX.
2. Explain the purpose of the survey and content of questionnaire. Ask if they would be the appropriate
person to respond or is there someone, they suggest we contact.
o
3.

If yes, confirm e-mail address and phone number and send contact 1 with revised due date
and PDF questionnaire.

Inform the contact that NSF needs a response by Wednesday, October 15 or Friday, October 24

Leaving a message
1. If the alternate contact’s office cannot be reached, leave a voicemail identifying yourself and the
survey, the purpose of the call, and the action the alternate contact must take.
Voicemail Example: “Hello my name is [[survey staff]], and I’m calling on behalf of the National
Science Foundation about the Higher Education R&D Survey questionnaire. I have been trying to
reach XXX [who helped us complete this questionnaire in the past] to answer five questions
about your institution’s research and development expenditures. We are trying to identify the best
person to send this short questionnaire to. Please call us at 866-936-9376 to let me know who we
should contact and I will be happy to answer any questions you have about the questionnaire or
our request.”
A similar message, with needed revisions, can be left with an administrative assistant or coworker.
2. During a call cycle, typically a week, only one message should be left, but continue to try and contact
respondents at different times of day throughout the week-long cycle.

12

Contact 5
Nonresponse Reminder 5
• On HERD letterhead and sent to president or chancellor; Hard-copy of screener and postage paid
envelope included. Sent via 2-day priority mail
October 28, 2025
[[adminfirstname]] [[adminmiddlename]] [[adminlastname]]
[[admintitle]]
[[instnameletters]]
[[adminaddr]]
[[admincity]], [[adminstate]] [[adminzip]]
Dear [[adminsalutation]] [[adminlastname]]:
I am writing to request your assistance in helping the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) measure nationwide spending on
research and development (R&D) at colleges and universities. By answering five short questions (see
enclosed questionnaire), you will help us update our list of institutions for NSF's Higher Education
Research and Development (HERD) Survey. Even if your institution has no R&D, it is still very
important that we hear from you so we can remove your institution from our list.
The NSF HERD Survey is an annual survey of U.S. institutions with annual R&D expenditures of
$150,000 or more. It covers nonprofit institutions that offer an accredited bachelor’s or higher degree.
NSF is the federal agency responsible for compiling and reporting the total amount spent on R&D within
the United States from all sources of funding, both private and public. The published statistics from our
surveys are used to show the contribution of U.S. academic institutions for research. Your assistance will
help us make sure that our list of institutions performing R&D is complete and accurate. Institutions are
often included in this review because they reported having research expenses in their previous year’s
IPEDS report, which indicates they may qualify to participate in the upcoming HERD survey.
I would appreciate very much if you could respond by Friday, November 14, 2025. Please return the
enclosed questionnaire in the postage-paid return envelope or scan and return to support@herdsurvey.org.
If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call tollfree 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Sincerely,

Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

13

Contact 6
Thank you to Eligible Institutions (Institutions reporting $150,000 or more)
To: [[adminemail]]
CC: Designated contact (if provided)
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Dear [[adminsalutation]] [[adminlastname]]:
On behalf of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National
Science Foundation (NSF), I want to thank [[instnameletters]] for participating in the institution update
for the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. Based on the information provided
about FY 2024 and FY 2025 R&D expenditures, your institution will be included in the FY 2025
HERD Survey. You will receive an invitation to complete that survey in early November.
Our survey contractor will send [[firstname]] [[lastname]] information on accessing the survey website
when the survey begins for all institutions in November.
If you have questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me at
mgibbons@nsf.gov or 703-292-4590.
Thank you very much for your help with this effort.
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer
Higher Education Research and Development Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

14

Thank You E-mail for ineligible institutions (Institutions reporting less than $150,000)
To: [[adminemail]]
CC: Designated contact (if provided)
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Dear [[adminsalutation]] [[adminlastname]]:
On behalf of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National
Science Foundation (NSF), I want to thank [[instnameletters]] for participating in the institution update
for the Higher Education Research and Development Survey. We appreciate your help in providing
current information on your institution’s R&D activity. Based on the information you provided about FY
2024 and FY 2025 R&D expenditures, your institution will not be included in the FY 2025 survey.
If you have questions, please contact me at mgibbons@nsf.gov or call me at 703-292-4590.
Thank you again for your cooperation in providing this important information.
Sincerely,
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer, Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

15

Contact 7
System Office Launch Example
To: [[email]]
From: NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Re: NSF Higher Education R&D Review ([[inst_id]])
Dear [[firstname]] [[lastname]]:
I am writing regarding the National Science Foundation's Higher Education Research and Development
(HERD) Survey. At this time every year we review the survey population to make sure we are contacting
all institutions that are conducting R&D. We noticed that the [[instnameletters]] reported research
expenditures on the Department of Education Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
and would like to know whether any R&D expenditures flowed through the [System Office/Central
Office/President Office] that would not be reported by the individual campuses. Could you or one of your
colleagues complete the attached questionnaire with expenditures by Friday, September 5?
To complete the questionnaire please 1) enter your responses into the attached file, 2) save it to your
desktop, 3) reply to this e-mail and attach your saved questionnaire.
If you have any questions, please contact our survey contractor at support@herdsurvey.org or call tollfree 866-936-9376.
Thank you for your help with this national effort.
Sincerely,
Michael Gibbons
Project Officer, Higher Education R&D Survey
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation

16