Measuring R&D Personnel

1. Measuring R&D Personnel CARIBBEAN REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION (STI) INDICATORS St George’s, Grenada1-3 February 2011

2. Frascati Manual deals with “input indicators” • R&D Personnel • All persons employed directly on R&D, as well as those providing direct services such as R&D managers, administrators, and clerical staff • R&D Expenditure • Will be the subject of a separate presentation  Both inputs are necessary to secure an adequate representation of the effort devoted to R&D

3. Classification by occupation R&D Personnel consist of: • Researchers • Technicians and equivalent staff • Other supporting staff

4. Researchers Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods and systems and also in the management of the projects concerned

5. Researchers (contd.) • ISCO-88 Major Group 2, “Professionals”, and “Research and Development Department Managers” (ISCO-88, 1237) and equivalent military personnel • Includes managers and administrators engaged in the planning and management of the scientific and technical aspects of research • Postgraduate students at the PhD level engaged in R&D should be considered as researchers

6. Technicians and equivalent staff Technicians • whose main tasks require technical knowledge and experience • perform scientific and technical tasks involving the application of concepts and operational methods, normally under the supervision of researchers Equivalent staff • perform the corresponding R&D tasks under the supervision of researchers in the social sciences and humanities

7. Technicians and equivalent staff (contd.) • ISCO-88 Major Group 3, “Technicians and Associate Professionals” • Group 31, “Physical and Engineering Science Associate Professionals” • Group 32, “Life Science and Health Associate Professionals” • Class 3434, “Statistical, Mathematical and Related Assoc. Professionals” • Include equivalent members of the armed forces • Their tasks include: • Bibliographic searches • Preparing computer programmes • Carrying out experiments, tests and analyses • Preparing materials and equipment for experiments, tests and analyses • Recording measurements, making calculations and preparing charts • Carrying out statistical surveys and interviews

8. Other supporting staff Other supporting staffincludes skilled and unskilled craftsmen, secretarial and clerical staff participating in R&Dprojects or directly associated with such projects.

9. Other supporting staff (contd.) • ISCO-88 Major Groups 4, “Clerks”; 6, ”Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers”; and 8, ”Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers” • Managers and administrators dealing mainly with financial and personnel matters and general administration, insofar as their activities are a direct service to R&D • Persons providing indirect services to R&D, such as security, cleaning, maintenance, canteen staff, etc. should be excluded

10. Headcount data (HC) “Headcount (HC)” dataare data on the total number of persons who are mainly or partially employed on R&D. Headcount data are the most appropriate measure for collecting additional information about R&D personnel, such as age, gender or national origin.

11. Headcount data (HC) (contd.) • Possible approaches and options • Number of persons engaged in R&D at a given date (e.g. end of period) • Average number of persons engaged in R&D during the (calendar) year • Total number of persons engaged in R&D during the (calendar) year

12. Full-time equivalence (FTE) data • R&D may be the primary function or maybe a secondary function • It may also be a significant part-time activity (e.g. university teachers or postgraduate students) • The number of persons engaged in R&D must, therefore, also be expressed in full-time equivalents on R&D activities FTE is the true measure of the volume of R&D

13. FTE (contd.) • One FTE may be thought of as one person-year • 30% of time on R&D should be considered as 0.3 FTE • A full-time R&D worker is employed at an R&D unit for only six months = 0.5 FTE • Other options • FTEs based on the average hours worked per week • FTEs devoted to each activity per week

14. HC and FTE calculation 4 HC 1 HC 1 HC 1 HC 1 HC FT: > 90% PT: 60% PT: 40% SPT: 20% 0.6 FTE 1 FTE 0.4 FTE 0.2 FTE 2.2 FTE

15. Methods for calculating FTE • FTE on a fixed date. • Ignores seasonal variations in R&D employment • FTE during a period is more appropriate • Diversity of methods and the need for disclosure of method used • Different methods are used by different countries and sectors • Details of the methods employed should be made public

16. FTE - Specific problems in the higher education sector Definition of working time of an academic teacher/researcher • Teaching hours usually well-defined, but absolute working time varies: • Number of teaching hours per week • Demands made by examinations and student supervision • Administrative duties • Nature of R&D activities and deadlines imposed • Student vacation periods much of their professional activity – notably R&D – is carried out outside “normal working hours”. Calculation of full-time equivalence • Must be based on total working time; • No person can represent more than one FTE in any year and hence cannot perform more than one FTE on R&D.

17. FTE: sources Time-use surveys: (repeat every 5-6 years) • Based on researchers’ own evaluation of the distribution of their working time (on average over a whole year); Examples; • with two categories: “research” and “other activities” or • with more categories: – Undergraduate teaching time: … % – Postgraduate course-work time: … % – Postgraduate research time: … % – Personal research time: … % – Administration: … % – Examinations: … % – Student counseling: … % – Unallocable internal time: … % – External professional time: … % – Total 100%

18. FTE: sources (contd.) (b) Based on estimates by the heads of university departments or institutes • Aggregate survey: Full-time / part-time / 50% of time / 30% of time / etc • Cheaper method, less heavy burden on respondents • Questionnaires usually addressed to the head of the institute

19. FTE: sources (contd.) R&D coefficients • Non-survey-based coefficients derived from informed guesses to sophisticated models Sources of information • Employment contracts • Job descriptions • Internal planning or evaluation tools • Other countries’ coefficients • Research grants given to different institutions • S&T publications Accuracy of the coefficients depends on the quality of judgement.

20. FTE & R&D Expenditure (GERD) FTE is key to adequately calculating GERD • Researcher’s salaries are a significant part of GERD • GERD should only include the proportion of the salaries devoted to R&D, i.e. FTE R&D salaries • Including HC salaries would lead to significantly overestimated GERD

21. Tables recommended by Frascati Manual and the UIS • R&D personnel by sector and occupation (HC & FTE) • R&D personnel and researchers by sector and by level of qualification (HC & FTE) • Researchers and, if possible, other categories of R&D personnel (HC), by: • Sex: Male/female • Age: Under 25 years; 25-34 years; 35-44 years; 45-54 years; 55-64 years; 65 years and more • Fields of Science (NS, ENG, MED, AG, SS, HM: more details in expenditure presentation)

22. Classification by formal qualification • ISCED 6 (PhD level) • ISCED 5A (University degrees below PhD level) • ISCED 5B (Other tertiary level diplomas) • Other qualifications: • ISCED 4 (Post-secondary non-tertiary diplomas) • ISCED 3 (Secondary education) • Other qualifications (<ISCED3) Note: ISCED is under revision

23. Summary • R&D Personnel • Researchers, Technicians and equivalent staff, Other supporting staff • Measurement • Headcount (HC) data • Full-time equivalence (FTE) data • Time-use surveys • Methods based on estimates by heads of university institutes • R&D coefficients

24. Thank you! http://www.uis.unesco.org r.pathirage@uis.unesco.org