Summary of CAP/NSERC Survey Results [and Observations]

NOTE:  The introduction to the summary is posted below.  The full summary of the multiple choice and long answers, as well as the pdfs of the multiple choice survey responses from the English and French surveys, are attached to this message (links appear at the bottom of this page).
 

Introduction

In May 2012, the CAP launched a survey of its members regarding recent changes to NSERC programs. This survey was initiated in order to enable CAP to respond on behalf of members to an anticipated review of the changes made to the Discovery Grant (DG) program since 2008. Following cancellation of the Research Tools and Instrumentation (RTI) and Major Research Support (MRS) programs in April 2012, feedback on these programs was also requested in the survey.

The survey was available to CAP members for a total of 6 weeks. A total of 366 members responded to either the French or English version of the survey.

This document attempts to summarize the responses; details are provided in two spreadsheets of responses to the multiple choice (6 pages) and short answer questions (36 pages), respectively. Note that the actual questions are summarized very briefly; please refer to the spreadsheets or the original survey for the exact wording.

In summarizing the statistics, comparisons were made only between respondents who voiced an opinion on an issue – i.e. respondents who selected “no opinion” were not included in the percentages. This option was offered on most questions to allow those who did not have direct involvement in particular aspects; for example, theorists would not normally apply for RTI grants, etc.

This summary was compiled by Barbara Frisken (Director of Academic Affairs for CAP) in consultation with Gabor Kunstatter (President, CAP), Mike Roney (Past President, CAP), and John Dutcher (Chair, CAP NSERC Liaison Committee).