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5.2. Coverage and definition of R&D personnel

5.2.1. Initial coverage

294.

All persons employed directly on R&D should be counted, as well as those providing direct services such as R&D managers, administrators, and clerical staff.

295.Persons providing an indirect service, such as canteen and security staff, should be excluded, even though their wages and salaries are included as an overhead cost when measuring expenditure.

296.When measuring human resources devoted to R&D, notice has to be taken of the increased use of on-site consultants as well as the outsourcing of R&D to other units or firms. With the greater use of consultants, human resources devoted to R&D may be underestimated when it is difficult to determine whether consultants are on site or part of an outsourcing arrangement. To remedy this underestimate, it is proposed to request on-site consultants’ full-time equivalence (FTE) on R&D in R&D surveys and to highlight the corresponding costs in “Other current costs” in R&D survey results. In the case of outsourcing, consultant costs clearly fall under extramural expenditures.

5.2.2. Categories of R&D personnel

297.Two approaches may be used to classify R&D personnel: the most commonly used is by occupation, the other is by level of formal qualification. While both are perfectly reasonable and linked to two different UN classifications – the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) (ILO, 1990) and the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) (UNESCO, 1997) – the differences between them lead to problems of international comparability.

298.Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. Occupation series reflect the present use of resources and thus are more useful for R&D analysis more strictly defined. Furthermore, they are probably easier for employers to provide and allow for comparisons with other employment series of enterprises and R&D institutes. Qualification series are important for broader analyses, for example for setting up total personnel databases and for forecasting needs and supplies of highly qualified S&T personnel; however, they create problems for international comparisons owing to differences in the levels and structures of national educational systems. Both occupation

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and qualification series are important in the broader context of studying human resources in science and technology.

299. The Manual therefore contains definitions for both a classification by occupation and a classification by level of formal qualification.

The approach by occupation is however preferable for international comparisons of the numbers of personnel employed in R&D.

5.2.3. Classification by occupation

Introduction

300. The standard international classification used is the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). The following definitions of occupations are especially designed for R&D surveys. However, they can be linked to broad categories of ISCO-88 (ILO, 1990) as described below.

Researchers

301.

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.

302.Researchers are classified in ISCO-88 Major Group 2, “Professionals”, and in “Research and Development Department Managers” (ISCO-88, 1237). By convention, members of the armed forces with similar skills who perform R&D should also be included.

303.Managers and administrators engaged in the planning and management of the scientific and technical aspects of a researcher’s work also fall into this category. Their rank is usually equal or superior to that of persons directly employed as researchers and they are often former or part-time researchers.

304.Professional titles may vary from institution to institution, from sector to sector and from country to country.

305.Postgraduate students at the PhD level engaged in R&D should be considered as researchers. They typically hold basic university degrees (ISCED level 5A) and perform research while working towards the PhD (ISCED level 6). Where they are not a separate category (see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.2) and are treated as technicians as well as researchers, this may cause inconsistencies in the researcher series.

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Technicians and equivalent staff

306.

Technicians and equivalent staff are persons whose main tasks require technical knowledge and experience in one or more fields of engineering, physical and life sciences or social sciences and humanities. They participate in R&D by performing 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.

307. Technicians and equivalent staff are classified in ISCO-88 Major Group 3, “Technicians and Associate Professionals”, notably in Sub-major Groups 31, “Physical and Engineering Science Associate Professionals”, and 32, “Life Science and Health Associate Professionals”, and in ISCO-88, 3434, “Statistical, Mathematical and Related Associate Professionals”. Members of the armed forces who work on similar tasks should also be included.

308.Their tasks include:

–Carrying out bibliographic searches and selecting relevant material from archives and libraries.

–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 and graphs.

–Carrying out statistical surveys and interviews.

Other supporting staff

309.

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

310. Other R&D supporting staff are essentially found in ISCO-88 Major Groups 4, “Clerks”; 6, “Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers”; and 8, “Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers”.

94	FRASCATI MANUAL 2002 – ISBN 92-64-19903-9 – © OECD 2002