The Research and Development of Canadian Private Non-Profit Organizations (RDNP) survey underwent changes to its contents and processes for reference year 2014.
The reference period was changed from the 12-month fiscal period ending in the calendar year, January 1st to December 31st of the reference year to the 12-month fiscal period ending between April 1st of the reference year and March 31st of the following year.
New content additions for reference year:
- Spending category details of in-house current and capital R&D expenditures (e.g. wages and salaries, machinery and equipment, etc.)
- Geographic distribution of in-house current and capital R&D expenditures (provinces and territories)
- Sources of funds for total in-house R&D expenditures details on federal and provincial government grants and contracts, foreign companies and non-profit organizations.
- Fields of R&D for total in-house R&D expenditures detail within natural sciences and engineering for medical and health sciences, natural and formal sciences, engineering and technology, software and related sciences and technology, and agricultural sciences
- Distribution of total in-house R&D by basic research, applied research and experimental development
- Results of R&D activities for a three-year period ending in reference year
- Details on R&D personnel by occupation and geographic distribution of R&D personnel by major occupation
- Payments received and payments made for technology to affiliated organizations and other organizations within and outside Canada by type of technology (patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, integrated circuit topography, original software, packaged or off-the-shelf software, databases (useful life exceeding one year) and other (technical assistance, industrial processes and know-how))
Content retired:
- Current in-house, capital and total in-house R&D expenditures distributed by natural sciences and engineering and social sciences and humanities for reference year plus one and reference year plus two
- Total in-house R&D expenditures distributed by socio-economic objectives
- Total payments to others to perform R&D (grants or contracts) distributed by natural sciences and engineering and social sciences and humanities
Survey processing operations were modified as follows:
- New sources of information from screening questions in other Statistics Canada surveys were used to help build the frame of private non-profit organizations with R&D activities (funding or performing R&D)
- An electronic questionnaire (E-Q) platform with integrated edits for respondents was implemented
- Respondents received e-invitations and letters intended to encourage E-Q response with paper questionnaire available upon demand only
- Automated edit and imputation routines were performed for variable and survey non-response