Implementing the OECD Frascati Manual: Proposed reference items for business R&D surveys

This document contains indicative voluntary guidance on the implementation of business R&D surveys consistent with the standards and proposals contained in the OECD Frascati Manual. The document is oriented towards experts in charge of designing and implementing official R&D surveys, but may be also valuable to academics and researchers with a similar practical survey orientation.
This document is the result of a project undertaken by the OECD Working Party of National
Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI). This project was initiated in 2019 in response to requests from countries for guidance to implement a number of Frascati Manual recommendations. Such recommendations had been incorporated in international data requests from OECD (as well as Eurostat) to national R&D contact points but elicited limited response owing to implementation challenges. Drawing on the rich experience of different national survey practices, this project has developed proposals for reference questions and companion material (reference survey items and explanations) that can be adapted for specific domestic purposes while maintaining a sufficient level of international comparability. The result of this work comprises a set of questions, presented in a logical constructive order that reflects the common topics and structure of national business R&D surveys and allows responses to build on previous ones.
This guidance document comprises the following sections, which follow the logical
structure of a business R&D survey without necessarily representing a model questionnaire as such. Sections and their question items are identified with a reference code.