Top American Universities for Social Science Research Costs

Because many of the pressing problems facing society today involve the patterns of human behavior and the social forces that affect them, research in psychology and the social sciences continues to be an important source of information about these issues.

Be it the spread of misinformation, the spread of conspiracies, the rise of sectarian and international conflicts, the rise of anti-democratic ideologies, the causes and effects of economic inequality, the development of diseases prevention, environmental protection or crime control. , the social and behavioral sciences provide valuable ways to understand and mitigate these problems.

Where are major social sciences held in the US? Which universities are leading the way in research in fields such as anthropology, economics, political science, sociology and psychology?

One important metric to answer that question can be found in Higher Education Research and Development. The latest HERD survey, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, presents R&D spending data for fiscal year 2023. These are the statistics for cost data, collected from 914 universities and colleges offering a bachelor’s degree. degree or higher and spent at least $150,000 on R&D in the last fiscal year.

Total R&D spending at American colleges and universities rose to $108.8 billion in Fiscal Year 2023. Of that total, universities spent more than $3.6 billion on social science research and $1.6 billion on psychology research. Both groups have increased over the past year; Social science research spending increased by 14%, and psychology research spending increased by 13%.

Below are the top ten universities ranked by their combined research costs in the four social sciences (anthropology, economics, political science and government, and sociology/demography/population population) as well as one group of different social sciences). Figures are in millions of dollars.

U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor $217.5

Harvard University $169.2

U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill $95.7

Arizona State University $93.1

U. of California, Berkeley $87.8

U. of California, Los Angeles $86.0

Princeton University $83.8

U. of Southern California $81.7

U. Wisconsin, Madison $76.0

George Mason University $73.1

The data can also be broken down by the individual courses that form part of the overall social science budget.

• Top five research funding universities for human education was: Arizona State University, University of Michigan, City University of New York Graduate Center, Harvard University, and Colorado State University.
• To the economythe top five were: George Mason University; University of Michigan; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of California, Berkeley; and goes University of Southern California.
• The top five in the political science and governance they were Harvard University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Princeton University, and Arizona State University.
• To sociology, demography and population studies finances, the top five schools were: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Pennsylvania State University/Hershey Medical Center; Harvard University; University of Michigan; and goes University of Pennsylvania.
• To different social sciences group, the University of Michigan at the top of the list followed by UCLA; University of Maryland; Harvard University; and goes University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The top ten universities for psychology research expenditures were (in millions):

U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill $56.6

Uniformed Services U. of Health Sciences $47.9

Penn State U./Hershey Medical Center $41.3

Florida International University $41.1

U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities $33.7

U. of Connecticut $30.9

U. of Georgia $30.1

New York University $26.6

Boston Universityand $26.4

U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor $23.5

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If you look closely at the results of the study, here are some facts:

• First, public universities were powerful. In the social sciences and psychology, eight of the top ten institutions were public universities.
• Across the various categories, the University of Michigan topped the list, earning a top-10 ranking in psychology and social sciences combined. It also placed in the top five in all six social science categories.
• The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill was in the top 10 for psychology and social sciences.
• Harvard University and Arizona State University ranked in the top five for two or more social sciences.

The quality of academic research can be measured in a number of ways – publications in peer-reviewed journals, number of PhD awards, various types of citations, academic awards and memberships in academic societies, commercial properties science, and modern works. students of the institute. All of those measures are important indicators of research impact.

However, the cost of research has some importance in judging the overall effort of the institution and contribution to the field of research for several reasons.

First, because most research grants are awarded through a competitive, peer-reviewed process; R&D expenditure reveals the consensus of experts on the perceived value of the proposed work. Second, costs allow direct, objective comparisons of the strengths of a given area of ​​research across different universities. Beyond the dollars represented by a university-funded research program, the most important issue is how much new knowledge it helps generate.