Leading U.S. Institutions with Notable Investment in Social Science Research Spending
Due to numerous complex issues affecting our society today, such as the spread of false information, escalating conflicts between groups, and the rise of antidemocratic beliefs, investigations in psychology and social sciences are crucial for gaining insights and potentially resolving these challenges.
These areas cover various concerns, such as managing misinformation, minimizing conspiracy theories, reducing international and intergroup tensions, understanding the roots of antidemocratic ideologies, analyzing economic inequality, controlling crime, and promoting environmental conservation.
When it comes to where significant social science research is being carried out in the United States, it's essential to consider data from the Higher Education Research and Development Survey. This survey, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, provides up-to-date expenditure figures collected from US universities and colleges, ensuring they grant a bachelor's degree or higher and invest at least $150,000 in R&D in the previous fiscal year.
In Fiscal Year 2023, American universities invested a total of $108.8 billion in R&D. Of that amount, universities spent over $3.6 billion on social science research and $1.6 billion on psychological research, both showing increases compared to the previous fiscal year (14% for social sciences and 13% for psychology).
In terms of the universities leading the way in social science and psychology research, the following are the top ten universities ranked based on combined research expenditures in anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, and psychology:
- U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor - $217.5 million
- Harvard University - $169.2 million
- U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - $95.7 million
- Arizona State University - $93.1 million
- U. of California, Berkeley - $87.8 million
- U. of California, Los Angeles - $86.0 million
- Princeton University - $83.8 million
- U. Southern California - $81.7 million
- U. Wisconsin, Madison - $76.0 million
- George Mason University - $73.1 million
This data can also be separated according to each individual discipline within the overall social science funding category:
- In anthropology, the top five universities in research funding were: Arizona State University, University of Michigan, City University of New York Graduate Center, Harvard University, and Colorado State University.
- Regarding economics, the top five universities were: George Mason University; University of Michigan; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Southern California.
- For political science and government, the top five universities were: Harvard University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Princeton University, and Arizona State University.
- In sociology, demography, and population studies, the top five universities in funding were: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Pennsylvania State University/Hershey Medical Center; Harvard University; University of Michigan; and the University of Pennsylvania.
- In miscellaneous social science, the University of Michigan led the list, followed by UCLA; University of Maryland; Harvard University; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
For research expenditures in psychology, the top ten universities were:
- U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - $56.6 million
- Uniform Services U. of Health Sciences - $47.9 million
- Penn State U./Hershey Medical Center - $41.3 million
- Florida International University - $41.1 million
- U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities - $33.7 million
- U. of Connecticut - $30.9 million
- U. of Georgia - $30.1 million
- New York University - $26.6 million
- Boston University - $26.4 million
- U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor - $23.5 million
Looking closely at these findings, a few trends emerge:
- First, public universities tend to be more prominent, with eight of the top ten institutions in both social sciences and psychology being public universities.
- The University of Michigan holds top-10 status in both psychology and combined social sciences, and ranks in the top five for all six component social science areas.
- The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Harvard University are prominent in both psychology and combined social sciences.
- Arizona State University and Harvard University score high in two or more individual social scientific areas.
Research impact can be evaluated in several measures, including publications in refereed journals, the number of PhDs awarded, citation counts, scholarly awards, memberships in scholarly societies, commercialization of intellectual property, and success of graduates in their post-degree careers. However, research expenditures are a valuable indicator of an institution's overall involvement and contribution to a research field due to their significance in appraising an institution's commitment to its specific research field.
Initially, the majority of research grant funds get distributed through a competitive assessment, which includes peer review. This process indicates an expert agreement on the worth of the proposed research. Moreover, these expenditures facilitate a straightforward, unbiased comparison of the vigor of a specific research field across various educational institutions. Moving forward, while the monetary investment represented by a university's sponsored research projects is significant, the primary focus should be on the new knowledge it contributes to the world.
- At the University of Michigan, Anthropology and Psychology departments have been receiving significant funding from the National Science Foundation for their R&D activities in social sciences and psychology.
- The University of Michigan's strong showing in social science and psychology research is not limited to economics and psychology alone; it also ranks high in miscellaneous social science and sociology, demography, and population studies.
- The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a prominent institution in both psychology and combined social sciences, making it one of the key universities in the United States for social science research.
- The University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have both secured substantial funding from the National Science Foundation for their research activities, supporting various disciplines within social sciences and psychology.
- In addition to its strong performance in social science research, the University of Michigan has also demonstrated a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, as evidenced by its high ranking in multiple social science fields, such as economics, psychology, and miscellaneous social science.
