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Abstract
This study examined the relationship among university characteristics and the amount of federal research funding expended. 375 universities were examined over a 35-year period ranging from 1972-2007. Using a principal component analysis, 21 variables relating to university characteristics and research, identified from the literature, were tested for inclusion in a principal component regression. Results found 11 variables were retained in the principal component analysis. The subsequent principal component regression found that the greater the number of faculty members (all ranks), average faculty salary (all ranks), number of graduate students, expenditures for research equipment, score on ARL index, and the presence of a medical school or a hospital increased the amount of federal research funding expended. All retained variables grew in their relative importance between 1992 and 2007 in the principal component regression. Two grouping methods were used to identify discrete groupings (clusters) of universities based on their relative amounts of federal R&D expenditures. Both methods found a consistent and stable hierarchy of universities that existed between 1972 and 2007 based on their amounts of federal research expenditures.