Appendix D: User Survey Questions

Demographic Information

How many years have you been an independent investigator? ____

If you are not an independent investigator, stop here. Thank you.

What is your research environment?

___ University ___ Industry ___ Government ___ Laboratory

___ Other (please specify): _______________________________________

What is your source(s) of research support? (Check all that apply)

___ NIH ___ NSF ___ DOE ___ Industry ___ Foundation

___ Other (please specify): _______________________________________

What is the total annual support (direct costs) for all projects in your laboratory that rely on synchrotron radiation? (Choose one)

___$0 ___$1K-50K ___$50K-150K ___$150K-250K ___>$250K

How large is your research group today?

___ Number of postdocs, research associates or equivalent

___ Number of graduate students

___ Number of other support personnel (e.g., technician, programmer)

___ How large do you think your group will be in 5 years? (Postdoc + graduate students + technicians)

Does your use of synchrotron radiation include scientific collaboration on the projects of other independent investigators who do not have expertise in synchrotron science?

___ Yes ___ No

If yes, with how many such independent investigators have you done collaborative synchrotron experiments in the past three years?

___ 1994 ___ 1995 ___ 1996

Synchrotron Information

1. Please estimate how many days of beamtime your group used at each of the following synchrotron sources. (If none, leave blank)
1994 1995 1996
Stanford (SSRL)
Cornell (CHESS)
Brookhaven (NSLS)
Berkeley (ALS)
Argonne (APS)
Daresbury (SRS)
Orsay (LURE)
Hamburg (DESY)
Tsukuba (PhFac)
Grenoble (ESRF)

2. How many publications (excluding conference abstracts) from your group in the past three years reported results obtained with synchrotron radiation?

___ 1994 ___ 1995 ___ 1996

3. How have you used synchrotrons in the past, for the following types of experiments?
Choose from: 1=Major use 2=Occasional use 3=Once only 4=Never
Protein crystallography: monochromatic ____
MAD phasing ____
Laue ____
Small angle scattering: static ____
time-resolved ____
X-ray spectroscopy static ____
time-resolved ____
X-ray imaging/microscopy ____
Wide angle x-ray scattering ____
Other ____

Please specify other: _______________________________________

4. How important is synchrotron radiation to your future research plans?

___ Critical ___ Very Important ___ Moderately Important ___ Unimportant

5. What will be important future uses of synchrotron radiation for your research?

Choose from: 1 = Very frequent 2 = Regular 3 = Occasional 4 = Rare 5 = Never

___ Crystal structure determination by monochromatic techniques.
___ Crystal structure determination by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD).
___ Determination of multiple crystal structures for proteins provided by site-directed mutagenesis, or as part of drug/ligand studies.
___ Time-resolved structure analysis.
___ Non-crystalline diffraction.
___ Solution scattering of biomolecules and their complexes.
___ X-ray spectroscopy.
___ Direct imaging by X-ray microscopy.
___ Other (please specify): ____________________________________________

6. What factors limit your use of synchrotron radiation? (Check all that apply):

___ Don't need it for my research.
___ Can't readily get synchrotron beam time.
___ Insufficient user support at synchrotron facility.
___ Insufficient research support to enable travel to the synchrotron.
___ Too much time between application for beam time and experiment.
___ Key instrumentation for experiment unavailable at synchrotron facility.
___ Too much radiation damage to samples.
___ Burdensome requirements for beamtime proposals.
___ Other (please specify): _____________________________________________

7. Please rate the importance of each of the following synchrotron research facilities for your research.

Choose from: 1 = Essential 2 = Important 3 = Helpful 4 = Occasionally helpful 5 = Unimportant

___ High brilliance/intensity/flux.
___ High energy resolution.
___ Fast, efficient X-ray detectors.
___ Detectors with high spatial resolution.
___ User-friendly environment.
___ Helpful, readily accessible support staff.
___ Intellectually stimulating environment.
___ Good ancillary facilities, e.g., cold room, biochemistry lab, stock room.
___ On-site data processing.
___ Good communication e.g., user group, Web site, documentation.
___ Good housing and convenient services.
___ Rapid access for single experiments or feasibility studies.
___ Repeated access for long-term projects.
___ User training.
___ Computing and network services.
___ Other (please specify): ____________________________________________________

General Comments:


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