Pilot Funds for Research in the Social Sciences
Because of the extent and length of many social science research projects, faculty must often seek external funding to help underwrite their research. In order to be competitive for grants, preliminary data collection and analysis are necessary as a basis for formulating and justifying larger research projects. The Pilot Fund for Research in the Social Sciences provides resources to underwrite the costs of conducting these preliminary studies. We expect grants to range from $1,000 to $15,000, depending on the scope of the project and the number of personnel involved. All awardees must submit a grant proposal to a major external agency within 18 months of receiving the grant.
A peer review committee will assess the applications.
Recipients of awards for $5,000.00 or more are required to submit a one page report, in hard copy to the ISLA office, outlining how their funding was used and what its outcomes were. Please submit your report within one month of the completion.
Subsequent applications to this fund will not be considered until the grant proposal deriving from a previous award had been submitted.
Eligibility: All teaching and research faculty in the social sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology) are eligible to apply. Collaborative, interdisciplinary teams of investigators are also eligible.
Application Procedure: Submit the following information.
Cover Sheet: Please include a cover sheet with faculty name(s), department, project title, and amount requested.
Narrative Content:
1. Use one-page (maximum) to describe background to project. Use the remaining pages to describe the method for the research, participation and involvement of students if any, and strategies for obtaining external funding.
2. Provide sufficient details regarding methodology, schedules, timelines, interviews, questionnaires, archival research methodology (what data will be
collected). Measures can be included with the proposal in an attached appendix (Please label as “Appendix”).
3. Address how the project is defined in terms of pilot research (is the project already completed or is it really in the beginning "pilot" stages).
4. How are the pilot funds necessary to pursue external grants?
5. Describe which specific granting agencies and strategies for external funding will be pursued.
6. In collaborative proposals (multiple faculty), what is the division of labor?
7. Format:
8. 3 pages, double spaced
9. 10 to 12 point font
10. 1 inch margins
Bibliography Two-page curriculum vitae for each of the principal investigators
Line item budget Budget explanation/ justification
Statement Regarding Human Subjects Approval
Eligible expenses: The needs and logic of the preliminary study should dictate the expenses, but we anticipate that the following items will be typical: subject payments, costs of copying and mailing surveys and questionnaires, software and equipment upgrades used for data analyses, standardized tests, and student assistance (graduate and undergraduate). Please include 7.65% for summer fringe benefits on undergraduate assistantships, if appropriate. Limitation on funds prohibits ISLA from making major equipment purchases through this program.
Statement regarding Human Subjects Approval: University Human Subjects Approval must be given before ISLA award money is released to the recipient. At the proposal stage, a statement regarding when a Human Subjects protocol will be submitted to the University should be included. At the time of award, the recipient will need to have obtained Human Subjects Approval. Guidelines for submitting Human Subjects protocols to the University can be found at the following website: http://www.nd.edu/~research/Training/humans.html.
Evaluation Criteria:
1. Merit and significance of the project for advancing the field in question.
2. Are the purpose and hypothesis for gathering preliminary data clear and promising?
3. Are the methods for gathering preliminary data clear and appropriate for this
project?
4. What is the plan for submitting proposals to external funding agencies?
5. Is the investigator prepared to carry out this research?
6. Is the amount of funding asked for sufficient to collect the necessary pilot data?
Deadline: November 10, 2008. Submit five copies to the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, 101 O’Shaughnessy Hall. For more information, contact the ISLA office, 1-7531.