Grants in the Social Sciences

1. Grants in the Social Sciences Paul Spicer Center for Applied Social Research Department of Anthropology

2. The Social Sciences • There are broad similarities across most social science disciplines • There is a continuum of approaches • ranging from the more humanistic and interpretive • to the experimental • There is also a sizable body of observational research

3. Social Sciences Matter • There is growing recognition that the human dimensions of most problems are among the most intractable • Indexed in a huge popular social science literature (and TED talks!) • Increasing interest in social science research, even from within science and technology • Longstanding opportunities within medicine • And stand-alone opportunities to advance social science itself (primarily at NSF)

4. Why Seek Funding? • Many of you can do your dissertation research with no extra money • In many social science disciplines your research can be embedded in faculty research • The University provides nominal research support through various mechanisms • Experiments can be run with undergraduates fairly easily • Or you can run up some debt

5. Funding Matters • But much of the most interesting work will cost money • The ability to secure external resources may help win jobs • Applications of your work engendered in grant writing will open new possibilities • Funding provides some autonomy • Grant writing is a useful skill • Projects can be a lot of fun

6. What Are Your Options? • The NSF provides basic funding in most social science disciplines • Unfortunately it does not generally fund your salary • The NIH funds your salary • But it generally assumes you are working on faculty-funded research • Foundations may be more or less relevant depending on your discipline • Faculty can submit proposals (or supplements) to support your work (if it overlaps with theirs)

7. NSF Fellowships • Apply for an NSF fellowship as soon as you get here • These are very competitive, but are designed to support new graduate students • And are available across the broad set of social sciences that NSF funds • They free you up from working for three years!

8. Pressures • There are new pressures to get through graduate school • The waiver limits assistantships for those who have them • And a lack of assistantships adds pressure to finish for those who don’t • Please do not extend your education just to keep taking student loans!

9. Articulate Your Research Early • Sure thereare lots of interesting books to read and ideas to try out • And many of us are drawn to academic work precisely because we like to do this • But we can’t get paid for it until we have done original research • All graduate seminars provide opportunity to refine thesis and dissertation research • Everything you do should be connected to your research • It cannot be something you do only under thesis or dissertation hours • You’ve had your liberal education, now’s the time to get real

10. But Your Learning Does Not End Here • The dissertation or thesis is a beginning, not an end • The most deadly faculty members are the ones who stopped learning in graduate school • We all should be professional learners • A thesis or dissertation provides us with an opportunity to learn skills that you can apply in multiple new ways once you’re done • The road is littered with ABDs • A long-term perspective is crucial to maintaining your focus now • And moving on in a productive way once you’re done here

11. So How Do You Write A Grant? • You need a problem • You need to be the one(s) to do this • You need an approach • You need a budget • You need an opportunity

12. How I Write Grants • I need an opportunity • I need a budget • I need an approach • I need to be the one(s) to do this • I need a problem

13. But Let’s Pretend It Works the First Way! • And for students it really should • There are few funds for dissertation research that require a specific problem • Most dissertation funding is designed to support investigator-initiated research

14. Why? • In all cases, the most important question is why? • For NIH, the review criteria of significanceand innovation speak to this question directly • At NSF, both intellectual merit and broader impact are crucially concerned with this • You have to begin with why your research matters • And it does not matter just because it’s never been done!

15. Funders Are Conservative • They emphasize innovation and transformation precisely because they don’t know what it is or how to support it • Successful grant getters recognize the incremental nature of science • Reviewers know BS (they are often experts themselves) • What you propose has to be attainable • And the logical next step for you, your sponsor, and the field • But this means your grant could be uninspiring

16. Risks and Excitement • Your research should be exciting • Not to most of your friends, probably, but certainly to your “peers” • Your grant needs to convey this enthusiasm • And show how your approach provides an important advance • If you’re not excited about your grant, nobody is going to be • The trick is to share that enthusiasm in a measured way • Do not promise too much or too little! • If you err, err on the side of promising a bit too much • Then, when they cut your budget you can get real

17. Know Who You Are • People are funding you • Grants are never reviewed blindly • The investigator is inevitably a focus in any review • Especially for students, your funding is an investment in you • For fellowships, the near exclusive attention is on you • You need to be able to demonstrate why you can do this research • And why it fits the work of your faculty sponsor

18. Know Where You Are • You need to know the strengths of your program and University • You need to recognize the opportunities we have • And you need to be cognizant of our limitations • Graduate school is not the time to strike out completely on your own • You need to build on what we have • which is presumably why you came here

19. Know The Literature • If your research matters at all, it matters in a specific literature • You need to take every opportunity to master this literature • And you need to be able to position your research within that literature • This can be done quickly, however, so don’t use this as an excuse to delay • Broad overviews of most areas exist • Big questions tend to emerge early and often as you read • And please don’t strain to rewrite high theory!

20. Know What You Can Do • Your approach is the heart of the matter • Are there methods available to you that can answer your question? • All social research is multi-method • But most is not cognized as such • Even the most careful surveys and experimental designs are grounded in some rather limited inductive work • which is often why they work less well in other people’s lives!

21. Truth Matters • Certainly in my own discipline of anthropology truth claims are very suspect • They often are imperialist • But people will not fund you to only tell them what they cannot know • You need to have a question that can be answered with methods you command • Even if your methods are primarily qualitative • and certainly if your methods are primarily quantitative

22. Qualitative Approaches • In qualitative research we often seek to improve conceptualizations • We sample purposively • We code inductively • But this is also science! • We just need to be wary of causal language • and guard against overgeneralizing • Anthropologists can be quite lazy about sampling

23. Quantitative Approaches • These can be experimental or observational • Here the goal is often explicitly to examine cause • And to provide generalizable results • But we need to recognize how tricky determining cause is • And how generalizable such tightly controlled work can ever be

24. Some of Your Ideas?

25. Budgeting • This is not boring • This is where you get real about what you can actually accomplish • Budgeting is an invaluable skill • At the heart of strategic planning in any organization • For me, beginning with the budget provides me with an opportunity to see what is possible before I get too far down the road of dreaming stuff up • And in the real world of professional research, these activities consume much of our time • So you should learn to embrace it

26. Opportunities • Working with CRPDE and your faculty is key • I couldn’t pretend to know all of the opportunities that are relevant to your work • This kind of match making is probably one of the more enjoyable parts of Alicia, Todd, and Nancy’s jobs • But certainly you should all seek funding from NSF • And you should all explore the possibilities of leveraging your advisor’s research (or other opportunities) to support your work

27. Interdisciplinary Work • You are all here to train in a discipline • Unless, of course, you are in an interdisciplinary degree • But once you leave graduate school most of the funding is available to solve complex problems • which require respect and tolerance for other approaches • I would encourage all of you to think not only about how your work advances your field, but also how it may ultimately matter • And how you can take advantage of the opportunity your research presents to learn to play well with others

28. Questions?