Research Grants
Call for Proposals

Next deadline March 16, 2010

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the AERA Grants Program announces its Research Grants competition. The program seeks to stimulate research on U.S. education issues using data from the large-scale, national and international data sets supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NSF, and other federal agencies, and to increase the number of education researchers using these data sets. The program supports research projects that are quantitative in nature, include the analysis of existing data from NCES, NSF or other federal agencies, and have U.S. education policy relevance.

Description
AERA invites education-related research proposals using NCES, NSF, and other federal data bases. Research Grants are available for faculty at institutions of higher education, postdoctoral researchers, and other doctoral-level scholars. Applications are encouraged from a variety of disciplines, such as but not limited to, education, sociology, economics, psychology, demography, statistics, and psychometrics.

The Governing Board for the AERA Grants Program has established the following four strands of emphasis for proposals. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals that:

• develop or benefit from new quantitative measures or methodological approaches for addressing education issues
• include interdisciplinary teams with subject matter expertise, especially when studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning
• analyze TIMSS, PISA, or other international data resources
• include the integration and analysis of more than one data set

Research projects related to at least one of the strands above and to science and/or mathematics education are especially encouraged. Other topics of interest include policies and practices related to student achievement in STEM, contextual factors in education, educational participation and persistence (kindergarten through graduate school), early childhood education, and postsecondary education. The research project must include the analysis of data from at least one of the large-scale, nationally or internationally representative data sets supported by NCES, NSF, or other federal agency, such as the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Institutes of Health. Additional data sets may be used in conjunction with the obligatory federal data set. If international data sets are used, the study must include U.S. education.

Eligibility
Applicants for Research Grants may be U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or non-U.S. citizens and must be working at a U.S. institution. Applicants must have received the doctoral degree by the start date of the grant. Underrepresented minority researchers are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please note that researchers who have previously received a major award through the AERA Grants Program (i.e., AERA Research Grant as a PI or Co-PI, AERA Postdoctoral Fellowship, or AERA Fellowship) may not apply for a Research Grant. However, applicants who have received an AERA Dissertation Grant are eligible to apply for a Research Grant. Dissertation Grant recipients must complete the Dissertation Grant before applying for a Research Grant.

Awards
Awards for Research Grants are up to $20,000 for 1-year projects, or up to $35,000 for 2-year projects. In accordance with AERA's agreement with the funding agencies, institutions may not charge indirect costs or overhead on these awards. Approximately 15 Research Grants will be awarded per year.

Application Requirements
All applications for Research Grants must include:

• Information on the PI (contact and background information, current curriculum vitae) and Co-PI(s), if applicable.
• Research proposal (limited to 7 single-spaced pages) that addresses the following:
  • Brief review of relevant research/policy literature
  • Policy issue and its importance
  • Description of methodology including proposed data set and criteria for selecting data file, sample (e.g., groups used, exclusions to sample, and estimated sample sizes),variables (including selection of variables and rationale for, using them), and analytic techniques
  • Importance of findings to the policy issue
  • How does this research advance the current state of knowledge in the field, substantively or methodologically?
• Conceptual or figural model outlining the framework or design of the study
• Statistical model or formulas, appropriately defined, that are connected to the conceptual model
• Categorized list of variables from the NSF, NCES, or other federal data set(s) to be used
• Proposed budget
• Brief list of current other support (grants, awards, etc.)

Application Deadlines
Proposals for Research Grants will be reviewed three times a year, with funding decisions made within a month of the review date. Upcoming deadlines for proposals are:

March 16, 2010 to be reviewed in May
September 1, 2010 to be reviewed in October
January 6, 2011 (tentative date) to be reviewed in February

Application Submission
Proposals must be submitted electronically. Applicants should read carefully the entire Call for Proposals and the Submission Instructions prior to starting the online submission process. Applicants will be asked to enter specific information in text boxes and upload documents that have been saved in PDF. The deadline for submission is 11:59pm EDT on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals in advance of the deadline. Submission must be made electronically on the AERA Research Grant submission web page.

Contact Jeanie Murdock (phone 805-964-5264 or email jmurdock@aera.net) if you have questions regarding the application or submission process. All awards are contingent upon AERA's receiving continued federal funding.

Important Additional Information Regarding Research Grants

Considerations in the development of the proposal
Applicants are strongly encouraged to read Estimating Causal Effects: Using Experimental and Observational Designs, by B. Schneider, et.al. prior to submitting a research grant proposal.

Selection bias is a recurring issue during the review process and should be addressed in the proposal.

All proposals must include the analysis of data from at least one of the large-scale, national or international data sets supported by NCES, NSF, or other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau, or the National Institutes of Health. Additional large-scale data sets may be used in conjunction with the obligatory federal data set. If international data sets are used, the study must include U.S. education.

Applicants should choose research topics that can be supported by the samples and variables contained in the proposed data set(s). Applicants should also be familiar with the specific data set's User Guides and/or Manuals (e.g., use of design weights and design effects).

Applicants should be familiar with statistical methods and available computer programs that allow for sophisticated analyses of the selected data.

The proposed topic must have education policy relevance, and models to be tested must include predictor variables that are manipulable (e.g., course work in mathematics, instructional practices used by teachers, parental involvement).

Applicants who plan to model achievement test data should define the achievement construct and identify the kinds of items to be used to operationalize the research project. Also, when planning to use existing subscales, the applicant should describe why these subscales are appropriate and how they will be applied. Existing subscales provided by NCES may not be appropriate for the proposed construct.

Applicants should adequately deal with the curricular content when it applies.

Applicants are encouraged to capitalize on the capacity of large-scale data sets to look at diverse populations.

The AERA Grants Program has funded more than 400 grant proposals to date. Applicants are encouraged to review the lists of Funded Research Grants and Funded Dissertation Grants to ensure that their proposed project has not already been done.

Proposal specifics
The proposal text should be no more than seven pages in length, single-spaced, in 12 point type with 1" margins. Approximately two pages should be devoted to an introduction, the problem statement, background information, and current literature. The remaining five pages should include the methodology and policy relevance. The methodology section should describe the proposed data set and criteria for selecting the data file, sample (e.g., groups used, exclusions to sample, and estimated sample sizes),variables (including selection of variables and rationale for using them), and analytic techniques. Applicants must present a clear and well thought out model that identifies the selected variables and specifies the analysis to be done.

A researcher may submit only one proposal to the AERA Grants Program for review at any one time.

AERA is flexible on research project dates, depending on what is best for the applicant. The earliest date a grant may start is approximately 2 months following the application submission. Alternatively, an award start date of several months after the review date may be requested.

Conceptual model
The conceptual or figural model is usually a boxes and arrows diagram of the framework or design of the study.

Statistical model
The statistical model will include the formulas, appropriately defined, that are connected to the conceptual model and will be used in the proposed study.

Variables list
Provide a one to two page, categorized list of the variables from the NCES or NSF data set(s) that will be used in this research project.

Budget
There is no specific format for the budget section. Funds may be used for summer salary, release time, RA support, equipment, professional travel, supplies, computing time, etc.

Institutions may not charge overhead or indirect costs on AERA Research Grants.

Funding restrictions
Research Grantees may not accept additional grant or fellowship awards from another agency, foundation, institution or the like for the same research project that is funded by the AERA Grants Program. If the awardee receives more than one grant or fellowship for the same project, in order to accept the AERA Grants Program Research Grant, the other award(s) must be declined.

Evaluation criteria
Evaluation criteria will include the importance of the proposed policy issue, the strength of the methodological model and proposed statistical analysis of the study, and relevant experience and research record of the applicant. Additionally, the review criteria will include the following: Is the policy issue clearly defined? What is already known on the issue? How does the methodology relate specifically to the policy question? Does the applicant know the data set? Does the analytic plan fit the question and the data? Is the applicant qualified to carry out the proposed study? Reviewers will be members of the AERA Grants Program Governing Board.

Reporting requirements
All Research Grantees will be required to submit a brief (3-6 pages) progress report mid-way through the grant period. A final report will be submitted at the end of the grant period. The final report should be an article based on the proposed research and of the quality and in the format for submission to a journal for publication.

Funding disbursement
Funding will be linked to the approval of the progress report and final report. Grantees will receive two-thirds of the total award at the beginning of the grant period, one-sixth upon acceptance of the progress report, and one-sixth upon acceptance of the final report. In most cases awardees may choose whether to have funds sent directly to them or have the funds channeled through their institutions. If the award is chenneled through the PI's institution, no overhead or indirect costs are allowed on AERA grant funds

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AERA Research Grant submission instructions

AERA Research Grant submission web page

Updated Jan-6-2010