Double Dipping, Research Style

A new article in Nature brings up the practice of double dipping in research funding, where researchers obtain multiple grants for nearly identical projects.  While this practice is discouraged and technically not permitted, the plain truth is that it happens all the time.  This article points out that very little is done to check for duplication of funding between federal agencies.  It is up to researchers to report the duplication or overlap of funding.  Interestingly, more than one individual mentioned in this article admitted to submitting the exact same materials to multiple federal agencies.  Having a little more background knowledge than what is written in this article, I can attest to the fact that the duplicate submissions may have something to do with lack of time or motivation on the part of the PI to make edits or changes before submitting a modified version of an application to a different funding agency.  In other words, while some materials such as the budget may be different, researchers who duplicate submissions of projects focused on the same aims often fail to take the time to modify the abstract and other materials when seeking additional sources of funding for their projects.   

Finding the answer requires asking the question

I understand that the title of this blog post has me sounding a little like Yoda, but one fundamental piece of information that guides the entire research grant proposal is the research question.  Without a clear, well-defined question, how can one expect to obtain an answer through research?  While drafting a hypothesis is something that was probably covered in your elementary school science class, it is easy to forget the importance of refining this piece before setting out to write a large, complicated research plan. 

One method of drafting the research question that is used often in health sciences research is PICO.  The letters stand for Patient Problem, Intervention, Comparison, & Outcome.  Using the PICO framework can help you to logically think through the problem you are hoping to address through your research.  If you are struggling to draft your research plan, perhaps going back and applying this method will help you to realize that your research question is too broad, too narrow, or perhaps too insignificant.  If you are following my advice and have started working on your proposal far in advance of the next deadline, you should have plenty of time to make adjustments as needed!

Copy and Paste are not always your friends when it comes to your Biosketch

I understand the pressure that most PIs and Investigators are under to get their proposals completed on time.  You are juggling multiple priorities, including teaching, maybe other research projects, and a variety of personal issues in addition to trying to meet your grant deadline.  So it is not surprising that, when it comes to your NIH Biographical Sketch, you simply copy and paste from previous renditions to create a new-ish biosketch for whichever proposal you are working on. 

Bad idea.  Your laziness could prove disastrous to the entire proposal, for a variety of reasons.  First, let's say that you haven't taken the time to update your list of publications in the past 2-3 years. Reviewers are busy people too.  They don't have the time to look you up in PubMed and try to figure out if you have any more recent publications.  If they aren't listed, it is going to look like you haven't had any publications in a while, and perhaps give them the impression that you are not a very productive researcher.  Why give research dollars to someone who doesn't produce?

Now, on to the Personal Statement.  This relatively new requirement has confused and perplexed many researchers.  Some seem to view it almost as a personal ad, including many details of their career goals and interests.  Others give it very little attention, creating generic 2-3 sentence summaries of their research focus that provide no actual substance.  The biggest mistake, however, is the copying and pasting of personal statements from one proposal to another.  To truly write a tailored personal statement, one should focus on the goals of the project at hand, and describe in 1-2 paragraphs why he or she has the right experience for this type of project and why he or she is the perfect person for his or her proposed role on the project.  In other words, you need to convey: I am an expert at _____, based on my background of _____, and I am the perfect person to do ____ on this project.   To truly make a good case for this, and convey it appropriately to the reviewers, you can't simply paste something in from another proposal.