Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS) Program Solicitation
|
National Science Foundation |
||
Full Proposal Target Date(s):
Program Title:
Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS)
Synopsis of Program:
The Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS) Program is an interdisciplinary program that supports the development of innovative methods and models for the social and behavioral sciences. The MMS Program interacts with the other programs in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), as well as other programs in the Foundation, most notably the Statistics and Probability Program in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS). In general, MMS seeks proposals that are interdisciplinary in nature, methodologically innovative, and grounded in theory. The MMS Program welcomes proposals in the following areas: general research and infrastructure activities; mid-career research fellowships; research on survey and statistical methodology; and doctoral dissertation research.
Cognizant Program Officer(s):
Cheryl L. Eavey, Program Director, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, 995 N, telephone: (703) 292-7269, fax: (703) 292-9068, email: ceavey@nsf.gov
Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):
For Mid-Career Research Fellowship proposals: Any qualified researcher may submit a proposal through normal institutional channels at either the home or host organization. To be qualified, the researcher must be employed at a U.S. organization and must have earned a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in the social, behavioral, economic, or statistical sciences. Although applications may be submitted from researchers at any level beyond the Ph.D., NSF especially encourages the submission of proposals from senior (post-tenure) researchers. An applicant may receive only one mid-career fellowship award under this program or its successors.
For Doctoral Dissertation Research proposals: The proposal must be submitted by a U.S. university on behalf of the dissertation advisor and graduate student who is at the point of initiating or already conducting dissertation research. The advisor serves as the principal investigator and the student as the co-principal investigator. The student must be enrolled at a U.S. institution but need not be a U.S. citizen.
For all other proposals: No special eligibility requirements.
For Doctoral Dissertation Research proposals: NSF does not reimburse grantee institutions for the indirect costs associated with doctoral dissertation research (see the Doctoral Dissertation Research announcement, NSF 01-113).
The Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program (MMS) is an interdisciplinary program that supports the development of innovative methods and models for the social and behavioral sciences. The MMS Program interacts with the other programs in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), as well as other programs in the Foundation, most notably the Statistics and Probability Program in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).
In general, MMS seeks proposals that are interdisciplinary in nature, methodologically innovative, and grounded in theory. Successful proposals often integrate across the following areas:
The MMS Program welcomes proposals in the following areas:
A. General Research and Infrastructure Activities
The MMS Program supports a broad portfolio of research and infrastructure activities that fall within the scope of the Program as outlined in the Introduction. Information on recent awards is available from the MMS Home Page at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/ses/mms/start.htm.
B. Mid-Career Research Fellowships
The MMS Program supports mid-career research fellowships in the social, behavioral, economic, and statistical sciences. The primary goal of the fellowships are to facilitate the development of innovative methods and models for understanding complex social and behavioral science phenomena. A secondary goal is to facilitate interactions across the social, behavioral, economic, and statistical sciences.
In fulfillment of the primary goal, proposals must concretely demonstrate how the proposed fellowship activities will further the development of new methods for increased understanding of complex, substantive problems in the social and behavioral sciences. These new insights may result from the expansion of the investigator's personal research program or from collaborations established by the investigator with other researchers during the fellowship period.
To meet the secondary goal, investigators are expected to spend their fellowship period at a host location immersing themselves in an area of study outside their current areas of expertise. The host location may be at a different organization from the investigator's home organization or simply a different department within the home organization. For example, a statistician interested in developing methods for population projection may elect to spend the fellowship period in the sociology department on his home campus. Likewise, an economist interested in spatial externalities may select as a host location a geography department at a distant institution. The selection of the host location must be justified in the body of the proposal, as well as the proposed fellowship activities. In addition, the proposal must include a detailed letter of support signed by the department head or equivalent official at the host location outlining the nature of the relationship between the investigator and host location. In order to assess the value added of the proposed training activity, information on any formal training in the area to be studied should also be included. The letter, background information, and other supporting materials can be scanned and submitted via FastLane as Supplementary Documentation (in Section I).
It is expected that the selection of the host location will necessitate the crossing of disciplinary boundaries. Unlike prior versions of this funding opportunity (see NSF 99-33), however, support no longer is limited to interactions among statisticans and social, behavioral, and economic scientists. More specifically, support now can be requested for an economist to visit a psychology department, etc., as well as a statistican spending his/her fellowship period in a social or behavioral science department and vice versa. As in prior versions of this funding opportunity, proposals involving interactions among statisticans and social/behavioral scientists will be jointly reviewed with the Statistics and Probability Program in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
See Section V of this solicitation for information involving budgetary limitations.
C. Research on Survey and Statistical Methodology
The Federal Statistical System faces the challenge of gathering relevant and reliable data for the next decade and beyond. Researchers should think creatively regarding the development of methods for survey research in the 21st century. For example, the potential for conducting surveys via the Web raises a host of important methodological questions. New methods are needed for handling multimedia databases. Questions regarding the affects of nonresponse on the validity and reliability of survey data also need to be addressed.
The MMS Program, in collaboration with a consortium of federal statistical agencies represented by the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) and the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM), continues to invite research proposals that further the development of new and innovative approaches to surveys and to the analysis of survey data (see NSF 00-147 for a prior version of this funding opportunity). Although proposals submitted in response to this solicitation may address any aspect of survey methodology, priority will be given to basic research proposals that are interdisciplinary in nature, have broad implications for the field in general, and have the greatest potential for creating fundamental knowledge of value to the Federal Statistical System. Because methodological problems often require knowledge and expertise from multiple disciplines, collaborations are especially encouraged among the relevant sciences, including the social sciences, linguistics, cognitive science, statistics, computer science, and economics. Although survey methods proposals may be submitted to either one of the two MMS target dates, only proposals submitted to the January 16 target date are guaranteed full consideration by the federal statistical agencies.
See Section V of this solicitation for information regarding budgetary requirements.
Information on Participating Federal Statistical Agencies
The Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) consists of the heads of the 14 largest statistical agencies and is chaired by the chief statistician of the Office of Management and Budget. It was formally established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to discuss and determine statistical policy issues. The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) consists of experts from within the Federal Statistical System who consider methodological issues of importance to the statistical system. The Federal Statistical System includes 10 agencies that have statistical activities as their principal mission and about 60 agencies that carry out statistical activities in conjunction with other missions, such as providing services or enforcing regulations.
Proposals may include the direct participation of consortium agencies. Consortium agencies include:
Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics ServiceEconomic Research ServiceDepartment of Commerce
Bureau of the CensusBureau of Economic AnalysisDepartment of Education
National Center for Education Statistics
Department of Energy
Energy Information Administration
Department of Health and
Human ServicesNational Center for Health Statistics
Department of Justice
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Department of Transportation
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Department of Treasury
Statistics of Income Division, IRS
National Science Foundation
Science Resources Statistics
Social Security Administration
Full Proposal Instructions:
Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF Website at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (301) 947-2722 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.
Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation number (04-504) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the proposal Cover Sheet. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing.
Cost Sharing:
Cost sharing is not required in proposals submitted under this Program Solicitation.
Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations:
Other Budgetary Limitations:
Proposals must be submitted by the following date(s):
Full Proposal Target Date(s):
January 16, yearly
August 16, yearly
Proposers are required to prepare and submit all proposals for this announcement/solicitation through the FastLane system. Detailed instructions for proposal preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program announcement/solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this announcement/solicitation.
Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide the required electronic certifications within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal. Proposers are no longer required to provide a paper copy of the signed Proposal Cover Sheet to NSF. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov
Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with expertise in the substantive area of the pro+posed research or education project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to suggest, at the time of submission, the names of appropriate or inappropriate reviewers. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer. Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic institutions, minority-serving institutions, or adjacent disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal.
The National Science Board approved revised criteria for evaluating proposals at its meeting on March 28, 1997 (NSB 97-72). All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two merit review criteria. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities.
On July 8, 2002, the NSF Director issued Important Notice 127, Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion. This Important Notice reinforces the importance of addressing both criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals submitted to NSF. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to ensure that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making funding decisions.
In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January 2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and Project Description. Chapter II of the GPG specifies that Principal Investigators (PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements within the one-page Project Summary. This chapter also reiterates that broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative.
Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project Summary. It is believed that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of broader impacts to NSF-funded projects.
The two National Science Board approved merit review criteria are listed below (see the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter III.A for further information). The criteria include considerations that help define them. These considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria, reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are relevant to the proposal being considered and for which he/she is qualified to make judgments.
What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and
understanding within its own field or across different fields?
How well qualified is
the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate,
the reviewer will comment on the quality of the prior work.) To what
extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and
original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed
activity?
Is there sufficient access to resources?
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while
promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed
activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g.,
gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will
it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities,
instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated
broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What
may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?
NSF staff will give careful consideration to the following in making funding decisions:
Integration of Research and Education
One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster
integration of research and education through the programs, projects,
and activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These
institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may concurrently
assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students and
where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with
the excitement
of discovery and enrich research through the diversity of learning
perspectives.
Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities
Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all citizens
-- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities
-- is essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering.
NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems it central
to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and supports.
All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement/solicitation will be reviewed by Ad Hoc and/or panel review.
Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support or decline each proposal. The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate a recommendation.
A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted by each reviewer. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the reviewers, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the Program Director. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding.
NSF is striving to be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time interval begins on the date of receipt. The interval ends when the Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation.
In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications and the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments, obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk.
Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program Division administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See section VI.A. for additional information on the review process.)
An NSF award consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any special provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award letter; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (NSF-GC-1); * or Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Terms and Conditions * and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Cooperative agreement awards also are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions (CA-1). Electronic mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF awards to organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements.
*These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/grants/grants_gac.htm. Paper copies may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (301) 947-2722 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.
More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpm. The GPM is also for sale through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402. The telephone number at GPO for subscription information is (202) 512-1800. The GPM may be ordered through the GPO Website at http://www.gpo.gov.
For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period.
Within 90 days after the expiration of an award, the PI also is required to submit a final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports delays NSF review and processing of pending proposals for the PI and all Co-PIs. PIs should examine the formats of the required reports in advance to assure availability of required data.
PIs are required to use NSF's electronic project reporting system, available through FastLane, for preparation and submission of annual and final project reports. This system permits electronic submission and updating of project reports, including information on project participants (individual and organizational), activities and findings, publications, and other specific products and contributions. PIs will not be required to re-enter information previously provided, either with a proposal or in earlier updates using the electronic system.
General inquiries regarding this program should be made to:
Cheryl L. Eavey, Program Director, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, 995 N, telephone: (703) 292-7269, fax: (703) 292-9068, email: ceavey@nsf.gov
For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact:
Geri Farves, Program and Technology Specialist, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, 995 N, telephone: (703) 292-7309, fax: (703) 292-9068, email: gfarves@nsf.gov
The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering. The NSF Guide to Programs is available electronically at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp. General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and eligibility information for proposal submission are provided in each chapter.
Many NSF programs offer announcements or solicitations concerning specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional information about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program offices. Any changes in NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, which is updated daily on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin, and in individual program announcements/solicitations. Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's Custom News Service (http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm) to be notified of new funding opportunities that become available.
Related Programs:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. Awardees are wholly responsible for conducting their project activities and preparing the results for publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such findings or their interpretation.
NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In accordance with Federal statutes, regulations and NSF policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from NSF, although some programs may have special requirements that limit eligibility.
Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED) provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable persons with disabilities (investigators and other staff, including student research assistants) to work on NSF-supported projects. See the GPG Chapter II, Section D.2 for instructions regarding preparation of these types of proposals.
The National Science Foundation promotes and advances scientific progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. To get the latest information about program deadlines, to download copies of NSF publications, and to access abstracts of awards, visit the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov
|
The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended. The information on proposal forms will be used in connection with the selection of qualified proposals; project reports submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested may be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the proposal review process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts, volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete assigned work; to other government agencies needing information as part of the review process or in order to coordinate programs; and to another Federal agency, court or party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the government is a party. Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as peer reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50, "Principal Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 267 (January 5, 1998), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998). Submission of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an award.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-0058. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Division of Administrative Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230.
OMB control number: 3145-0058.
nsf.gov |
| About NSF | Funding | Publications | News & Media | Search | Site Map | Help | |
The National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA Tel: 703-292-5111, FIRS: 800-877-8339 | TDD: 800-281-8749 |
Policies Contact NSF Customize |