ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG)

Proposal components [SEE NOTE AT TOP OF PAGE]

Proposals should include only the materials listed below and only the requested information in the required format. Proposals should be written for a general sociological audience and not assume expertise in the area or methods being proposed. Applicants should avoid jargoned statements and explain any specialized terms or methods. All proposal documents should be submitted by the Research Scholar.

Project details (entered online). The application includes sections that ask for name and contact information for the Research Scholar and Research Sponsor, followed by project details. The title of the project should emphasize the primary scientific question or contribution that will be addressed by the project, be that theoretical, methodological, or both. The title should not suggest that the outcome of the research is a foregone conclusion. The title should be understandable to a scientifically literate reader with no prior knowledge of the specific area of study. Frequently the title of the project will not be the title of the dissertation itself.  Applicants must also list primary place of performance, total amount requested (not to exceed $16,000), and proposed start and end dates for the grant. Start dates cannot be before May 1 nor after December 1 of the year they are granted. (See FAQs for more information.)

Project summary (1 page maximum). The Project Summary should contain 3 clearly labeled sections: Overview, Intellectual Merit, and Broader Impacts. The Overview should include a description of the project, its objectives, activities, and methods to be used. Intellectual Merit should describe the potential of the project to advance sociology substantively and or methodologically by describing how the project fits within and extends the existing literature. Broader Impacts should describe the potential of the proposed project to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

Project description (10 pages maximum). Offering a clear statement of the work to be undertaken and the intended scientific contribution, the project description should position the project within the relevant literatures and theoretical frameworks and explicitly identify the gap in existing scientific knowledge that it aims to address. A full description of the methods that will be used as well as a timeline for the project (when activities will be conducted) should be included. For projects using hypothesis testing, it should be clear that the hypotheses could be disproven with the chosen methods. For projects using exploratory epistemological approaches, such as grounded theory, it should be clear that the methods allow for the emergence of unexpected findings and that the validity of findings will be tested through approaches such as triangulation. It is also advisable to include a discussion of the limitations of the research design and data. The intellectual merit and potential broader impacts of the project should be explicitly addressed in the project description—as well as in the project summary—with clearly labeled sections for each. Please refer to the proposal review process section below for more information on how proposals are evaluated.

References cited (no page limit). This should be a separate document and citations should use ASA format.

Interview or Survey Guide (optional; 5 pages maximum). Proposals can include an interview guide or survey instrument. This should be the instrument only; no other information or explanatory text is allowed.

Biographical sketches (2 pages maximum, use template provided). Bio sketches should be submitted for the research scholar and the research sponsor. The biographical sketches should include the name of the individual, their professional preparation, employments/appointments listed in reverse chronological order, up to five products (including publications, presentations and datasets) that are most closely related to the project, as well as up to five additional products. If appropriate to the project, a list of up to five synergistic activities is also allowed. Please do not include any other information. Use this ASA DDRIG Biosketch Template.

Budget sheet (use template provided). The proposal must include a separate budget for each year of support requested, but the total project budget cannot exceed $16,000. Budgets can include direct research expenses, travel to attend professional meetings, and living expenses (including dependent care). No indirect costs are allowed. Use this ASA DDRIG Budget Template (note, there are 2 sheets). (See FAQs for more information on allowable expenses.)

Budget justification (3 pages maximum). Applicants should address each budget line and provide detailed information about the planned use of the funds, how the amounts were determined, and a timeline for expenditures. Budget requests should be reasonable and appropriate to the project. Budget justifications should be as specific as possible. The budget justification should also make clear how the funds will improve your dissertation. In other words, what would be possible if you get the grant that wouldn’t be possible without it? Your explanation could speak to a variety of dimensions of the project, including but not limited to the ability to finish the dissertation at all, not having to be a TA or RA, making the project more expansive or rigorous, or enhancing its broader impacts.

For sources of support that would be concurrent with the DDRIG, please explain in your budget justification how the DDRIG will support expenses not covered by the other sources. The ASA DDRIG can be held concurrently with other awards and funding sources provided that the funds are not for the same expenses (“double dipping”).

Current and pending support (use template provided). The research scholar must report all sources of current and pending support, including fellowships, grants, and stipends. The ASA DDRIG proposal is considered pending and should be listed. For each current and pending source of support, the timing and total amount of the award should be listed. Use this ASA DDRIG CPS Template. (See FAQs for important information regarding concurrent funding.)

Facilities, equipment and other resources (2 pages maximum). If there are facilities, equipment, or other resources available that are likely to support the completion of the project, they should be listed in narrative form in this proposal component. A dollar amount should not be associated with any of these items. If there are no relevant facilities, equipment or resources, that should be stated.

Data management plan (2 pages maximum). The data management plan should include four elements:

1. An explanation of the types of data, software, curriculum materials, and other materials that will be produced.
2. A description of how that data will be managed and maintained during and after the project (including standards for data and metadata format and content; plans for protecting of identifiable data and intellectual property).
3. A discussion of how de-identified data, metadata, or data collection tools will be made readily available to potential future users through institutionally-based archives, repositories, and/or distribution networks beyond the individual researcher so that the products may be accessed on publicly available sites by others over long periods of time. This is in keeping with NSF’s policy on Data Management Plans (PAPPG, Chapter II.C.2.j).
4. If the proposer feels it would be inappropriate or infeasible to share specific data-related products, they should provide informed and detailed reasoning to support their position.

(See FAQs and Resources for more on DMPs.)

Statement on departmental context and scholar-sponsor collaboration (1 page maximum). In no more than one page, applicants should describe the context in which the work will take place, detailing if and how the work will benefit from the exchange of ideas and feedback from an intellectual community within and beyond the department. This section should also describe specifically how the research scholar and research sponsor collaborated in the development of the proposal, and how they established shared expectations for their ongoing collaboration, including but not limited to details such as the frequency of written and face-to-face communications, what each party will do at specific project milestones, how often and in what form feedback will be given, and expectations for authorship, research presentations, and publication.

Research sponsor certification. The faculty member serving as the research sponsor for the proposal must submit the statement below, using the exact wording provided. The Research Scholar should upload the certification with their other proposal documents:

To: ASA DDRIG Program Officer
From: [insert name of research sponsor]

By signing below, I acknowledge that I am the listed Research Sponsor on this proposal, entitled “[insert title of project]”, with my doctoral student advisee [insert name of Research Scholar] as the Research Scholar.

I affirm that should this proposal be selected for an award, the doctoral student is at a stage in her/his graduate program that makes it very likely that the student will be able to undertake the dissertation research described in this proposal soon after a DDRIG grant is made.

I affirm that I have read this proposal, and I believe that it makes a strong case for support.

Signed: ____________________________
Institution: __________________________
Date: ______________________________

Statement from outside collaborators (optional). Letters or emails from individuals or organizations outside the research scholar’s home institution with whom the research scholar will collaborate or who will provide in-kind support on the project are allowed as supplemental materials submitted along with the proposal. Such statements should simply express willingness to collaborate with the research scholar in the ways outlined in the project description. Failure to include a statement from an essential project collaborator could negatively impact evaluation of project feasibility. It is not appropriate for these statements to include any discussion of the merits of the proposed project. It is not necessary to include statements from dissertation committee members or other individuals at the scholar’s institution (see FAQs for more information on collaborators). The Research Scholar should upload the collaborator statement/s with their other proposal documents. Collaborators should use the following statement:

To: ASA DDRIG Program Officer
From: [individual and their organization]

By signing or electronically sending this statement, I acknowledge that I am listed as a collaborator on the proposal titled “[insert title],” which is a doctoral dissertation research project to be undertaken by [insert name of research scholar and research sponsor]. I agree to collaborate with the doctoral student by undertaking the tasks associated with me as described in the project description of this proposal.

Signed: [letter author’s name and institution]
Date: [the date letter is signed or electronically submitted]

Ethics and human subjects. Applicants will be required to acknowledge that the research scholar and research sponsor have read and agree to adhere to the ASA Code of Ethics. The application will also provide space to explain whether and how the project involves human subjects, and if applicable, noting when Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or exemption was obtained or if such certification is pending. For projects involving human subjects and requiring IRB review, funds will not be released until documentation of a successful review is provided to ASA.