Ryan S. Hoover,St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas....a lot of attention has been given to grant writing. Countless books have been written. Graduate schools offer grant-writing courses. University administrations fund workshops and reward successful grant writers with tenure, promotion, and honors.
All of this makes it surprising that, apart from data on applicant statistics, funding rates, and such issued by the agencies themselves, there's little empirical research on how the process works.
Recently, I completed an empirical, qualitative research project aimed at understanding the social and communication dynamics among the players in the grant-writing process, especially applicants -- both novice and experienced -- program officers, and reviewers. I analyzed grant proposals and conducted interviews and focus groups with 19 researchers, including five former and two current National Science Foundation (NSF) program officers (POs)...
