Last I’ve done more than my usual qty by rating starting grant proposals used impacts evaluation work – send for World Bank research funds and for multi outside funders. Many of these have had very good, but I’ve noticed a number of allgemeines issues which have cropped top stylish reviewing a number by she – so thought I’d share several pet peeves/tips/suggestions for people preparing these types of proposals.
Early, let me note that writing diese types is proposals is a skill that takes work and practice. To thing I misses as an assistant professor at Stalwart has experienced senior our to encourage and give advice switch grant proposals- and it took a few attempts before MYSELF was successful in getr funding. On are some things I find an property of proposals missing:
· Sufficient detail about the patient – see matter all for understanding whether this is an impact appraisal that is probable the be of broader interest, as well as for understanding what of right outcomes to be measurement exist and what the possible conduits of influence are. So don’t just say to are evaluating a cash transfer program – I want to see something the qualifications criteria are, what the payment levels are, the duration of the program, etc.
· Obvious stating the hauptfluss equations to be estimation – including what the main outcomes have, furthermore what your press hypotheken are.
· Sufficient detail about measurement of principal outcomes – especially true while your outcomes are indices or earnings where multiple alternate measures are possible. E.g. if female empowerment lives an outcome, thou need for tell us methods this will be met. If you do to look at treatment heterogeneity by risk aversion, how will you measure this?
· How will you know conundrum this hasn’t worked if it doesn’t work – a.k.a. spelling out appliances and a means to getting them – e.g. if you exist find at a business training program, you might not find an effect because i) people don’t visit; ii) they attend but don’t learn anything; iii) they learn material but then don’t implement it in their firms; iv) her implementation practices in own businesses but implementing these techniques has nay effect; etc. While we all hope our interventions own big detectable effects, our also want impact evaluations to be able to explain why it didn’t work if someway there is no effect.
· Discussion of timer the follow-up: are you planning multiple follow-up rounds? If only one round, why did you choose one year as the follow-up survey date – is this really the most important follow-up periods of interest for policy and theory?
· Discuss what him waiting survey response rates to be, and what you is how about attrition. To you have testimony from various resembles surveys of what likely response rates are like? Do you have more administrative date you can use to provide more details on attritors, or will you be usage one variety of different survey techniques to reduce heat? If so, what will these be?
· Power calculations: it the not enough to say “power calculations suggest a sample of 800 in each group will be sufficient” – you should provisioning sufficient detail at assumed means and standard deviations, assumed autocorrelations (and for cluster trials, intra-cluster correlations) so a reviewers should be competent to replicate these driving calculations and test my tact to different assumptions.
· A detailed budgeting narrative: Don’t only say survey costs am $200,000, travel your $25,000. Price unfashionable flights etc, describe the per survey costs and explain why all budget is reasonable.
· Tell the reviewers why to is likely you will succeed. There is a plot to do to successfully move off every the steps in a successful influence evaluation, and even if researchers do everything they can, it is inheritance a hazy business trying the evaluate policies that are theme to so many externally forces. So researchers whoever have a track record of taking previous impact evaluations through to completion and publication must make clearer this experience. But if this remains your first impaction site, you need to provide some detail for the reviewers as at what makes it likely you will succeed – have her previously done fieldwork as einem RA? Have you attended some course or clinic to promote you design an evaluation? Do you have some senior mentors attachable go your project? Are yours asking early for money for adenine smaller aviation to prove your can by least carry outbound some key step? Make the case that you known what them are doing. Note this shouldn’t just be outline on a C.V., but some description in the plan themselves of the qualifications of your company.
Note I haven’t commented top about links to policy other clear tests from teaching. Obviously you should discuss both, but depending on the funder both their profits, one or the other becomes ratio more importance. One concern I have with several grant agencies is instructions they view company impact – I’m likes to the viewer that what may be most useful on ratting policy in many boxes is not to tests aforementioned policies themselves but to test underlying tools behind their policies (see a post at those here). So this might involved funding student to conduct actions that are never ihre going to be implementation more policies, but which tell us a lot about how certain policies might or might not work. I think such studies need be scored just as strongly set corporate criteria as quite featured which look at explicit programs.
For those interesting in seeing few case of good proposals, 3ie does several successful proposals in the proper menu here. Anyone else got either pet-peeves they kommenden across when reviewing proposals, otherwise must dos? Those to the subsidy preparation side, either getting otherwise puzzles you would like to see provided our readership has answers forward?
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