Selection Process and Criteria
Copies of all proposals received by the quarterly deadline are distributed to each member of the Research Review Committee that best fits the research topic. Committee members read the proposals, contribute to the discussion, and rank the proposal. The Chairs of the research review committees meet as a Steering committee to make the final decision on the allocation of funds.
Criteria used to rank the proposals are specific to the discipline and include:
General:
- Does the project have the potential for the student to make
a meaningful intellectual contribution?
- Is the research setting appropriate? -are techniques established/equipment or subjects available/advisor oversight sufficient?
Specific:
- Is the hypothesis/question important and clearly stated?
- Do the specific aims summarize the methods that will be carried
out to address the question?
- Does the student state why the problem selected is important
in the context of other research that has been carried out?
- relevant literature cited?
- Is the Experimental Design section detailed enough to
portray a clear understanding of the methodology? Does
the student state
the possible outcomes of each experiment and how the outcomes
will be interpreted with regard to the hypothesis? -does
the student consider
other interpretations and possible pitfalls? -if questionnaires
are being used are examples attached?
- Is the method of evaluation of the results sound? -how
will the data be gathered and analyzed?; how will the
design of the
study
(e.g. retrospective, case-control, etc) impact on the
conclusions that can be drawn?
- Are statistical tests described that will apply to
determining the confidence with which the hypothesis
can be accepted?
- Is the time-line for the project realistic?
