{"id":9701,"date":"2017-02-21T12:11:36","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T20:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.grantcentral.com\/?p=9701"},"modified":"2017-02-21T12:11:36","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T20:11:36","slug":"part-7-dangerous-words-to-avoid-in-grant-proposals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grantcentral.com\/part-7-dangerous-words-to-avoid-in-grant-proposals\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 7: Dangerous words to avoid in grant proposals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past year, we have posted a number of short blogs in which we have discussed issues that careful proposal writers should try to avoid in order to be entirely accurate in communicating information. In other words, we are committed to the concept that applicants should \u201cSay exactly what they mean, and mean exactly what they say.\u201d There are several reasons for doing this. First, it can help to avoid communicating the wrong idea to reviewers, which is, of course, never a good idea for applicants looking to receive positive reviews. The second reason is that practicing such good habits in a grant proposal will avoid the possibility that those reviewers with a solid command of the English language will end up focusing on irrelevant issues related to English grammar, rather than the actual (and infinitely more important) ideas being presented.<\/p>\n

Today, we’ll focus on arguments that applicants frequently put forth as to the value of the new knowledge that is expected to have been created once the work has been completed. This is, of course, an issue that is strongly stressed in The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook<\/em><\/a> (all versions). Not only is it critically important that a reviewer fully appreciate the underlying problem that will serve as the driving force for the application and why addressing this problem would be of value to the funding agency, but a reviewer must also buy into the proposed strategy the applicant will use to pursue the idea and achieve a successful outcome. However, many applicants (unfortunately) forget that, equally important to the above is a discussion of what the actual \u201cdeliverables\u201d are expected to be (and not \u201cwill be\u201d since there are never any guarantees of a successful outcome in any research project). This is where the applicant has the opportunity to tell the reviewers what they expect to be able to \u201cgive back\u201d to the funding agency in exchange for the finances that have been provided to do the work. In essence, it is an opportunity to provide to the reviewers with the underlying \u201cquid pro quo\u201d that would serve to justify the funding agency supporting the project.<\/p>\n

There are several key errors that applicants frequently make in discussing what the expectations\u00a0will be once the work has been completed. The first is that many applicants simply provide a recapitulation of the work that has been described earlier in the application. As an example, it is very common to write, \u201cOur expectation in this project is that we will determine the key factors responsible for development of this condition. We will also describe how each of these factors can be targeted in order to prevent development of this condition.\u201d If you were to think carefully about this, you would immediately see that these statements are not significantly different than the (hopefully) earlier-stated objective in this application (since both the objective and what is written above are written in the future verb tense). To avoid this type of error, use of the future perfect tense of \u201cdetermine\u201d and \u201cdescribe\u201d would always be the preferable strategy. For example: \u201cAt the completion of the proposed project,\u00a0 it is our expectation\u00a0that we will have\u00a0 determined the key factors responsible… as well as \u201cto have provided appropriate strategies for how to prevent development of this condition\u201d.<\/p>\n

A second error that is relatively common derives from making the assumption that the necessary outcome of the successful completion of the work will (necessarily) transform the field with respect to the problem being addressed. For example, following up on the example above, it is not unusual to follow the second sentence \u201c…in order to prevent development of this condition.\u201d with: \u201cThis new knowledge is expected to (not will) transform the way that people with this condition are treated, ultimately leading to its eradication as a significant human problem.\u201d While this is certainly likely to be a fervent wish of the applicant (who is, of course, often seeking fame and fortune), it is highly likely to be a faulty argument.<\/p>\n

Even assuming that the applicant\u2019s idea does lead to the development of a strategy to prevent people from experiencing the described condition, and assuming that the work is appropriately published in a relevant journal, there is no valid basis for the assumption that anyone will necessarily pay any attention to the publication. In other words, even if a solution to the problem exists, if that solution is ignored, it will literally be impossible to transform the way that people with a risk of developing this condition are treated. (Consider, for example, the fact that Edward Jenner self-published his report on cowpox variolation procedures \u2013\u201cvaccination\u201d- as a strategy to prevent smallpox, yet this did not become common practice for more than a century.) As a consequence, the best that an applicant can argue is that: \u201cThis new knowledge has the potential to transform the way that people at risk of developing this condition are treated…\u201d or \u201cThis new knowledge can be expected to provide new opportunities to transform the way that people with a predisposition for this condition are treated…\u201d.<\/p>\n

A third problem is to over-anticipate the results that the new knowledge will have\u00a0generated. Returning to the above example, an overly ambitious applicant might decide to ignore a discussion of the actual, realizable deliverables and, instead, promise that: \u201dOur expectation in this project is that, at its successful completion, we will have successfully prevented this condition from serving as a threat to the 10% of the population susceptible to it.\u201d This would be a prototype case of overpromising and underdelivering; never a good idea in a grant application! The bottom line here is that, while a discussion of expected outcomes at the completion of the project is an essential skill of the successful proposal writer, there are a variety of issues that have the potential to undo those efforts, that the applicant must be careful to avoid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past year, we have posted a number of short blogs in which we have discussed issues that careful proposal writers should try to avoid in order to be entirely accurate in communicating information. In other words, we are committed to the concept that applicants should…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,31,41],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPart 7: Dangerous words to avoid in grant proposals -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"dangerous words to avoid in writing grant proposals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grantcentral.com\/part-7-dangerous-words-to-avoid-in-grant-proposals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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