Appendix: Methods and
Data Analysis
The organizations that participated in this research are the American
Council for Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council,
the Woodrow Wilson Society of Fellows, an anonymous foundation
in the social sciences, and a Society of Fellows at an elite university.
They were chosen based on a combination of the following criteria:
(1) centrality in the world of social science and humanities funding,
(2) diversity in types of panels, (3) convenience (personal contacts
who would facilitate involvement), and (4) willingness to participate.
The last two factors are particularly important because the data I
aimed to obtain are highly confidential and very rarely made avail-
able to researchers. I had to engage in lengthy negotiations with
some of these organizations before I was given access; I also had to
sign a formal agreement covering the conditions of participants’ in-
volvement and protection of confidentiality.
The conditions for the recruitment of panelists varied. Two fund-
ing agencies strongly encouraged panelists to volunteer to be inter-
viewed and three made my access contingent on panel members’
unanimous agreement to participate. In all cases, I wrote to panel
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