How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment

Table 2.1

Criteria of evaluation used by funding agencies

Agency

Clarity

Originality

Intellectual and/orsocial significance Methods

Quality

Feasibility

Others

Anonymous

Yes

Yes (appropriatemethodology)

Yes (grasp ofrelevantliteratures)

Yes (necessary skillsand experience)

Fits with goals offoundation;interdisciplinary

ACLS

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes (training; pastexperience; plan ofwork)

IDRF

Yes (clear,intelligibleprose; clearlyformulated)

Yes (responsiveto methodologicalconcerns; providesrationale for fieldresearch)

Yes (knowledge ofrelevant conceptsand theories; realisticin scope; appropriatelevel of training forfieldwork)

Multidisciplinarity;speaks to cross-regional panel

Society ofFellows

Yes

Yes

Yes (“scholarlyexcellence”)

Teaching experience;contributes to aninterdisciplinarycommunity

WWNFF’sWomen’sStudiesDissertationGrant

Yes

Yes

Yes (contributionto women’sstudies)

Yes (“scholarlyvalidity”)

Yes (preparation;readiness; reasonabletimeline)

Note:

Criteria are from http://www.acls.org/fel-comp.htm; http://programs.ssrc.org/idrf/; and http://www.woodrow.org/womens-studies/index.php.

“Yes” indicates the criterion is used in evaluating proposals. Except as indicated by quotation marks, all the specific criteria noted are paraphrased.