Ingredients    

1. Excellent match between the grant proposal and the donor’s priorities
2. Answering the “so what” question of your research
3. Simple prose and white space on the paper
4. Examples of the approach
5. A clearly written proposal
6. The grand finale: the significance of the results

Preparation

Read the entire RFP, from top to bottom. Once you clearly understand the directions that the donor provided, you can begin to put the pieces of the proposal together. Double check that you and your organization are eligible for the grant you are seeking, and that your project or research aligns with the donor’s mission. This makes certain that the match is made between yourself and the donor, and preparation of the pieces of the proposal can begin. These segments will be the product of extensive research on your part to move in the right direction. The pieces are:

1. Abstract – This will take careful preparation since it is the most important part of the application. It is the first impression, the precise summary of the entire proposal, and the evidence that success is possible.
2. Introduction – This is where you will present the problem or question to be addressed. The “so what” question for your project or research must be apparent, and should begin or lead into the narrative.
3. Need Statement/Statement of Significance – This is where the convincing argument for the project takes place. You will tell your impressive story, citing research and examples with enthusiasm and clarity.
4. Plan of Operation/Methodology – This is the heart of the proposal. Your plan should be tightly structured and consist of the goal (or hypothesis), objectives (or Specific Aims), and activities. Each segment will clearly illustrate the way your proposal will unfold in a logical manner. The evaluation follows, which should be clearly outlined in the incremental measurements of each activity – and these will be used to ensure your success in meeting your goal.
5. Outcomes and deliverables– This will be the section that demonstrates how the outcomes have unfolded, and what you are delivering to your constituents and the donor. In short, this is the resulting product of your proposal.

Presentation

Your presentation should be memorable. Don’t assume that reviewers will overlook sloppiness because your idea is phenomenal. You can achieve a superior presentation with images, graphs, and Gantt charts, which are easy to understand and memorable. Most importantly, if your proposal will make a significant impact, it should be stated as such. For instance, provide examples of how your work will make a difference, change the field, save lives, or set the stage for future change. Whether the presentation necessitates the elegance of a fine dining restaurant or the simplicity of a well-prepared meal at home, the true mark of success lies in what was expected and what has been delivered in an impressive manner.

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What does that mean in practical terms?

It turns out that professional writers—novelists, essayists, and journalists—have a lot to say about that. If you google “writers on writing” you’ll find hundreds of quotes. Here are five of my favorites and how they apply to proposal writing:

Elmore Leonard: “Leave out the parts the readers tend to skip.”

Simply put, most proposals have too much information. A Pew study showed TV weather reporters actually became more skeptical of climate change as they accumulated knowledge. Articles, book chapters, and books aim to inform; proposals are meant to persuade. To do so, give an expert audience only as much background as it needs to see that you’re grounded in best practice; focus on what you’re doing that’s new. Conversely, give lay readers only what they need to understand the elegance of what you’re proposing and what they’ll get from it.

Practically, this also alleviates the ubiquitous and crippling struggle against page limits.

Steven King: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart”

This can apply in several ways. You might have a profound insight that puts a whole new wrinkle on the field but doesn’t change your work plan in any meaningful way. Discussing it here distracts the reader from other concepts. Save it for a book or article. Or, you want to do something that is really cool and are burning to share it… but there isn’t enough time or treasure in the budget to actually do it right. Leave it out of the proposal and talk about it with friends over a distilled beverage. The most common way this comes up is when you share your document with colleagues and there’s something that no one understands. Maybe that idea isn’t ready for prime time.

Joan Didion: “All I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.”

Gopen and Swan’s seminal article “The Science of Scientific Writing” cites research showing that readers interpret your writing based on six expectations.² Among these: they expect to find any new or important information at the end of a discursive unit (i.e., a clause, sentence, paragraph, or section). If it’s elsewhere, they are likely to miss it and interpret what is there as your main point. Conversely, they expect to find context and perspective at the start of the unit. Violating these expectations increases the likelihood that your writing will be misinterpreted.

Kurt Vonnegut: “Give the reader at least one character he can root for.”

The most persuasive arguments use three rhetorical devices: logos (logic), ethos (authority), and pathos (emotion)—but the academic argument shuns pathos. Granted, it isn’t relevant for most single investigator research projects—but it is somewhat relevant for center grant proposals, more so for projects that include trainees, and highly relevant for fellowship applications. Even on single investigator research proposals, you can make an emotional connection with the reader using metaphors to bring your vision into their world. Effective use of pathos to augment strong arguments from logic and authority can provide a competitive edge.

George R.R. Martin: “There are two types of writers: architects and gardeners.”

Architects plan in advance – where will everything go, what each paragraph will say. Gardeners plant a seed but don’t know how the plant will develop. Martin is a proud gardener, but he doesn’t have to address formal review criteria. You, on the other hand, need architectural drawings—storyboards—that lay out the structure and content of each section (and even each paragraph). That’s how to ensure your proposal addresses all the review criteria, mirrors the language in the program announcement, and gives proportional attention to the factors that go into the evaluation.

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The best way to collect information about the problem is for you to conduct and document both a formal and informal needs assessment for your program in the target or service area. The information you provide should be both factual and directly related to the problem addressed. Areas for you to document are:

• Purpose for developing the proposal – what need you identified or what problem will be solved. You also have to address why you identified this particular need and why you and your organization are credible and able to make a substantial difference in terms of the solution.

• Beneficiaries – who they are, how they will benefit, how they were chosen, how many were chosen and how you came up with this approach must be documented and specifically addressed.

• Social and economic costs – who and what will be affected and by how much. Here you will need to address the percentage of change you expect and why. Obviously, cost is always a consideration, and if you can demonstrate that your intervention will save institutional and individual costs, this will be to your benefit.

• The nature of the problem – provide as much hard evidence as possible. This will be accomplished via the literature review, your past experience, surveys, and past and present data that demonstrate your past and anticipated future success with the targeted beneficiaries.

• Objectives – the specific way you will solve the problem, including the resources needed, how they will be used, and to what end. The goal and objectives will be the “heart of your proposal” that together will constitute your plan of operation.

• Sustainability plan – explain what will happen to your project when funding has been exhausted. If there is a way to institutionalize the approach  (e.g. train the trainers), this will demonstrate that the donor’s funding will make an ongoing difference, not just a one-time intervention.

There are several types of data you might want to collect, depending on the project: historical, geographic, statistical, as well as studies completed in your field. Unless otherwise specified, a mix of qualitative and quantitative data usually works best.

The need statement will ultimately be about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature that requires understanding and deliberate intervention. Making the need and your credibility to solve the problem clear to the donor, will make the difference between being funded and rejected.

The post The Core of Your Proposal: The Problem Statement appeared first on Grant Training Center Blog.

What Is a Research Problem?

Generally speaking, a research problem is a situation that needs a solution and for which there are possible solutions. Everyone wants to be young, and nobody wants to age. Aging seems like a problem that needs a solution. But there is no possible solution. People must age. Thus, research on how to stay young forever makes little sense. On the other hand, a solution to a problem that fills a gap in the existing knowledge is a good basis for a research problem. An example might be that obesity among adolescents can be reduced via healthy eating and regular exercise. Here obesity is the problem, and there are possible solutions. A good problem will originate from a research question formulated from observation, a literature review, a study of previous experiments, and your own preliminary data.

What Is a Problem Statement?

The description of the issue that currently needs to be addressed will be the problem statement. This will be the focus of your research, provide the context of the study and generate the questions that your research will answer. Your problem statement, written in one sentence, will establish the issues and information you will be discussing, and will be what the rest of the proposal hinges upon. You might also want to think of the problem statement as the goal of your research under which everything will unfold. This means that in subsequent sections of the application there should be no surprises. If it can’t be found in the problem section, then it either does not belong in the study, or the problem statement itself needs to be re-written.

The following example establishes the totality of what will subsequently unfold: “Dietary behaviors are still being formed in grade school and middle school children; thus, changing unhealthy eating behaviors to healthy ones can go a long way in addressing the problem of childhood obesity”¹. While this problem statement is just one sentence, it should be accompanied by a few paragraphs that elaborate on the problem.

What Are Key Components of the Problem Statement?

The problem statement should “hook” the reader and establish a persuasive context for what follows. You need to be able to clearly answer the questions: what is the problem and why should this problem be studied? At the same time, the problem statement limits the scope by focusing on some variables and not others. It also provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate why these variables are important.

Problem statements often contain the following three elements:

1. The problem itself should be stated clearly and with enough contextual detail to establish why it is important. An example might be: “The hazards of being overweight or obese in childhood and adolescence have been well researched. The Bogalusa Heart Study found that 60% of the overweight children by the time they reach 10 y have at least 1 biochemical or clinical cardiovascular risk factor and children 25% or more overweight have more than 2.”¹

2. The method of solving the problem is often stated as a claim or a working thesis. For example, under the auspices of school-based interventions, “increasing fruit and vegetable intake, controlling portion sizes, and limiting sweetened drink consumption along with regular exercise and behavior modifications are very important parts of strategies aimed at combating childhood obesity.”¹

3. The testing of the problem will take place via the objectives such as (a) examining if the reduction of certain behaviors can lead to changes in eating habits, which in turn combat childhood obesity, and (b) establishing that school-based interventions are a major channel for behavior modification in exercise and eating habits.

All proposals will require a problem statement, which will explain to the reader the goal of the study, how the goal will unfold and be tested and what types of studies or literature will be referenced. Without the problem statement, the reader may become lost in technical terms and may just skip sections trying to find the purpose of the study. It is essential that the problem statement is presented immediately and clearly, so the reviewers recognize and understand the importance and purpose of the proposal.

[1] Sharma, M. (2015). Dietary Education in School-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs. Advances in Nutrition, 6(5), 2075. Retrieved from http://advances.nutrition.org/content/2/2/207S.full.pdf+html.

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