What I have learned about conducting research Stuart Umpleby Department of Management The George Washington University
How to organize research (1) A few large laboratories or institutes, each housing many research projects; common on engineering campuses (UIUC) A doctoral program acts like a consulting firm where faculty are “partners” and doctoral students are junior staff; common at the Wharton School
How to organize research (2) Corporations “subscribe to” research results; funded research, often in computer applications, is “resold” to corporations; practiced at MIT’s Sloan School of Business Many (about 90) small, unconnected centers and institutes; the GW model
Research strategies Have the most advanced equipment in order to attract talented researchers who want to do the most advanced research: UIUC Solve problems encountered by business firms and in doing so invent new management methods: Wharton Obtain funds to offer programs: GW CFEE, GW RPSOL
My grants National Science Foundation (NSF) Charles F. Kettering Foundation U.S. AID Development Studies Program Open Society Institute American Council of Learned Societies Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Nathan Cummings Foundation
My grants (2) State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs GW Center for the Study of Globalization GW European Union Research Center
Lessons learned (1) There are many different kinds of research and many kinds of grants and funding NSF has a very formal process. Private foundations can be very informal NSF has more money for computer-related research than for social science research Find a funding agency that shares your interest
Lessons learned (2) Go to conferences attended by people from NSF, e.g., the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Washington Academy of Sciences Serve on review panels to learn what is being funded and how to write a good proposal If one foundation rejects a proposal, submit it to another
How to write a proposal Study what they have funded in the past Read carefully the instructions on-line Send a 1 or 2 page letter Then talk with people at the funding agency. You will learn a lot about what they want
Help from the Office of Research Support Start working with the Office of Research Support well in advance of the deadline Do not expect any help except with the budget For government agencies (NSF) budget help is vital. There are many things you do not know
Proposal writing is a language game The task is to describe what you want to do so it sounds like what they want to fund Use their language Cite their references Become a member of the community – Attend appropriate conferences – Review proposals by others
Weird things Sometimes foundations really want to spend money, so they are looking for projects to fund Some foundations want to increase the NUMBER of projects they support, so they will give you half of what you ask for and tell you to get the other half somewhere else
General suggestions Read Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge Propose to do what you have already done. Describing a research procedure is easier after the fact. Werner von Braun said, “Research is what I am doing when I do not know what I am doing.” Pursue several lines of research in parallel
Advice to dept. and school Understand the difference between externally funded research and FT40 articles Create an Institute for Management Research to house whatever research members of the Dept. want to do Get consulting/ research contracts with members of the GWSB Board of Advisers (the Wharton model)
Contact information Stuart A. Umpleby Department of Management The George Washington University Washington, DC
Prepared for a discussion in the Department of Management The George Washington University Washington, DC March 12, 2010