July 28
This 1-day course presents pragmatic, concrete strategies for designing and writing effective and competitive qualitative research proposals. We cover principles generic to proposal design, and specific ways to communicate the aims, significance, conceptual framing, methodological details (sampling, data collection, analysis plans, and plans for optimizing validity and human subjects protections), and budget justification for the proposed study. We also cover strategies for addressing aspects of qualitative designs that are likely to draw concern among reviewers less familiar with them, most notably the purposeful sampling frame and the generalizability of study findings. We highlight distinctions between proposals written for governmental, foundation, and private industry grant review audiences and show methods for locating potential private-sector funding mechanisms.
In addition to didactic instruction, handouts and a suggested reference list, participants will have the opportunity, as time permits, to ask questions about their own proposals.
This course is appropriate for graduate students and faculty in the practice disciplines (e.g., clinical psychology, education, medicine, nursing, population health, public health, social work) as well as researchers from other fields of study (e.g., sociology, anthropology) and in government and non-profit organizations.
