Importance of Identifying Sources
Importance of Identifying Sources
of External Funding To Support Nursing Research
The lion share of the conducted investigations is performed with the funds, which are issued by the sponsoring agencies. The core purpose of such funding is to provide the monetary support for the researchers and for their training in the set of different agencies. In order to get the funds, the principal investigators (PIs) or the researchers should submit their proposals to the corresponding sponsors (Gray et al, 2013). This may be done via the particular institutions, supporting the research or by the means of requesting the funding for the clearly stated activities, which need the sponsor’s support. In order to get the option of funding and conduct the scientific investigation, the researcher should be aware of the core principles of sponsorship and funding, as well as find out the proper options for one’s particular case.
The typology of the proposals may be represented in the following manner - solicited proposals or applications and unsolicited proposals. It is implied by the solicited proposals or applications that the requests for the applications are of stand-alone nature. It means that each funding agency provides the relevant and sufficient information about one’s project and in such manner – the applicants get the information, critical for their decision making regarding the perspective of their applications as well as whether their topic of investigation matches the requirements of the funder or not. The information, provided by the funder involves the following aspects: the amount of available funding, the total quantity of the anticipated awards, the nature of the work and investigations, which are expected from the participants, and the deadline for the applications.
Requests for Applications (RFAs) for the cooperative agreements represent the obligations and responsibilities of the involved parties (both awardees and the agencies) alongside with their joint obligations and responsibilities. There are also the cases when the number of the proposals, which may be submitted by a particular institution, is limited by the RFAs. In such case, the ad-hoc process of internal selection is required
The requests for proposals (RFPs), which are also referred in the scientific literature as the solicitations, are issued by the private funding sources or the agencies of other types, which need the specific projects to be accomplished by proficient experts in the corresponding area of knowledge. In such cases, the Program Announcements (PA) represents the detailed information about the requested proposals - for instance, the continuing, new or the expanded program interests of the sponsor. Also, it may contain the detailed explanation f the new mechanisms for supporting the awardees. Usually, such type of the RFPs is subjected to the open bidding for any institution or recharger, qualified in the required area of knowledge. The announcement specifies the deadline for application and the resulting agreement is usually represented in the form of contract between the involved parties - the institution and the funding agency.
While discussing the unsolicited proposals, it is essential to note that such type of proposal is usually submitted to the potential sponsor. It matches the statements of interest and the general guidelines rather than represents an outcome of the specific solicitation. In the case if the decision about funding the offered working plan is done by the sponsor, the finding may be represented in one of the following forms: cooperative agreement grant or the contract between the involved parties. In majority of cases, the outcome of the unsolicited proposals is the grant support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Funding of the corporate sector usually takes its place in the form of the collaborative agreements or contracts. The lion share of the large sponsors usually sets the submission deadlines for the unsolicited proposals as well as they develop the timetables for the processes of notification and review.
In the process of choosing the funds for supporting research, the scientists should be aware of the major types of possible awards as well as specific their assignment process - in order to get the most effective support for research project within the minimal timeframes.
The most common form of funding awards is the contract, which is the legal agreement, determining the terms and regulations for the specific product or service procuring. There are the cases when the process is fixed within the contract. The payments for the actually incurred costs are provided by the cost-reimbursement contracts. In such cases, the contractor may stop preforming of one’s work at the point when the upper limit is reached by the costs of the particular project. At the same time, the critical importance should be attributed to the fact that the there is a need of record-keeping and reporting for proper documentation of the expenditures – in order to get the reimbursement of the cost. In majority of cases this factor overweighs the major advantages of using more flexible approaches towards cost ceiling.
Grants in order to support and assist the projects, where the definite service or product is procured by the contact, the cooperative agreements are made or the grants are awarded. Fewer restrictions are implied by the grants, while there is still a need for the financial and technical reports.
While there is the wide set of the available options for the funding of the nursing research, it is essential to consider each particular aspect of the research, its further purpose, covered areas and the most suitable option to apply for. The major sources of information in such case are the following: funding sites of the Federal agency, on-line funding websites, limited submissions etc (hopkinsmedicine.org, 2014).
The importance of getting the funding may be supported by the fact that the nursing investigations are expensive ones and they need the technological equipment, high cost reagents and other supplementing materials (Polit and Beck, 2010). Only in the case if the nursing research is properly-funded and conducted by expert, it may have the high validity of its outcomes and be useful for further scientific developments in the particular area of knowledge.
References
Gray, J.R., Grove, S.K., Burns, N. (2013) The Practice of Nursing Research: Appraisal, Synthesis, and Generation of Evidence. Elsevier Health Sciences
hopkinsmedicine.org (2014) Identifying Sources of Funding. Retrieved from: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/research/resources/offices-policies/ora/handbook/handbook_II.html
Polit, D.F., Beck, C.T. (2010) Essentials of Nursing Research: Appraising Evidence for Nursing Practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
