Challenges of implementation
Feasibility
The substance of the research proposal is first and foremost to its success. Is the question significant to the field? Is the rationale valid? Will the method outlined further the goals of the proposal? Are the proposed activities manageable? Is the workload reasonable? Are the priorities skewed? Is it overly ambitious? Is there a weak plan for completion?
Follow through
New faculty members are sometimes undermined by their own enthusiasm. If a proposal oversteps what investigators have time or capacity to do, a project can stall. Many successful grant recipients have a team involved to divide up the work of the grant, meet regularly, and hold one another accountable for timelines, deadlines and promised deliverables.
Mistakes with implementation
Common compliance pitfalls include spending on unallowable costs, misallocation of funds, inaccurate effort reporting, inadequate monitoring of all project personnel, forgetting to include administrative and clerical costs, and delinquent closeout reporting. Most of these problems stem from lack of planning and management, so new faculty members need to build in procedures and time for these important elements of grant management when constructing the initial proposal.
Avoiding Problems
Fatal Flaws and Common Pitfalls
The Research Assistant, Danya International, Inc., created through funding by the Small Business Innovation Research Program, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute on Drug Abuse
This tutorial covers several pitfalls that beginning grant writers commonly encounter, including problems in methodology. It also offers advice for resubmitting unsuccessful grant applications.
Common Compliance Pitfalls and Strategies for Success
Office of Policy for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health, DHHS
This powerpoint outlines ways around common pitfalls, and provides links to federal regulations governing compliance. Several case studies illuminate common problems to avoid.
