Full Text HD-93-07 METHODOLOGICAL STUDIES TO ENHANCE DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH NIH GUIDE, Volume 21, Number 38, October 23, 1992 RFA: HD-93-07 P.T. 34 Keywords: Demography Surveys & Survey Research National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institute on Aging Application Receipt Date: January 19, 1993 PURPOSE The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) invite applications for the support of basic methodological research that will enhance the collection and analysis of data to be used to answer demographic research questions. Broad areas to be supported include research that further refines theoretical constructs and develops appropriate, valid and reliable measures of those constructs, examines characteristics of the interview situation that may affect the collection of unbiased data, and assesses the sources of bias and the impact of biased data on results. Projects may address one or more methodological issues. HEALTHY PEOPLE 2000 The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2000," a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. This Request for Applications (RFA), Methodological Studies to Enhance Demographic Research, is related to the priority areas of family and child health. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of "Healthy People 2000" (Full Report: Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or "Healthy People 2000" (Summary Report: Stock No. 017-001-004734-1) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325 (telephone 202-783-3238). ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Applications for R01s may be submitted by foreign and domestic, for-profit and non-profit organizations, public and private, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of State and local governments, and eligible agencies of the Federal government. Applications from minorities and women are encouraged. Foreign institutions are not eligible for First Independent Research Support and Transition (FIRST) (R29) awards. MECHANISM OF SUPPORT Applications in response to this RFA will be funded through the traditional individual research award (R01) program of the NIH and the FIRST (R29) awards. Responsibility for the planning, direction, and execution of the proposed project will be solely that of the applicant. The total project period for applications submitted in response to the present RFA may not exceed five years. This announcement is for a single competition with the application receipt deadline of January 19, 1993. The average annual direct costs for an R01 application will be $140,000, with a range of $50,000 to $200,000. For R29 applications, the budgetary conventions governing FIRST awards will apply. FUNDS AVAILABLE The NICHD has set aside $700,000 direct costs for the first year of support for the program. It is anticipated that four or five awards will be made from NICHD funds. The NIA Behavioral and Social Research Program will fund at least two grants out of special set aside funds. Aging related applications that do not exceed $150,000 in total costs per year and are for three or fewer years will also be eligible to compete for an additional set-aside of $1.8 million for limited size, limited duration awards. Applicants will also be eligible to compete for the general pool of grant funds. It is anticipated that only new applications will be received. This level of support is dependent on the receipt of a sufficient number of applications of high scientific merit. Although this program is provided for in the financial plan of the institutes, awards pursuant to this RFA are contingent upon the availability of funds for this purpose. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES As a field of research, demography has been stretching beyond traditional boundaries attempting to address concepts that can be difficult to measure and, increasingly, moving into areas that are considered sensitive. For example, in the area of family and household demography, researchers are investigating the effect of family structure or changes in family structure on a variety of outcomes. However, a given family structure may serve as a marker for an underlying process that is difficult to measure, yet critical for understanding what causes behavior. In addition, demography is also seeing increasing emphasis on context as a critical determinant of a variety of outcomes. However, identifying and measuring the most important elements of context requires methodological development. Even the measurement of many concepts with a long tradition in demographic research, such as the "wantedness" of pregnancies and births, has been elusive. Conventional measures of marital status may not capture the variety of unions or partnerships in which people engage. Similar examples can be found in many areas of the demography of aging, such as, the measurement of individual health and functioning, and the supply side of health and caretaker services. Support would be provided for further conceptual development of theoretical constructs important for advancing the field of demographic research and for the development of valid and reliable measures of those constructs. Researchers have long been concerned about the accuracy of self- reported data. This continues to be an important area of inquiry. Almost none of the variables of interest to social and behavioral scientists have a biological marker to measure against and few have a system of records against which to check self-reports. Often, data are collected from one person regarding activities that also involve others and at times may not even involve the respondent. Individuals report on contraceptive and fertility-related behavior for both partners in a relationship; one family member may report on the activities for the entire family; parents frequently report on the behavior of their children occurring when the children are not with the parents. The validity of the data can depend on the wording of the questions, the mode of administration, the location of interview, characteristics of the interviewer and respondent and other aspects of the interviewing process. Obtaining the cooperation of the respondents in sample surveys has become increasingly difficult. More effort is required to obtain minimally acceptable response rates. Often the response rates fall short of that needed to minimize concerns about the introduction of systematic bias in variables of substantive importance. If the survey is longitudinal, bias can be introduced through differential attrition. Research supported under this RFA could investigate means of improving response rates to sample surveys and reducing attrition in longitudinal studies. As the areas of inquiry become more sensitive, the possibility of extraneous influences on the data collected and the challenge of developing ways to collect unbiased data become greater. If the topic of the survey is viewed as sensitive by the respondents, reaching reasonable response rates may be even more difficult. If the cooperation of the respondent is obtained, he or she may refuse to answer individual items or may give socially desirable responses. Research examining bias in responses to particular topics and ways to minimize that bias is appropriate for submission to this announcement. Despite the best efforts of researchers, the data may have inaccuracies and biases. The quality of the data depends heavily on the issues described above and others. The critical questions then become how does one assess the imprecision in the data and how does the bias affect the results of the research. Is the bias random or systematic with respect to other relevant factors? Applications for further development of statistical methods to correct for bias could be submitted under this RFA. Additional examples of relevant research topics include, but are not limited to, the following: o Development of measures of concepts, such as social or neighborhood context, subculture, family stress, fertility motivation, conjugal unions, or wantedness of pregnancies and births, that can be used in large scale survey research. o Development of new, improved measures of family processes, e.g., parenting, household division of labor and allocation of resources. o Improvement of strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative data to enhance insight into demographic processes. o Improvement of reporting of sensitive behaviors such as sexual behavior and abortions; development of means of adjusting for underreporting of abortions in surveys. o Development of improved measures of socioeconomic status for the elderly and young adults; development of indicators of socioeconomic status that may be validly and reliably reported retrospectively. o Development and evaluation of alternate approaches to data collection, e.g., calendar methods, CAPI with children and the elderly including expert system modules, alternative modes of self-administration. o Development of efficient ways of combining data from different surveys, some of which may be endogenously stratified and which contain information about different, though overlapping, sets of variables. o Development and/or validation or evaluation of new, improved, alternative or experimental measures for use in future waves of such aging-related surveys as the Health and Retirement Survey, the Longitudinal Study on Aging II, the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS)-Older Women's Cohort, the Health and Asset Dynamics Survey of the Oldest Old, and the aging-related modules of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). o Improvement of the quality and feasibility of linking administrative records from, e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, the National Death Index (NDI), Social Security earnings and benefits, the Area Resource File, hospital discharge files, and employer health and pension benefits to microdata, through the development of standardized matching techniques, algorithms for outcome measures, validation of aggregated variables, and the development and evaluation of new methods for maintaining confidentiality including random transformations and imputed synthetic variables. Also required are evaluations of the analytic losses resulting from these transformations. Investigations of the quality of the demographic, e.g., age and race, and other data in these files are also needed. o Development and evaluation of improved measures of self-reported and performance-based physical and cognitive functioning needed for every day activity, wealth and consumption, and family and household structure that could be used in the proposed NIA/WHO cross-national studies of the determinants of healthy aging in developed and developing nations. o Comparisons of self-report versus performance measures of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). o evaluation of self-reported data on health conditions, such as sexually transmitted diseases, other illnesses and injuries, and services received; development of improved survey methods for ascertaining health data. o determination and evaluation of the optimal use of proxies for collecting data on children, other family members, spouses, the very old, and those with cognitive and physical impairments. o evaluation of the quality of age reporting for the oldest old cross- nationally, and among ethnic and linguistic groups in the U.S.. o development and evaluation of approaches designed to produce high response rates and good data quality in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, including studies of nonresponse and refusal bias. Of particular interest are highly mobile populations, the elderly, and racial and ethnic subgroups. o investigations of the impact on disability estimates of using area versus list sampling frames for sampling older populations. o development of improved methods for forecasting such transfer payments to the older population as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare and Medicaid. o development of methods to compare and calibrate active life expectancy and related measures, such as quality adjusted years, across developed countries and socioeconomic status groups. Research proposals need not be limited to the examples given above. It is anticipated that many questions will derive from previous or current research. It may be cost-effective to design methodological studies to be carried out in conjunction with ongoing research projects. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Annual meetings will be held to foster the sharing of information, data, and other experiences. Principal and co-investigators will be encouraged to attend these meetings, and funds must be included in the application budget for one two-day meeting per year in Bethesda, Maryland to discuss the research with other investigators. STUDY POPULATIONS Research may focus on U.S. or foreign populations. Researchers are encouraged to address questions relevant to men, women, and children varying in their racial and socioeconomic background. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF NIH POLICIES CONCERNING INCLUSION OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN CLINICAL RESEARCH STUDY POPULATIONS NIH policy is that applicants for NIH research grants and cooperative agreements involving human subjects are required to include minorities and women in study populations so that research findings can be of benefit to all persons at risk of the disease, disorder or condition under study; special emphasis must be placed on the need for inclusion of minorities and women in studies of diseases, disorders, and conditions which disproportionately affect them. This policy is intended to apply to males and females of all ages. If women or minorities are excluded or inadequately represented in clinical research, particularly in proposed population-based studies, a clear compelling rationale must be provided. The composition of the proposed study population must be described in terms of gender and racial/ethnic group. In addition, gender and racial/ethnic issues should be addressed in developing a research design and sample size appropriate for the scientific objectives of the study. This information must be included in the form PHS 398 in Sections 1-4 of the Research Plan AND summarized in Section 5, Human Subjects. Applicants are urged to assess carefully the feasibility of including the broadest possible representation of minority groups. However, NIH recognizes that it may not be feasible or appropriate in all research projects to include representation of the full array of United States racial/ethnic minority populations (i.e., Native Americans (including American Indians or Alaskan Natives), Asian/Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Hispanics). The rationale for studies on single minority population groups must be provided. For the purpose of this policy, clinical research is defined as human biomedical and behavioral studies of etiology, epidemiology, prevention (and preventive strategies), diagnosis, or treatment of diseases, disorders or conditions, including but not limited to clinical trials. The usual NIH policies concerning research on human subjects also apply. Basic research or clinical studies in which human tissues cannot be identified or linked to individuals are excluded. However, every effort should be made to include human tissues from women and racial/ethnic minorities when it is important to apply the results of the study broadly, and this should be addressed by applicants. For foreign awards, the policy on inclusion of women applies fully; since the definition of minority differs in other countries, the applicant must discuss the relevance of research involving foreign population groups to the United States' populations, including minorities. If the required information is not contained within the application, the review will be deferred until the information is provided. Peer reviewers will address specifically whether the research plan in the application conforms to these policies. If the representation of women or minorities in a study design is inadequate to answer the scientific question(s) addressed AND the justification for the selected study population is inadequate, it will be considered a scientific weakness or deficiency in the study design and will be reflected in assigning the priority score to the application. All applications for clinical research submitted to NIH are required to address these policies. NIH funding components will not award grants or cooperative agreements that do not comply with these policies. APPLICATION PROCEDURES Applications are to be submitted on form PHS 398 (rev. 9/91) that is available in most institutional business offices or from the Office of Grants Inquiries, Division of Research Grants, National Institutes of Health, Westwood Building, Room 449, Bethesda, MD 20892, telephone (301) 496-7447. FIRST (R29) award applications must include at least three sealed letters of reference attached to the face page of the original application. FIRST (R29) award applications submitted without the required number of reference letters will be considered incomplete and will be returned without review. Applications must be identified by checking the "yes" box in Item 2a on the face page of the application and by typing the words, "In Response to RFA HD- 93-07." The RFA label in form PHS 398 must be affixed to the bottom of the face page of the original application. Failure to use this label could result in delayed processing of your application such that it may not reach the review committee in time for review. The signed original (topmost) and three copies of the applications must be received by January 19, 1992. Applications must be sent or delivered to: Grant Application Receipt Office Division of Research Grants National Institutes of Health Room 240, Westwood Building Bethesda, MD 20892** It is extremely important for the timely review of your application that two additional copies of the application be sent under separate cover to: Laurance S. Johnston, Ph.D. Deputy Director, Division of Scientific Review National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 5E03 Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone: (301) 496-1485 Applications must be received by January 19, 1993. Late applications will not be accepted. REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed by NICHD/NIA staff for completeness and responsiveness to the RFA. Incomplete applications will be returned to the applicant without further consideration. If the application is judged to be nonresponsive to the RFA, NIH staff will return the application to the applicant. The applicant may resubmit the application and have it assigned for review in the same manner as the unsolicited grant applications during the next review cycle. If the application submitted in response to this RFA is substantially similar to a grant application already submitted to the NIH for review, but has not yet been reviewed, the applicant will be asked to withdraw either the pending application or the new one. Simultaneous submission of identical applications will not be allowed, nor will essentially identical applications be reviewed by different review committees. Therefore, an application cannot be submitted in response to this RFA that is essentially identical to one that has already been reviewed. This does not preclude the submission of substantial revisions of applications already reviewed, but such applications must include an introduction addressing the previous critique. Applications may be triaged by an NICHD/NIA peer review group on the basis of relative competitiveness. The NIH will withdraw from further competition those applications judged to be non-competitive for award and notify the applicant Principal Investigator and institutional official. Those applications judged to be competitive will undergo further scientific merit review by a special study section convened by the NICHD in accordance with the criteria stated below. The second level of review will be provided by the appropriate National Advisory Council. The review criteria for the research projects are: o scientific and technical significance of proposed research; o appropriateness and adequacy of the research approach and methodology proposed to carry out the research; o qualifications and research experience of the Principal Investigator and staff, particularly, but not exclusively, in the area of the proposed research; o availability of resources necessary to perform the research; o appropriateness of the proposed budget and duration in relation to the proposed research. AWARD CRITERIA The anticipated date of award is August 1, 1993. Responsiveness to the RFA, scientific merit, and technical proficiency, as described in the application, will be the predominant criteria for determining funding. INQUIRIES Written and telephone inquiries are encouraged. The opportunity to clarify any issues or questions from potential applicants is welcome. Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to: Virginia S. Cain, Ph.D. Center for Population Research National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 8B13 Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone: (301) 496-1174 or Richard Suzman, Ph.D. Behavioral and Social Research Program National Institute on Aging Gateway Building, Room 2C234 Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone: (301) 496-3136 Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matters to: Melinda B. Nelson Office of Grants and Contracts 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 8A17 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone: (301) 496-5481 or Ms. Linda Whipp Grants and Contracts Management Office National Institute on Aging Gateway Building, Room 2N212 Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone: (301) 496-1472 AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 93.864 and No. 93.866. Awards are made under authorization of the Public Health Service Act, Title IV, Part A (Public Law 78-410, as amended by Public Law 99-158, 42 USC 241 and 285) and administered under PHS grants policies and Federal Regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45 CFR Part 74. This program is not subject to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or Health Systems Agency review. .
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