Rigor and transparency in NIH grant proposals

On a complete sample size or power analysis (with checklist)

A graphical illustration of the anatomy of an NIH research proposal

Focus on pilots

• Scoping a pilot and/or feasibility study for a randomized clinical trial (DRAFT)

• My slide deck covering the material above, presented at NIDUS Bootcamp October 2018 (PDF)

• A video of my talk on the design of pilot and feasibility studies: https://youtu.be/OMi6apWokUQ and slides here (PDF).

• Justifying a pilot study (e.g., R21)

• Analysis section of research project (and/or Section 4.4 of SF424 Forms E for RCT)

• Scientific premise paragraph

• Scientific rigor paragraph

• Sex as a biological variable (no sex difference hypothesized a priori)

Inouye - Writing grant proposals (2005).PDF

Lisa Bodnar has prepared a "playlist" of articles on writing a successful grant proposal for the Society of Epidemiologic Research

Anatomy of a specific aims page from Bioscience Writers

I like almost everything Morgan Giddings has to say about proposal writing

NIH: Definitions of Criteria and Considerations for K Critiques

Be careful about being too innovative

• Innovative proposals are penalized at peer review: "We find, on average, a standard deviation increase in our measure of novelty resulted in a 4.5 percentile point drop in ranking or a 7-position drop in rank order within our particular sample of 150 proposals." (Boudreau et al., 2012)

• Another negative view on Innovation from a policy perspective

Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy's advice on science writing