• Investigate spell length and transitions to and from use of government programs, such as TANF, Food Stamps, WIC, SSI, unemployment insurance, etc.;

• Analyze the interaction of employment and unemployment with participation in government programs;

• Elucidate the various mechanisms accounting for relationships between family structure/changes and indicators of well-being broadly defined to include income, material hardships, health or mental health;

• Focus on the well-being of both adults and children in analyses of the impact of family structure and change; disentangle the effects of income on family structure/transitions;

• Focus on men's or women's work lives, family transitions, and well-being;

• Examine the transitions and/or spells in health insurance coverage and their relationship to other transitions.

Applicants much hold a Ph.D. or equivalent academic degree by September 1, 2009. Preference will be given to non-tenured researchers with full-time academic appointments and researchers using new approaches and innovative methods.  

Applicants must be eligible for employment in the United States.

Recipients of funding through previous NPC small grants competitions are eligible to apply.

Grants will begin February 1, 2010 and end January 31, 2011.  A draft paper will be due September 10, 2010.  A final paper will be due February 1, 2011.  No-cost extensions are not permitted.

These awards will only be made as personal services contracts to one or more individual researchers; the NPC will not contract with the grantees’ employers or any other organization.

The NPC will fund reasonable research expenses, specifically: up to three months of salary for each investigator, data or software purchases, research assistance, research-related travel, and relevant supplies.  Awards will range from a maximum of $20,000 for research using SIPP public-use data and/or SIPP Synthetic Beta (SSB) data, to a maximum of $40,000 for research using SIPP Gold Standard restricted-use data and/or comparative analyses using SIPP Synthetic Beta (SSB) to SIPP Gold Standard restricted-use data.  Budgets must include adequate funds to travel to Washington, D.C. for a one-day conference on October 15, 2010. 

The NPC will fund direct costs only; we will not provide indirect cost recovery (overhead).

• The quality of study design, including the choice of appropriate research methodology and data;

• The feasibility of the proposed study to be completed during the grant period;

• The significance of the proposed analyses in terms of extending knowledge.

1.

A cover sheet with:

• The title of the proposed research
• The investigators' name and institutional affiliation with mailing address, email address, phone and fax numbers
• If the proposed research involves more than one investigator, a principal investigator (PI) must be identified. All correspondence will be with the PI.

A one-page abstract describing the specific aims, data and methods, and policy significance of the proposed study.

A description of the proposed project, 7-10 double-spaced pages in length (excluding figures and references). The description should clearly (1) describe specific aims and their research and policy significance, (2) very briefly summarize the relevant literature, (3) present major hypotheses, (4) fully describe the research design, proposed methodology and data sources, (5) clearly indicate how the proposed analyses will address the research and policy questions.  Long literature reviews should not be submitted. Particular emphasis should be given to items (3), (4) and (5).

Researchers proposing research using SIPP Synthetic Beta (SSB) and/or SIPP Gold Standard restricted-use data must include a plan for gaining access to a Census Research Data Center (RDC), and should note that obtaining Special Sworn Status will be required.  Research should focus on performing additional validation studies exploring the analytic validity of the SIPP Synthetic Beta File (SSB).

An itemized proposed budget and a budget narrative that describes and explains each line item. Please note that these awards will only be made as personal services contracts to one or more individual researchers (we will not contract with universities, colleges or other research organizations).

Please detail each funding item requested. Appropriate research expenses include:

• Research assistance
• Up to 3 months salary for each investigator
• Research-related travel expenses
• Purchase of data or software
• Pertinent supplies
• Travel expenses for author(s) to attend one-day conference in Washington, D.C. on October 15, 2010.
  

A project timeline listing specific milestones for study completion. The timeline must be within the period from February 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011.

 

Curriculum vitae for all investigators.

 

Human subjects review approval (often a waiver in the case of secondary data analysis) is required for all projects before funding can be dispersed.