EAGER: Collaborative Research: Comprehensive Analysis of Long Term Ecological Research Survey

该项目将分析由不同研究人员完成的调查结果，以确定研究界对长期研究的价值和必要性的看法。使用广泛的调查来评估未来的研究方向在生态学和进化生物学中都很新颖。对这项调查的分析将通过确定需要长期研究的新问题、未来促进更多长期研究的机会以及阻止科学家从事长期研究项目的障碍来推进基础研究。研究结果将指导未来的研究和资助重点。该项目将支持两名早期职业研究人员，他们的兴趣在于将基础研究与社会需求和利益联系起来。一项评估研究人员对长期生态研究意见的调查收到了全国近1,200名科学家的回复。这些回应代表了生态学和进化生物学领域的大部分实践研究人员和科学家的观点，包括目前没有从事长期研究的研究人员。对所产生的数据进行分析将促进和指导这些领域内的长期生态研究。研究人员将使用标准的社会科学方法对定量（顺序和分类）问题和定性（开放式）问题进行全面分析。分析将主要是定量的，包括对答复的描述性描述和对答复者分组之间的平均答复进行比较，以检验差异。用于征求研究优先事项，机会和障碍的开放式问题将转化为使用主题编码的分类变量;然后将对这些变量进行定量分析。调查分析将包括对整个领域的观点进行广泛分类，并根据答卷人的分领域、经验、机构类型和地理重点探讨意见和优先事项的差异。

This project will analyze results from a survey completed by diverse researchers to identify the research community's perceptions of the value of, and the need for, long-term research. The use of a broad-based survey to assess future research directions is novel in both ecology and evolutionary biology. Analyses of this survey will advance fundamental research by identifying new questions that require long-term research, opportunities that will promote more long-term research in the future, and the barriers that prevent scientists from engaging in long-term research projects. Findings will direct future research and funding priorities. The project will support two early-career researchers whose interests lie in linking fundamental research to societal needs and benefits. A survey to assess researchers' opinions about long-term ecological research received nearly 1,200 responses from scientists nationwide. Responses represent the views of a large proportion of practicing researchers and scientists within the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology, including researchers who are not currently engaged in long-term research. Analyses of the resulting data will stimulate and redirect long-term ecological research within these fields. The researchers will conduct a comprehensive analysis of quantitative (ordinal and categorical) questions and qualitative (open-ended) questions using standard social science methods. Analyses will be primarily quantitative, including descriptive characterization of responses and comparison of mean responses among subgroups of respondents to test for differences. Open-ended questions used to solicit research priorities, opportunities, and barriers will be transformed into categorical variables using thematic coding; these variables will then be analyzed quantitatively. Survey analysis will include both a broad categorization of the views of the field as a whole as well as an exploration of differences in opinions and priorities based on respondent subfield, experience, institution type, and geographic focus.