The Immediacy, Inclusion and Productivity of NSF Grants Under the Broader Impact Criterion

二十年来，美国国家科学基金会（NSF）一直要求科学家讨论更广泛的影响（BI），以表明他们的研究超越了实验室。BI标准要求科学家在他们的拨款申请中包括BI活动，如K-12推广和培训研究生。然而，没有评估BI活动的标准框架。该项目提出了一个全面评估BI的新框架，考虑了三个因素：BI活动的即时性，BI活动的包容性，以及BI活动对科学生产力的影响。即时性指的是将更广泛的影响积极融入研究设计。包容性考虑到研究对边缘化社区的影响。研究生产率与研究项目的产出有关。将BI标准的评估重新定义为高度即时性，包容性和生产力将为鼓励包容性研究和支持边缘化社区提供机会。这种分析对于确保拨款机构履行其使命，支持促进整个国家健康、繁荣和福利的科学至关重要。为了分析BI，该项目开发了一个新的框架，称为即时性包含标准（IIC）。IIC的两个维度，即即时性和包容性，形成了一个3X 3的网格。有三种类型的即时性（内在的，直接的和外在的）和三种类型的包容性（普遍的，可持续的和包容性的），其特征是更广泛的影响。该项目有两个核心假设：1）与边缘化群体相比，国家科学基金会资助更多帮助弱势群体的项目; 2）资助的内在直接性项目比外在直接性项目更有成效。该项目通过使用该框架对NSF项目报告结果进行编码和分析来测试这些假设。这将提供有关NSF赠款中最常见的BI的见解，以及这些如何因董事会，领域和机构类型而异。这项工作还将分析IIC和研究成果之间的关系，如出版率。这将有助于深入了解科学产出与更广泛影响之间的关系。这项工作不仅将通知NSF赠款的管理，但将提供更广泛的洞察力之间的关系，科学产出和利益，以更广泛的public.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

For the two decades, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has required scientists to discuss broader impacts (BIs) to show that their research extends beyond the laboratory. The BI criterion requires scientists to include BI activities, such as K-12 outreach and training graduate students, in their grant proposals. However, there are no standard frameworks for assessing BI activities. This project proposes a new framework for holistically assesses BIs, accounting for three factors: the immediacy of the BI activities, the inclusiveness of the BI activities, and the impact the BI activities have on scientific productivity. Immediacy refers to the active integration of broader impacts into the research design. Inclusiveness considers the impacts of the research on marginalized communities. Research productivity relates to the output of the research project. Reframing the evaluation of the BI criterion to highly immediacy, inclusiveness, and productivity will provide an opportunity to encourage inclusive research and support marginalized communities. This analysis is essential for ensuring that granting agencies meet their mission to support science that advances the whole nation's health, prosperity, and welfare. To analyze BIs, this project develops a new framework, called the Immediacy-Inclusion Criterion (IIC). The two dimensions of the IIC, immediacy and inclusion, form a 3X3 grid. There are three types of immediacy (intrinsic, direct, and extrinsic) and three types of inclusion (universal, advantaged, and inclusive) that characterize broader impact. This project has two central hypotheses: 1) the NSF funds more projects that helps advantaged groups compared to marginalized groups; and 2) funded projects with intrinsic immediacy are more productive than projects with extrinsic immediacy. The project tests these hypotheses by coding and analyzing NSF Project Report Outcomes, using the framework. This will provide insights on the most frequent Bis among NSF grants and how these vary by directorate, field, and type of institution. The work will also analyze the relationship between IIC and research outcomes, such as publication rates. This will provide insight on the relationship between the scientific output and broader impact. This work will inform not only the administration of NSF grants, but will provide wider insight on the relationship between scientific outputs and benefits to the wider public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.