RAPID: Winners and Losers when Science Moves Home: Differential Effects of COVID-19 based on Discipline, Caregiving, and Career Stage

COVID-19正在对高等教育部门的国家科学能力产生广泛但不同的影响，包括进行基础和应用研究的STEM研究人员，以及培养未来几代科学家的研究人员。在美国，一半的基础研究是在高等教育部门进行的，其中一半以上是由联邦政府资助的。研究型大学及其雇用的学术STEM研究人员对国家科学体系至关重要。该项目的首要问题是，COVID-19带来的变化如何影响STEM学术研究人员的生产力及其开展的科学研究？结果将为政策制定提供信息，以帮助国家研究企业的核心应对挑战，在全球大流行期间开展对国家利益至关重要的研究。尽管2019冠状病毒病是宏观层面对科学破坏的一个具体例子，但本研究的结果也将为如何建立STEM研究能力提供信息，以便在面对未来的大规模变化时具有弹性。由于学术STEM研究人员也是学生的研究导师和教育工作者，因此了解新技术的使用等适应将提高STEM教育的质量和影响，并有助于更好地准备STEM劳动力。在这项多方法研究中，我们研究了宏观社会混乱和错位对学术生产力模式、研究课题和项目选择以及维持或重新思考合作和团队合作模式的影响。研究的第一部分是在以下广泛领域对STEM教授进行半结构化定性访谈：大型基础设施依赖研究（例如，需要大型聚集的专业研究设施，如天文台）；小规模的依赖基础设施的研究（例如，设在大学的实验室）；实地考察；应用研究;分析研究。我们预计这些不同类型对研究生产力的影响是不同的：我们假设依赖基础设施的科学将比其他科学模式受到更负面的影响。在选择定性研究的参与者时，我们将确保在各个维度上的多样性，以检验我们的假设，即COVID-19危机将对早期职业研究人员和那些承担更多照顾责任的研究人员产生特别负面的影响。该研究的定性部分的结果将能够发展出潜在影响和科学调整的广泛指数，然后这些指数将构成一项全国调查的基础，以便在全国代表性的学术科学家调查中评估该项目的假设。研究设计是纵向的，包括两波调查。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

COVID-19 is having widespread—but disparate—effects on the nation's scientific capacity housed in the higher education sector, including the STEM researchers who conduct basic and applied research, and who train future generations of scientists. One-half of basic research conducted in the United States is performed in the higher education sector, and the federal government finances over half of it. The research universities, and the academic STEM researchers who are employed by them, are essential to the national science system. The overarching question of this project is, how do changes brought about by COVID-19 affect the productivity of academic STEM researchers and the science they conduct? Results will inform policy making to help the core of the nation's research enterprise to meet the challenge of conducting research vital to the nation’s interests during a worldwide pandemic. Although COVID-19 is a specific instance of a macro-level disruption to science, findings from this study will also inform how to build STEM research capacity to be resilient when confronted with future large-scale changes. Because academic STEM researchers are also student research mentors and educators, understanding adaptations such as use of new technologies, will improve the quality and impact of STEM education and contribute to a better prepared STEM workforce.In this multi-method study, we study the impacts of macro social disruption and dislocation on patterns of academic productivity, choice of research topics and projects pursed, and sustaining or rethinking patterns of collaboration and teamwork. The first arm of the study is to conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews of STEM professors in the following broad areas: large-scale infrastructure-dependent research (e.g., that requiring large congregate specialized research facilities, such as observatories); smaller-scale infrastructure-dependent research (e.g., laboratories located at universities); fieldwork dependent research; applied research; and analytic research. We expect differences in impact on research productivity across these different types: We hypothesize that infrastructure-dependent science will be affected more negatively than other modes of science. In selecting participants in the qualitative arm, we will ensure diversity across a variety of dimensions to test our hypothesis that the COVID-19 crisis will have especially negative impacts on early career researchers, and those with more caretaking responsibilities. Results from the qualitative arm of the study will enable the development of extensive indices of potential impacts and scientific adjustments, which will then form the basis of a national survey to assess the project's hypotheses on a nationally representative survey of academic scientists. The study design is longitudinal, including two waves of the survey.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.