EAGER: Exploring Convergence Research: An Initial Examination of What It Means and What It Hopes to Accomplish

这个急切的项目将创造和实施一种有前途的、新颖的、但未经测试的方法，用于评估汇聚研究项目。拟议的努力将为趋同研究建立一个循证框架和一套适当的进程和结果指标；然而，这一评价办法也将适用于大多数类型的基础研究。这解决了评价领域的一项重大挑战--因为基础研究过程往往与最初的建议相比不断发展和变化，所希望的结果往往在赠款资金结束后很久才出现。这一项目如果成功，有可能对评价领域作出重大贡献，从而也将加强各机构和基础研究的其他资助者的能力，以产生和利用关于其投资的效率和效力的证据，为决策提供信息。这项提案最重要的技术方面是，它提出以高度创新的方式使用文献计量数据和先进的统计模型，作为制定评估框架的投入(例如，变革理论、逻辑模型、评价问题、指标)。通常，这些技术用于回答评估问题，而不是在设计的前端。该项目的其他数据来源包括文献综述、机构利益相关者访谈，以及从汇聚研究资源的文件审查中获得的信息脚手架。该项目的成果包括：景观研究、变化理论和趋同研究的逻辑模型，以及一套初步指标。该项目的预期成果包括：(1)增加对关键趋同研究概念和变革机制的了解，(2)出现共同措施，以指导证据的产生和使用，(3)在基础研究领域和他们所服务的科学界的广泛资助者中提供信息和催化决策。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This EAGER project will create and implement a promising, novel but untested, approach for the evaluation of convergence research projects. The effort proposed will create an evidence-based framework and set of appropriate indicators of processes and results for convergence research; however, this evaluation approach will also be relevant for most types of basic research. This addresses a significant challenge in the field of evaluation—given that basic research processes often evolve and change from initial proposals and desired results often emerge long after the grant funding ends. This project, if successful, has the potential to make a significant contribution to the field of evaluation and thus will also strengthen the capacity of agencies and other funders of basic research to generate and use evidence about the efficiency and effectiveness of their investments to inform decisions. The most important technical aspect of this proposal is that it proposes a highly innovative use of bibliometric data and advanced statistical modelling as inputs into the development of an assessment framework (e.g., theory of change, logic model, evaluation questions, indicators). Typically, these techniques are used to answer evaluation questions, not on the front-end of design. The other data sources for this project include literature reviews, agency stakeholder interviews, and scaffolding of information from document review of convergence research resources. The deliverables from this project include: a landscape study, a theory of change, and logic model for convergence research, and a set of preliminary indicators. The anticipated outcomes of this project include: (1) an increase in knowledge of key convergence research concepts and change mechanisms, (2) the emergence of common measures to guide the generation and use of evidence in ways that, (3) inform and catalyze decisions across a broad landscape of funders in the field of basic research and the scientific communities they serve.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.