Building Social and Behavioral Science Research Competency

描述(由申请人提供)：在生物医学领域博士级别的研究人员队伍中，土著美国人、非裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人的代表性持续偏低，长期以来一直被认为是我们国家的一个问题。美国国立卫生研究院在少数群体研究机会(MORE)计划下赞助了广泛的少数群体目标培训计划。尽管一些评估发现，参加更多项目的学生比其他学生更有可能从事研究工作，但结果并不是明确的。此外，很少有高质量的研究解决这些计划如何运作的问题，即这些计划产生效果的过程。关于浓缩过程的积极和消极方面的可靠信息将有助于制定最佳有效方案的指导方针，并将为更多的受训人员提供扩大规模的机会。为了获得关于更多项目效果的有效信息，NIH-GMS在2003年发起了一项RO1倡议，即“关于促进研究事业的干预措施的有效性的研究”。在最近(2007年5月)由美国国家科学院主办的一次研讨会上，人们认识到该倡议缺乏高质量的提案。尽管许多建议来自对项目有很好理解和洞察力的个人(例如，自然科学家或医学教育工作者)，但建议缺乏回答建议问题所需的社会和行为科学研究方面的专业知识和成熟程度，并存在理论基础不足、设计薄弱和/或数据分析策略薄弱或不适当的问题。目前的提案寻求资金，以举办会议/讲习班，向以前不成功或潜在的提案作者介绍(A)社会科学和行为科学研究的基本逻辑，(B)适当的研究设计和分析，以及(C)跨学科团队的组成战略。由知识渊博和经验丰富的社会和行为科学家授课，工作坊将采用讲座、演示、问题集和小组会议，让参与者讨论必要的主题。研讨会的目的不是让与会者成为社会科学研究方面的专家，而是提高他们组织和管理高效研究团队的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The persistent underrepresentation of Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans in the ranks of Ph.D.-level researchers in the biomedical fields has long been recognized as a problem for our nation. The National Institutes of Health have sponsored extensive minority-target training programs under the Minority Opportunity in Research (MORE) program. Although some evaluations have found that students in MORE programs are more likely than other students to pursue research careers, the results are not unequivocal. Moreover, very little high-quality research has addressed the question of how such programs work, i.e., the processes by which the programs have their effects. Reliable information on positive and negative aspects of the enrichment process would permit the development of guidelines for optimally effective programs and would provide opportunities for scaling up for a larger number of trainees. To attain valid information about MORE program effects, NIH-GMS launched an RO1 initiative for "Research on the Efficacy of Interventions that Promote Research Careers" in 2003. At a recent (May 2007) workshop sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, it was acknowledged that there has been a dearth of high-quality proposals for the initiative. Although many of the proposals come from individuals with great understanding of and insight into the programs (e.g., natural scientists or medical educators), the proposals lack expertise and sophistication in the social and behavioral science research that is necessary to answer the proposed questions and suffer from insufficient theoretical grounding, weak designs, and/or weak or inappropriate data analysis strategies. The current proposal seeks funding to offer conferences/workshops to introduce previously unsuccessful or potential proposal writers to (a) the basic logic of social and behavioral science research, (b) appropriate research designs and analyses, and (c) strategies for the composition of interdisciplinary teams. Taught by knowledgeable and experienced social and behavioral scientists, the workshops will employ lectures, demonstrations, problem sets, and small group sessions to allow participants to address the necessary topics. The goal of the workshop is not to make participants experts in social science research, but rather to increase their capabilities to organize and manage highly effective research teams.