Data Research and Development Center (DRDC)

本提案要求支持在国家意见研究中心（NORC）和芝加哥大学规划和发展一个数据研究与发展中心（DRDC）。该中心的使命是提高在学习、教学和成就领域从事跨学科工作的个人的研究能力。在过去的五年中，研究行为的实质性和方法上的变化对研究人员的设计、分析和传播结果提出了挑战。调查人员必须产生可推广到小目的样本之外的人群的发现，并在其他数据集中复制。调查人员往往不知道他们的发现与其他领域的工作有什么关系，也不知道他们的发现与更大的样本是一致还是不一致的。建立一个中心，向调查人员提供关于其他数据集的信息，并有机会学习如何获取和分析这些信息，可以实现两个重要目标。首先，与我们不得不依赖单一研究的结果相比，将多个数据集的结果联系起来产生更有力、更有说服力的证据是可能的。其次，它将提高个体研究者使用各种数据集和方法更系统、更有效地复制其发现的能力。为了实现这些目标，我们设想我们的中心有四个主要目标：(1)培训，(2)研究，(3)对话，(4)数据存档和传播。

This proposal requests support to plan and develop a Data Research and Development Center (DRDC) at National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and the University of Chicago. The mission of this Center would be improving the research capacities of individuals engaged in the conduct of interdisciplinary work in the areas of learning, instruction, and achievement. Substantive and methodological changes over the past five years in conduct of research are challenging researchers as they design, analyze, and disseminate their results. Investigators must produce findings that are generalizable to populations beyond small purposive samples and that are replicated across other data sets. Investigators are often unaware of how their findings relate to work in other areas or how their findings are consistent or inconsistent with larger samples. Creating a center where investigators are provided with information on other data sets and opportunities to learn how to access and analyze such information accomplishes two important objectives. First, it would be possible to link results across several data sets to produce more robust compelling evidence than if we had to rely on the results of a single study. Second, it would increase the capacity of individual investigators to replicate their findings more systematically and efficiently using a variety of data sets and methods. To accomplish these goals, we envision our Center as having four main objectives: (1) training, (2) research, (3) dialogue, and (4) data archiving and dissemination.