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(BIS)，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外展和培训研究生。然而，目前还没有评估商务智能活动的标准框架。该项目提出了一个新的全面评估BIS的框架，考虑了BI活动的即时性、BI活动的包容性和BI活动对科学生产力的影响三个因素。直接性是指积极地将更广泛的影响融入研究设计中。包容性考虑了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标准的评估重新调整为高度即时性、包容性和生产力，将提供一个鼓励包容性研究和支持边缘化社区的机会。这一分析对于确保资助机构履行其支持促进整个国家健康、繁荣和福利的科学的使命至关重要。为了分析国际清算银行，这个项目开发了一个新的框架，称为即时包含标准(IIC)。IIC的两个维度--即时性和包容性--构成了一个3X3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(普遍的、有利的和包容的)表征了更广泛的影响。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优势群体的项目；2)具有内在即时性的资助项目比具有外在即时性的项目更有成效。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。这将提供关于NSF赠款中最常见的BI的洞察，以及这些BIS如何随董事会、领域和机构类型的不同而变化。这项工作还将分析IIC和研究结果之间的关系，例如发表率。这将为科学产出和更广泛的影响之间的关系提供洞察。这项工作不仅将为NSF拨款的管理提供信息，还将为更广泛的公众提供关于科学产出和利益之间关系的更广泛的洞察力。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。

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.