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

新冠肺炎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，包括开展基础和应用研究以及培养未来几代科学家的STEM研究人员。在美国进行的基础研究有一半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。研究型大学及其聘用的学术STEM研究人员是国家科学体系的重要组成部分。这个项目的首要问题是，新冠肺炎带来的变化如何影响学术STEM研究人员的生产力和他们所从事的科学？研究结果将为政策制定提供依据，以帮助国家研究企业的核心部门在全球大流行期间应对进行对国家利益至关重要的研究的挑战。尽管新冠肺炎是宏观层面对科学的颠覆的一个具体例子，但这项研究的发现也将为如何建设科学、技术和工程研究能力，使其在面对未来大规模变化时具有弹性。由于学术STEM研究人员也是学生研究导师和教育者，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工作。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、研究主题和项目的选择以及维持或反思合作和团队合作模式的影响。这项研究的第一个分支是在以下广泛领域对STEM教授进行半结构化定性访谈：大规模基础设施依赖型研究(例如，需要大型聚集专门研究设施的研究，如天文台)；较小规模的基础设施依赖型研究(例如，位于大学的实验室)；田野调查依赖型研究；应用研究；分析研究。我们预计这些不同类型对研究生产率的影响会有所不同：我们假设，依赖基础设施的科学将比其他科学模式受到更大的负面影响。在选择定性部分的参与者时，我们将确保各个维度的多样性，以检验我们的假设，即新冠肺炎危机将对早期职业研究人员和那些有更多照顾责任的人产生特别负面的影响。这项研究的定性部分的结果将有助于制定广泛的潜在影响指数和科学调整，然后将形成一项全国性调查的基础，以评估该项目关于具有全国代表性的学术科学家调查的假设。这项研究设计是纵向的，包括两波调查。这一奖项反映了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。

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.