Social Science Research Council

Research directors and their proposed research fields are evaluated on the basis of the following:

Originality:  How innovative is the field?  Does it revitalize an existing framework or identify a new research area?  Does it combine disciplines and/or methodologies in new and interesting ways?  Are the suggestions for the proposed workshop activities fresh, well thought-out and productive?

Appropriateness:  Will the research field direct resources appropriately to students who will most likely benefit?  Is there other competing or likely support for predissertation research in this area?  Are students selected into this field likely to learn substantially different approaches and methods other than those learned in their home departments and universities?

Research Directors:  How well-suited are the research directors to the task of advising graduate students from disciplines outside their own?  How complementary are their individual and disciplinary backgrounds and disciplinary formations?  How likely are they to invest seriously in the workshops and in the individual student projects?

Impact:  Will the proposed workshops be effective in helping students to shape their research strategies over the summer and in helping them to develop their ideas into well-crafted dissertation proposals?  Will the selection of this field likely lead to a longer term development of a research field?