The Funding of Behavior Analytic Research in the U.S. Federal
Government
By Barbara A.
Wanchisen, Ph.D.
When it comes to the U.S. Federal Government, there are many
funding sources, such as the Department of Education and the
Environmental Protection Agency, to name just two. All sources are
worth investigating, but my comments will focus on two of the
largest funding sources of psychological research in Washington:
the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov) and
the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov). My
comments will be less concerned with the mechanics of obtaining
grants and more on my observations in Washington as an advocate for
the psychological sciences. As a behavior analyst and former
academic, I hope that my insights will be of some help.
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
is viewed as the premier source of basic science funding. Their
predominant focus is on the physical and life sciences but there is
also the Directorate of Behavioral, Social and Economic Sciences
(BSE). It is important to note that the budget for BSE is small in
comparison to the other directorates and that most of what they
fund in psychological realms is more in line with your cognitive
counterparts and neuroscientists than in basic behavioral
processes. In fact, when it comes to basic research, a behavior
analyst has a very small chance of funding at the NSF as things
currently stand - that is, all animal behavior is reviewed in NSF's
Biology Directorate, and your kind of work is not at the top of
their list. I do not like saying this, since the more applications
made the better - one way to make a big impact at the NSF is to
flood them with related applications and then they will be forced
to deal with the field. However, I would be dishonest if I said
that one application (in your field) out of the many they receive
(in Biology) would make an impact. (I must hasten to add that a
number of us are working on this problem at the NSF and I hope to
report better news to you one day.)
As for applied research, there is little funded at the NSF since
their focus is on basic processes; however, the Education
Directorate might consider certain topics of interest to you. In
fact, if you do work related to their mission, the Directorate of
Computers and Information Sciences could be an area where you could
have some success.
Finally, NSF does have a program area called "Crosscutting" that
you might want to explore. It is multi-disciplinary or cuts across
various sciences and includes such topics as women in science,
liaisons of academics with industry, and the like. All of the NSF
program areas are listed on the first page of their web page (www.nsf.gov).
The National Institutes of Health
(NIH) is absolutely "the" place where I would go as a
behavior analyst to seek funding. Perhaps surprisingly to some of
you, the NIH funds both basic and applied research, not just the
applied. Sometimes people have asked if the NIH (or any agency
really) is biased against the behavior analytic tradition and, from
what I have seen and heard, that is simply not the case. In my
experience here, agencies are seeking good science and internal
disputes of approach to a field are irrelevant.
That said, one way to get a good sense of where you might find
your application reviewed (and simply to find out what NIH funds)
is to visit this page:
http://www.csr.nih.gov/Roster_proto/sectionI.asp. This shows
the names of the various study groups (scroll to the Bs for example
for all the behaviorally-oriented ones) and the names of people who
sit on them. One of interest to those doing basic research would be
Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning, & Ethology (BRLE) and a
glance at the roster reveals that your reviewers would include
folks like Peter Balsam (chair), Nancy Ator, Mark Galizio, Howard
Rachlin, and Shep Siegel (to name a few). These are people who are
or have been funded by NIH in the past and my point here is to say
that you will likely have your application reviewed by "friendly"
faces. (However, contacting them directly is not advised - always
go through the NIH program officer for information.)
BRLE funds this sort of work (excerpt taken directly from the
web page):
Learning, cognition,
and behavioral control: Classical and operant conditioning;
sensitization and habituation; choice; observational and social
learning; sensory, perceptual, spatial, motor, and navigational
abilities; timing, counting and other quantitative abilities;
attention; memory; categorization; problem-solving; executive
function
Behavioral mechanisms
of substance abuse: Preferences and aversions; craving; tolerance
and sensitization; discriminative and reinforcing effects of abused
substances; subjective, sensory, perceptual, and performance
effects; vulnerabilities to dependence; social influences;
learning-theoretic and behavioral economic approaches
Animal models of
psychopathology and treatment: Processes underlying fear,
depression, mania, violence, regulatory dysfunction, cognitive
dysfunction, behavioral [dis]inhibition; genetic, biological, and
social influences on development of pathology; behavioral
interventions; behavioral aspects of psychopharmacologic
interventions
This is just one example and one that may mostly of interest to
the basic researchers of ABA. Note that quite a bit of applied
research is funded at the NIH in areas that are of interest to
applied behavior analysts. A major initiative at the NIH is
understanding autism spectrum disorder, not to mention depression
in men as well - for more on these and other initiatives, visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov.
If you are interested in bridging basic work with applied, there is
an NIH-wide initiative on "translational research."
This
is an interesting area because they seek proposals where an applied
researcher plans and works with a basic researcher and so both
"sides" get added insight and benefit. (Mike Perone, ABA
International President, has written recently in this newsletter
about this initiative and in fact, ABA International hosted a
special set of meetings here in Washington to raise awareness that
ABA is well-grounded in thinking this way about research
problems.)
Spending some time browsing the NIH site will give you a great
deal of information and insight. Not all of a behavior analyst's
research will be funded via an "obvious" institute like the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) but nowadays many
institutes include interest in behavioral (psychological) work. For
example, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a leading funding
institute of your kind of applied (and basic for that matter) work.
Also some of you have received funding from the National Institute
of Child and Human Development (NICHD). Other institutes who fund
your type of work well include the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism. (All
of these institutes, by the way, are under the umbrella of the
NIH.) Special opportunities can be obtained through the Small
Business Innovations Research program and should be seriously
considered.
One thing I have learned about the NIH is how important outreach
and good communication are to the directors. That said, I can say
with great confidence that program officers believe it is their
duty and mission to talk to potential applicants. Once you find
someone on their pages who seems to be interested in your kind of
work, do not hesitate to call or email that person directly! If you
contact the wrong person, soon you will be on the right track. This
is not a hollow statement - they will help you and in talking to
someone, it will likely take the fear out of the process. They are
there to help and want to help so at least see if your idea is on
the right track before you fill out any forms or go further.
As you know, there are many sources of funding of research in
the United States, not the least of which is from private
foundations and businesses (non-governmental). For a good list of
available funding, you might try "Fund Source" on the web page of
the Decade of Behavior (http://www.decadeofbehavior.org).
Also it is wise to ask others in your area of interest where they
receive funding, as this can be an invaluable source of
information.
Finally, ABA International is a member of the Federation and
while I am afraid to say this to the thousands of you who receive
the ABA Newsletter, if you think I can be of any help,
please email me at bwanchisen@fbpcs.org and I
will certainly try! Good luck!