Form 1 Survey

The following interview guide is a shorter version of the OMB approved interview guide (OMB 0925-0573; expiration 10/31/2009), modified to be appropriate to this group of respondents is attached. The time needed for completion of an interview with unfunded respondents is estimated to be 20 min or less. The total annual hour burden to interview 100 unfunded applicants would be 33.

APRC INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR COMPARISON GROUP

RESEARCHERS WHO DID NOT RECEIVE APRC FUNDING

This information is being collected under the statutory authorities for NCI found in 42 USC 285a. Your response is voluntary. The information you provide will be non-identifiable and kept confidential, except as otherwise required by law, and there will be no consequences of not providing the information.

What is your field of expertise or specialty?

Rate the statement, I frequently read journals or publications outside my primary field.

1 (Strongly Disagree) 2 3 4 5 (Strongly Agree)

I would like to start by asking you a few questions about your early experiences in applying for the APRC funding..

1. How did you become aware of the APRC program?

□ Read about it in an NIH Guide Notice

□ Heard about it from a DCB staff member

□ Other (Please specify; if heard about it from a colleague, identify discipline and institution:___________________________________________________)

2. Did you contact your Program Director or another DCB staff member to discuss

the APRC application prior to applying for the award? □ Yes □ No

If yes, did you find their advice helpful? Why or why not?

3. Before submitting your application for an APRC award, had you ever been a member of an organized research consortium or other collaborative effort (describe)? □ Yes □ No If yes, how many? How many were distinct consortia or collaborative groups (since there could have been multiple projects with one group)? How many were transdisciplinary? How many in the past 5 years?________

4. Did you receive encouragement in applying for this award from your colleagues or your institution or any other type of support from your institution to pursue transdisciplinary collaborations (e.g., specific resources)? □ Yes □ No If yes, please describe:­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________________________

5. Please describe any problems you had in forming the APRC consortium. (Probe for problems encountered during pre-application and any complexities (administrative or scientific) that were particularly difficult that they did not anticipate):_________________________________________)

6. Prior to applying for the APRC program, had you collaborated with researchers from these fields/disciplines? □ Yes □ No (If no, elaborate)

7. Was the collaboration initially formed specifically in response to the APRC program?

8. Would you have worked with these researchers or had planned to, irrespective of the APRC program? □ Yes □ No If yes, please explain circumstances:___________________________________

9. Would you have undertaken this collaborative project, irrespective of the APRC program (i.e., even if they had never heard of and applied to the APRC program)?

□ Yes □ No If yes, please explain circumstances:________________________

Now, I would like to ask you a few questions about your experience post-APRC application.

10. Were you surprised to learn that your APRC supplement had not been funded?

□ Yes □ No Please describe your reaction:_________________

11. What kind of feedback did you receive from DCB?

12. After you learned that you had not received the APRC funding,

did you go on to pursue the proposed project? □ Yes □ No

If yes, please describe how you were able to find other support for this project:

13. Did you go on to engage in other consortia or collaborations

with the same investigators? □ Yes □ No

14. Did you pursue other opportunities to collaborate with researchers

who were from a different discipline? □ Yes □ No

If yes, please describe the circumstances:

15. Did the process of preparing/developing the APRC application and initiating contacts with potential collaborators help you to network or provide the momentum to pursue other collaborative researchefforts?

□ Yes (Please explain: ) □ No (Please explain why not: )

16. Would you consider applying for an APRC supplement in the future?

□ Yes □ No Please explain:

17. What recommendations would you make to improve the APRC application process in the future?

(Probe for changes in administration of the program, requirements for funding, changes in how tocommunicate effectively with other collaborations and with DCB staff.)

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this survey.