Supporting Statement B For:
Accomplishments and Challenges of National Institutes of Health International Bilateral Programs
(FIC, NCI, NIAAA, NIAID, NICHD, NIDA, NINDS, NIMH, OAR)
February 5, 2015
Margaret Mary Bertram
Center for Global Health
National Cancer Institute
9609 Medical Center Dr.
RM 3W264
Rockville MD, 20850
Telephone: 240-276-5656
Email: [email protected]
Table of Contents
B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS 1
B.1 Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 1
B.2 Procedures for the Collection of Information 3
B.3 Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with Nonresponse 4
B.4 Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken 5
B.5 Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data 5
List of Attachments
Attachment 1: Bilateral Surveys
1A. Survey for Administrative Supplements
1B. 1 Year Survey for all other awards (R01s, R21s, and U01s)
1C. Final Survey for all other awards (R01s, R21s, and U01s)
Attachment 2: International Bilateral Study Working Group Members
Attachment 3: Privacy Act Memo
Attachment 4: Office of Human Subjects Research Protection Exemption (OHSRP)
Attachment 5: Invitation to participate
5A. Email Invitation
5B. Follow-up Telephone Script For Non-Responders
A total of 228 principal investigators will be invited to participate in this survey of the National Institutes of Health International Bilateral Programs accomplishments and challenges. These potential participants have been identified through public information sources, as they are principal investigators who receive NIH funding through the following four programs: the U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation (U.S.-China), the U.S.–India Bilateral Collaborative Research Partnerships on the Prevention of HIV/AIDS and Co-morbidities (U.S.-India), the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Collaborative Research Partnerships on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS and Co-morbidities (U.S. Russia), and the U.S.-South Africa Program for Collaborative Biomedical Research (U.S.-South Africa). In the U.S.-China, U.S.-India, and U.S. Russia programs, the only investigators who received funding from the NIH were U.S. investigators. The international collaborators in these three programs were all funded through agencies within their own countries. Thus, only U.S. investigators from these three programs will be asked to participate in the survey. In the U.S.-South Africa program, both the U.S. and the South African investigators received funding through the NIH. Thus, both the U.S. and the South African investigators in this program will be invited to participate in the survey. In those survey questions that refer to “international” investigators or “international” components (Attachments 1B and 1C), the word “international” will be replaced with “South African”, when we distribute the survey to South African principle investigators.
Program |
Number of Respondents* |
U.S.- China |
87 |
U.S.-India |
9 |
U.S.- Russia |
26 |
U.S.- South Africa |
106 |
Total |
228 |
*This does not include the 41 NIH intramural investigators who received funding under these programs and will be asked to evaluate these programs as part of their work duties.
Since the purpose of this evaluation is to understand why the collaborations funded under these programs have or have not been successful, all principal investigators who received NIH funding under these four programs will be surveyed. No sampling will be used since the majority of the data that will be collected is qualitative (responses to open-ended questions), and the types, lengths and timing of awards vary within each program and the number of respondents is too low to stratify in order to draw statistical conclusions. For example, in the U.S.-China program there are only 87 respondents, but there were three separate calls for applications from 2011 to 2012, two of which funded 1-year administrative supplements, and one of which funded 3-year R01s. Thus, the amounts of funding that the investigators received, the date that they received their funding, and the length and scope of the awards varied across the three calls for applications within the U.S.-China program.
Out of the 228 principal investigators invited to participate in the survey we expect 181 (141 domestic, 40 South Africans (since they are funded through the NIH)) to agree to participate. The overall response rate is expected to be approximately 80% (181/228).
The program directors/program officers of each principal investigator will send out invitation emails (Attachment 5A) with a blank copy of the evaluation attached (Attachment 1A, 1B, or 1C). Invitees who choose to participate will download the attachment and complete the evaluation. By allowing open participation and self-selection, we expect to receive data from those investigators who have valuable feedback about international bilateral programs and would like to contribute to decisions about similar future programs. This self-selection process is being used instead of a statistical sampling method. Program directors/program officers across participating institutes agree that this process is best aligned with the study objectives.
All potential participants will receive an invitation by email (Attachment 5A) from their respective program director/program officers informing them about the survey and inviting participation. The invitation will also explain the survey and respondent privacy and security, and include the blank survey as an attachment (Attachment 1A, 1B, or 1C). All documents that the respondent receives will be written in plain and clear language. Investigators who choose to participate will be asked to download and complete the brief survey on topics such as key achievements (only Attachments 1A1), unique scientific findings/opportunities due to the international nature of the collaborations, advantages and challenges of collaborating internationally, and plans to continue collaboration (all versions) (Attachment 1A, 1B, and 1C). All the investigators that will be invited to complete the survey are fluent in English, thus it will only be distributed in English. The invitation will request that the investigators send the completed surveys as PDFs via e-mail to the NCI program office who will save them as PDFs on an internal NIH drive. If the investigators do not complete the survey within two weeks of receipt, the program directors/program officers will resend the same invitation and the survey. Finally, if the investigators do not complete the survey within two weeks of the second invitation, the program directors/program officers will call the investigator and invite them to participate (Attachment 5B).
B.2.1. Quality Control
The program directors/program officers on the data analysis working group will review all returned surveys. Respondents who submit the survey will not be re-contacted for lack of completeness of data since the survey is only 32-39 questions (Attachment 1A- 32 questions, Attachment 1B-36 questions, Attachment 1C- 39 questions). The program directors/program officers in the data analysis working group will monitor response rates and completeness of acquired data.
The survey of the National Institutes of Health International Bilateral Programs expects to achieve a response rate of 80%, determined by the actual number of respondents divided by the total number expected (181/228).
The initial email inviting the principal investigators to participate will be sent via a central mailbox, copying each program director/program officer for each award since the principal investigators know these directors/officers. The program directors/program officers manage the grants under these four programs on a day-to-day basis, have established relationships with the principal investigators on these grants, and are familiar with the methodology and goals of the investigators. Thus, having the program directors/program officers copied on the investigators’ participation should maximize response. The program directors/program officers will follow up non-response to the initial contact (defined as within 14 days of the initial email) by emailing the investigators again with the same letter of invitation (Attachment 5A). Having the second email invitation come directly from these program directors/officers rather than a central mailbox should also increase response, while minimizing the burden on the program directors/officers. Finally, the program directors/program officers will follow up non-response to the secondary contact (defined as within 14 days of the second invitation) with a phone call (Attachment 5B).
One principal investigator was chosen from each program for a total of four potential respondents. These four investigators were asked to complete the survey in January, 2014. The main goal of this pre-test was to validate the appropriateness of the survey questions. We wanted to ensure that the respondents were able to provide the data without considerable burden and that the sample questions were understandable. The intent and purpose of the survey was also discussed with the pre-tested respondents. Participant suggestions to improve clarity were incorporated into the survey design.
The individuals listed in Attachment 2 were critical in developing the research plan, the conceptual framework, survey questions, and sampling strategies underlying evaluation of the survey. Many of the same individuals will be involved with analysis once the data are collected.
1 There will be two versions of the survey that will collect the same information on the unique opportunities, the advantages and the challenges associated with the international collaborations under the awards. The only difference between versions will be what information regarding the accomplishments, publications and presentations of the awards is requested. For more information about this, refer to the Supporting Statement A, Section A.4.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Author | Vivian Horovitch-Kelley |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-27 |