Re: Question on research and indirect costs Herbert B. Chermside 21 Mar 2002 12:57 EST
Long form vs short form is a function of the sponsored program activity of the institution: A-21 H.1.a. "Where the total direct cost of work covered by Circular A-21 at an institution does not exceed $10 million in a fiscal year, the use of the simplified procedure...." "Developing new curriculum" might be research and might be instruction. More likely the latter, but if you were actually doing a controlled experiment comparing two/several curricula and measuring the outcome by some reliable test of mastery of material presented, it surely would be research. I just don't think you will find anyone who will fund an experiment like that with a large enough N to provide viably generalizable data. I don't understand the basis of some of this particular consultant's statements. Chuck At 08:54 PM 3/20/2002 -0800, you wrote: >I have just worked at non-Ph.D. granting institutions with low volume >sponsored agreements for many years and I may have lost my RA >skills. Yesterday I talked with a veteran auditor/consultant regarding >developing an F&A (indirect cost rate) proposal for a community >college. This consultant has extensive experience in developing F&A >proposals for colleges and universities in California and across the >country. Two issues came up that I did not expect. First, the consultant >indicated that a long form F&A proposal was not applicable except for >research grants, and secondly, that under OMB A-21's definition, >'developing new curriculum' was not 'research and development'. > >My current thinking is that the long form applied to all types of sponsored >agreements, though the negotiated agreement may have separate rates for >research, training, public service, on-campus, off-campus, etc. I also >thought that research was the methodology used to advance knowledge or >develop an outcome or product, but I got the impression from the consultant >that work to develop new methods in educational pedagogy, even if it >involves human subjects, was not research. Specifically, the consultant >considered NSF ATE grants, and CCLD grants non-research grants with no >regard to project activities. > >I would appreciate feedback, especially from those individuals at >institutions that conduct non-medical research. The impression I got from >the consultant was that qualitative and quantitative research, action >research, and other research in the social sciences and in education may >not be research under OMB A-21 definitions and that a long form is >inappropriate unless the sponsored projects are basic research under this >definition. > >Thank you for your input. > >Mary Susan Barbosa, CRA >Grants Officer >Glendale Community College >1500 North Verdugo Road >Glendale, CA. 91208-2894 >telephone: (818) 240-1000, Extension 5823 >fax: (818) 549-9436 >email: xxxxxx@glendale.edu > > >====================================================================== >Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including >subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available >via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") >====================================================================== > Herbert B. Chermside, CRA Director, Sponsored Programs Administration Virginia Commonwealth University PO BOX 980568 Richmond, VA 23298-0568 Express Delivery Only: Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-032A 11th & Marshall Streets Richmond, VA 23219 Voice: 804-828-6772 Fax 804-828-2521 OFFICE e-mail xxxxxx@VCU.EDU Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu http://views.vcu.edu/ospa/ ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================