Studying the Study Section: How Collaborative Decision Making and Videoconferencing Impacts the Grant Peer-Review Process

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Social and Cultural Influences on Learning and Motivation

Abstract

Grant peer review is a foundational component of scientific research. In the context of grant review meetings, the review process is a collaborative, socially mediated, locally constructed decision-making task. The current study examines how collaborative discussion impacts reviewers’ scores of grant proposals, how different review panels score the same proposals, and how videoconference panels differ from in-person panels. Methodologically, we created and videotaped four “constructed study sections,” recruiting biomedical scientists with NIH review experience and an NIH Scientific Review Officer (SRO). These meetings provide a rich medium for investigating the process and outcomes of such authentic collaborative tasks. Implications for research into collaborative decision making as well as for the broad enterprise of federally funded scientific research are discussed.

Authors

• Elizabeth L. Pier, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Joshua Raclaw, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Cecilia E. Ford, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin - Madison