The National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) is providing an opportunity for researchers to field test new items using a large, web-based household survey (Knowledge Networks panel).  Investigators are encouraged to explore innovative measures that will help to answer new research questions on families and financial instability. Ideally, this pilot data collection will launch subsequent and more substantial data collections on this timely topic.

Our aim for this web-based data collection is to facilitate new measurement development that will lead to innovative research contributing to theoretical, conceptual, methodological, or empirical advances about family responses to financial strain.  The current economic climate calls for new research on the familial consequences of economic uncertainty as well as how family environments influence coping and stress associated with financial instability. Financial instability encompasses several domains, including employment, income, or poverty; food or housing insecurity; asset accumulation; consumption patterns; and public assistance usage.

Applicants should prepare a proposal that includes a theoretical rationale for why the concept or construct they propose to measure is relevant to the topic of familial responses to financial instability, providing a strong argument about how the new measures will move beyond the current state of measurement and why existing measures (or data) are not adequate.  Successful projects may include established scales or items as a means to test new measurement; experiments with question items; vignettes; or novel items. Applicants should describe their goals for inclusion of these measures in larger scale data collections if applicable.  The NCFMR envisions this as a pilot data collection, which will help researchers launch their work forward with larger or more comprehensive data collections in the future.

This project has a tight timeframe, so researchers must be willing to work within our timeline.  The data will be collected in the summer of 2009, and made available to the investigators weeks after the collection, providing access to timely data.

For further information, click one of the links below, email ncfmr@bgsu.edu, or call 419-372-4910. To be considered, you must electronically submit your application no later than April 6, 2009.

View and Print Full Request for Proposal (RFP) and Application Instructions

The application deadline is April 6, 2009, by electronic submission only to:
ncfmr@bgsu.edu

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