The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made two awards to APSA to administer the Political Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program. UChicago doctoral candidates should consult the SSRC DDRIG toolkit for program dates, timelines and other institutional support.
Fieldwork Expenses
This grant is intended to provide funding for research costs not normally covered by the grantee’s university. Examples include:
- costs associated with travel and related expenses to conduct research at field sites, archives, specialized collections, and/or facilities away from the student’s campus
- costs for data-collection activities, including the conduct of surveys, questionnaires, and/or focus groups or the purchase of extant data
- costs for equipment necessary for the conduct of the project that will be devoted to the project over the duration of the award
- costs for payments to research subjects and/or informants
- costs for non-routine materials and supplies required for the conduct of the project
- costs for data transcription
- analysis and research services not otherwise available
- costs for training in qualitative and quantitative methods required to complete the dissertation
Eligible Research
This program supports scientific research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. Research proposals are expected to be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented. Substantive areas include, but are not limited to, American government and politics, comparative government and politics, international relations, political behavior, political economy, and political institutions. This encompasses projects on bargaining processes; campaigns and elections, electoral choice, and electoral systems; citizen support in emerging and established democracies; democratization, political change, and regime transitions; domestic and international conflict; international political economy; party activism; political psychology and political tolerance.