Dear colleagues, please excuse if this is has already been posted. RG Lentz, UT Austin NSF-SPONSORED PROJECT OFFERS NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR ORIGINAL DATA COLLECTION! Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS) is a new National Science Foundation-supported project that is designed to increase the speed and efficiency with which scientific advances can be applied to social problems. TESS accomplishes these goals by providing social scientists with two new opportunities for original data collection. First, TESS runs an ongoing national telephone survey to which researchers can add their own original questions. Second, TESS allows researchers to run their own studies on random samples of the population that are interviewed via the Internet. Technologically, TESS combines the proven power of computer- assisted telephone interviewing with the new possibilities of computer-assisted Internet interviewing. Each approach allows researchers to capture the internal validity of traditional experiments while realizing the benefits of contact with large, diverse subject populations. With these technologies, TESS gives a greater number of social scientists opportunities to collect original data tailored to their own hypotheses, and to increase the precision with which fundamental social, political and economic dynamics are measured and understood. HOW DOES IT WORK? Scholars across the social sciences compete for time on one or both instruments. A comprehensive, on-line submission and review process screens proposals for the importance of their contribution to science and society. The co-PIs, Diana Mutz and Arthur Lupia, assisted by a diverse team of leading scholars from across the social sciences, oversee the review process. Together, they base their evaluations on reviews solicited from two to three referees in the researcher's discipline. WHAT KINDS OF PROPOSALS ARE APPROPRIATE? The Internet-based and telephone-based data collection platforms will allow faculty and graduate student researchers to run novel experiments on representative samples drawn from the United States population in order to examine substantive and methodological hypotheses. Proposals may come from any substantive area within any discipline in the social sciences so long as they utilize experimental or quasi-experimental designs and make a significant contribution to knowledge. WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY? All faculty and graduate students at universities within or outside of the United States are eligible. HOW AND WHEN CAN I APPLY? TESS begins accepting proposals in January of 2002 and will review them on a continuous basis over the next four years. There are no limits on the number of times researchers may use TESS. In fact, we encourage researchers to build on their previous TESS findings for subsequent proposals. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE? To facilitate a quick review process, proposal submission and review are handled on-line through our website, <www.ExperimentCentral.org/" target=_blank>http://www.ExperimentCentral.org/> www.ExperimentCentral.org. Proposals are limited to five pages to encourage fast turnaround. Because our data collection instruments are in the field on a continuous basis, accepted experiments can be moved into the field just as soon as previous experiments come off. WHO WILL BE COLLECTING THE DATA FOR TESS? Data collection for the telephone survey is carried out by the Indiana University Center for Survey Research. The Internet survey data is collected through Knowledge Networks, of Menlo Park, CA. These two organizations were selected to work with TESS because they are leaders and innovators in the world of survey research, and they are experienced in the implementation of experiments within surveys. They also have the capacity to gather and deliver data to researchers promptly, so as to facilitate a quick turnaround time for TESS researchers. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Use of these instruments will be free to all social scientists whose proposals are accepted through the review process. This project is supported by funds from the National Science Foundation through a grant to Professors Mutz and Lupia. There are no additional costs borne by users, and no grant applications to write. WHERE DO I GO FOR MORE DETAILS? Our website, <http://www.experimentcentral.org/> www.ExperimentCentral.org, answers common questions about the proposal submission and review process. For more information, contact us at TESS@ExperimentCentral.org. -- Diana Mutz Arthur Lupia Co-Principal Investigators Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences