TESS Special Competition for Young Investigators
Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS) is an NSF-funded initiative. Investigators propose survey experiments to be fielded using a nationally representative Internet platform via NORC's AmeriSpeak® Panel (see tessexperiments.org for more information). In an effort to enable early-stage scholars to field larger-scale studies than what TESS normally conducts, we are pleased to announce a Special Competition for Young Investigators. Winning projects will be allowed to be field experiments that are about twice as large as a regular TESS study.
While anyone can submit a proposal via the regular TESS mechanism, this Special Competition is limited to investigators who are either graduate students or no more than 3 years post-PhD or post-residency for MDs (i.e., PhD must be received, or MD residency completed, in 2021 or later).
We will begin accepting proposals for the Special Competition on March 15, 2024, and the deadline is April 30, 2024. Full details are below.
Who can submit to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
How large can my study be?
When is the deadline for submission?
Can I submit more than one proposal for the competition?
Do projects have to be experiments?
How many proposals will win this competition?
How do I submit to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
What are formatting guidelines for proposals submitted to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
Do I have to get IRB approval?
How will projects be reviewed?
If my proposal is rejected, can I resubmit a smaller version as a regular TESS proposal?
How are special stimuli (video clips, news articles) counted as items?
Who can submit to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
The Special Competition for Young Investigators is limited to graduate students and scholars who are no more than 3 years post-Ph.D. or post-MD residency. While proposals can be co-authored, all co-authors must be early-career (no more than 3 years post-Ph.D. or post-MD residency; i.e., degree must have been received, or residency completed, in 2021 or later). Individuals can submit only one solo or co-authored submission for the special competition.
How large can my study be?
The table below provides sample size and unit guidelines for the TESS Young Investigator Special Competition. The first column provides parameters for a general population sample while the other two columns provide samples, respectively, for a Black respondent-only sample and a Hispanic respondent-only sample. We welcome proposals on other subpopulations (or oversamples), or with other innovations (e.g., multiple data collections over time, which are noted below the table). The below table provides parameters for selected units; applications can propose different survey lengths and infer the sample size from the table (or contact tess.experiments@gmail.com).
To ensure such studies are viable in the special competition, we suggest pre-submission inquiries be written to tess.experiments@gmail.com. We reserve the right to decline a proposal at any point in the process should it not prove feasible given the nature of the sample.
| Units | General Pop Sample* | Black-only sample | Hispanic-only sample** |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 5000 | 3300 | 3100 |
| 12 | 4500 | 3000 | 2800 |
| 14 | 3800 | 2600 | 2400 |
| 16 | 3900 | 2700 | 2500 |
| 18 | 3500 | 2400 | 2200 |
| 20 | 3200 | 2100 | 2000 |
| 25 | 2800 | 1850 | 1750 |
| 30 | 2300 | 1550 | 1450 |
| 35 | 2000 | 1350 | 1250 |
* For a two wave general population data collection, cut the sample size in the given column to 40% of the value and anticipate a roughly 70% retention in the second wave.
** These surveys will be conducted in English and Spanish, as needed.
When can I submit a proposal? When is the deadline?
We will begin accepting proposals for the Special Competition on March 15, 2024, and the deadline is April 30, 2024.
Can I submit more than one proposal for the competition?
No. Individuals can submit only one solo or co-authored proposal for the special competition.
Do projects have to be experiments?
Yes. See here for an elaboration of what we mean by an experimental design.
How many proposals will win this competition?
We anticipate that between 6 and 8 proposals will be selected. We do not know the number of proposals that we will receive. We do not wish to discourage any proposals, but we do note that this is a competition for a significant research opportunity and that, as such, we anticipate receiving far more applications than what we will ultimately have resources to support.
How do I submit to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
Proposals should be submitted through TESS’s Manuscript Central site (link available here). The cover letter for proposals must indicate that they are intended for consideration in the Young Investigators Proposal Competition, and investigators must also send an e-mail to tess.experiments@gmail.com when they have submitted their proposal indicating that it is intended for the competition.
What are formatting guidelines for proposals submitted to the Special Competition for Young Investigators?
Submitted proposals must follow the same guidelines as regular TESS proposals, except that they are allowed to be up to 7 pages of main text instead of the usual 5. Proposers must explain why their projects benefit from the larger study size that this Competition allows than the regular TESS mechanism. As usual, experimental materials and items must be included as appendices. Proposals should be in PDF format.
Do I have to get IRB approval?
You do not have to have IRB approval to submit, but, once accepted, investigators for all TESS studies must receive appropriate approval from their institutional IRBs before we field their study. Typically, investigators wait until after their study has been approved for fielding before pursuing IRB approval.
IRB support information from NORC
How will projects be reviewed?
Proposals will be evaluated with a process that uses internal and external review. Given the anticipated number of submissions, decision times will likely be longer than the usual for TESS proposals. While all proposals will be carefully considered, not all proposals will receive external review, and while investigators will receive some feedback beyond the ultimate decision, the reasons provided for why a proposal was not selected for fielding might not be extensive. These limitations are necessary in order to maximize the overall timely execution of the competition.
If my proposal is rejected, can I resubmit a smaller version as a regular TESS proposal?
We may invite some proposals that do not win this competition to revise-and-resubmit as a smaller study via the regular TESS mechanism, but otherwise rejected proposals cannot reapply through the regular mechanism unless invited.
How are special stimuli (video clips, news articles) counted as items?
The ultimate arbiter of length for any TESS study are length determinations made by our survey vendor (NORC) for pricing studies. For purposes here, a stimulus will be considered one item unless its estimated time of administration is longer than 45 seconds, in which case it will be counted as more than one item.