Chapter 8 - SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES

• Introduction
• Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research
• Science Resources Studies
• International Programs

The goals of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences Directorate are

• to develop basic scientific knowledge of human social behavior, interaction, and decision- making and of social and economic systems, organizations, and institutions;
• to collect, analyze, and publish data on the status of the Nation's science and engineering human, institutional, and financial resources; and
• to advance the U.S. science and engineering enterprise by promoting healthy international relationships and enhancing the work of U.S. researchers through cooperative activities with foreign scientists, engineers, and their institutions.

SBE works to meet these goals by supporting activities in the following three divisions:

• Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (SBER) supports disciplinary research and related activities to advance the understanding of human beings and human culture; disciplinary and interdisciplinary research on human social behavior, social organizations, and systems; and both basic and methodological research and the development of resources for the conduct of research, including large-scale data collection activities;

• Science Resources Studies (SRS) provides data, analysis, and reports on the overall scientific and technological enterprise and its impact on society; and

• International Programs (INT) supports joint efforts with advanced and developing countries.

Deadline

Proposals may be submitted at any time; however, for review within six months, proposals should be submitted by the established target or deadline date. These dates vary by division and program and are published regularly in the NSF Bulletin, a monthly publication produced by the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, or are available from the appropriate division or program.

For More Information

For further information, contact the responsible division director, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230.

All programs in SBER consider proposals for research projects, conferences, and workshops. Some programs also consider proposals for doctoral dissertation improvement, the acquisition of specialized research and computing equipment, and large-scale data collection. SBER conducts special initiatives and competitions on a number of topics such as human dimensions of global change, cognitive science and intelligent systems, democratization, and human capital.

Deadline

Proposals may be submitted at any time; however, for review within six months, proposals should be submitted by the established target or deadline date. These dates vary by division and program and are published regularly in the NSF Bulletin, a monthly publication produced by the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, or are available from the appropriate division or program.

Clusters and Programs in SBER

The programs in the SBER Division are organized into five clusters, each of which contains two or more programs. The following is a brief description of the clusters and programs.

Anthropological and Geographic Sciences Cluster

• Archaeology and Archaeometry Program--Supports archaeological research that contributes to an anthropological understanding of the past. Both fieldwork and nonfieldwork are eligible for support. Through a special archaeometry competition, the program provides support for projects that conduct archaeometric work of anthropological significance and that develop archaeometric techniques. Support is also provided for preserving and increasing research accessibility of systematic anthropological collections and for archaeometric laboratories.

• Cultural Anthropology Program--Supports basic research on the causes and consequences of cross-cultural and intracultural variation as such research broadens or refines anthropological theory. In an effort to enhance the quality of students' field research in graduate programs, the program offers Ethnographic Research Training Awards, and for senior researchers who wish to upgrade their research skills by learning a particular analytical technique, it offers Scholars' Awards in Methodological Training for Cultural Anthropologists (see program announcement NSF 88-60).

• Geography and Regional Science Program--Supports basic research on the causes and consequences of geographical differences in economic, social, cultural, and physical phenomena, including interactions among places and regions and interrelations between human activities and the natural environment. Projects on a variety of domestic and overseas topics that will enhance geographical theory and its applications qualify for support.

• Physical Anthropology Program--Supports basic research in areas that relate to human evolution and contemporary human variation. Research areas supported by the program include, but are not limited to, human genetic variation, human adaptation, human osteology, human paleontology, primate functional anatomy, and primate behavior.

• Human Cognition and Perception Program--Supports research on the description, modeling, and development of human mental and perceptual processes including learning, reasoning, problem-solving, concept formation, memory, attention, and perception; research emanating from a variety of theoretical traditions; and quantitative modeling of cognitive and perceptual processes and the development of methods for their study. Most research takes place in the laboratory, but field research is supported as appropriate. Research may use clinical populations of subjects only if the primary justification for the research is of a broader and general scientific importance.

• Linguistics Program--Supports scientific research of all types that focus on natural human language as an object of investigation. The program supports research on the syntactic, semantic, phonetic, and phonological properties of individual languages and of language in general; the psychological processes involved in the use of language; the development of linguistic capacities in children; social and cultural factors in language use, variation, and change; the acoustics of speech and the physiological and psychological processes involved in the production and perception of speech; and the biological bases of language in the central nervous system.

• Social Psychology Program--Supports research on human and social behavior, including cultural influences and development over the life span. Research topics include aggression; altruism; attitude formation and change; attitudes and behavior; attributional processes; emotion; environmental psychology; group decision-making, performance, and process; health psychology; intergroup relations; interpersonal attraction and relations; nonverbal communication; person perception; personality processes; prejudice; the self; social comparison; social cognition; social influence; and stereotyping.

Economic, Decision, and Management Sciences Cluster

• Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program--Supports research that explores fundamental issues in management science; risk analysis; societal and public policy decision-making; behavioral decision-making; and judgment, organizational design, and decision-making under uncertainty. Research funded by the program is directed at increasing the understanding and effectiveness of problem-solving, information processing, and decision- making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Funded research must be relevant to an operational or applied context, grounded in theory, based on empirical observation or subject to empirical validation, and generalizable. The program conducts a special joint NSF/private sector initiative through which NSF funding is matched by contributions from private firms to conduct basic research that is firmly grounded in real and practical contexts.

• Economics Program--Supports basic scientific research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part, and emphasizes strengthening both empirical and theoretical economic analysis as well as the methods for rigorous research on economic behavior. Topics of current interest are computational economics; the transformation of command economies; human resource related issues such as poverty, labor productivity, the family, gender, and racial discrimination; and the economic impact of global environmental change. Conferences and interdisciplinary research that strengthen links among economics and the other social and behavioral sciences as well as mathematics and statistics are supported. The program funds research in almost every subfield of economics, including econometrics, economic history, finance, industrial organization, international economics, labor economics, public finance, macroeconomics, and mathematical economics.

• Transformations to Quality Organizations--Supports research aimed at building a knowledge base about the process of quality-oriented organizational change. Program guidelines require that the proposed research be planned with, endorsed by, and conducted within industrial or other organizations. Research teams must be multidisciplinary, with priority given to teams that include engineering, business, and social science faculty. All proposals must include a plan for dissemination of research findings to practitioners in industry and the research/teaching community.

Science, Technology, and Society Cluster

• Ethics and Values Studies Program--Supports research and educational projects that contribute to developing and transmitting knowledge about ethics, values, and the conduct of science and engineering. The program supports research that examines the intellectual, ethical, value, and policy contexts that influence and are influenced by the development, use, and effects of science and technology. Projects are expected to contribute to the understanding of ethical and social values, policies, and obligations and responsibilities that arise in these interactions.

• Research on Science and Technology Program--Supports a small number of research projects that develop and improve approaches, methods, techniques, data, information, and knowledge needed to address research and technology questions and issues. It also supports the analyses of significant research and technology issues of interest to users and decision-makers, especially in the U.S. Government but also in academia, industry, State and local government, and the general public. The program supports studies on the processes and impacts of scientific and engineering research and technological change in the United States and elsewhere; science and engineering human resources issues; and improvement of methods, data, and information. It also assesses future needs for research and the current state of knowledge of science and technology.

• Science and Technology Studies Program--Supports research on science and technology such as
  • the nature and processes of development in science and technology, both past and present;
  • the differences in the nature of theory and evidence in various science and technology fields;
  • the interactions between science and technology and their impact on society; and
  • the interactions of social and intellectual forces that influence science and technology.

  Other research supported includes the examination of topics like the social construction of scientific knowledge and institutions; relations among science, government, and other social institutions and groups; and processes of scientific innovation and change.

• Law and Social Science Program--Supports scientific research on law and lawlike systems of rules. This program encourages theoretically focused empirical studies aimed at advancing scientific knowledge about the impact of law; the nature, sources, and consequences of variations and changes in legal institutions and legal decision-making; and the dynamics of normative ordering in society. Included are studies of dispute processing, administrative and judicial decision-making, social control, compliance and deterrence, the regulatory role of law, legal and social change, and related inquiries on the relationship between legal processes and other social processes. The program supports cross-cultural research through its Global Perspectives on Sociolegal Studies initiative.

• Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program--Supports the development, application, and extension of methodology for social, behavioral, and economic research. Research includes methods for improving measurement in these sciences; fundamental research on new or existing procedures for data collection; research on the evaluation and comparison of existing databases; and statistical research benefiting one or more of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.

• Political Science Program--Supports social scientific research to improve the understanding of politics, political behavior, and political institutions and processes. This program supports rigorous empirical research of theoretical importance in American politics, political behavior, comparative politics, international relations, public choice and political economy, and other fields of political science. Research areas that have been supported recently include studies of activists in American political parties, information and issues in voting, congressional elections and campaigns, divided government, support for political institutions, electoral systems, nationalism and its relationship to ethnicity and language, the process of democratization, international political economy, and international conflict.

• Sociology Program--Supports research on problems of human social organization, demography, and processes of individual and institutional change. This program encourages theoretically focused empirical investigations aimed at improving the explanation of fundamental social processes. Included is research on organizations and organizational behavior, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender roles, and the sociology of science and technology.

• Describes the quantity and characteristics of the human, financial, and institutional resources devoted to science, engineering, and technology in the United States and compares these allocations to those of other nations. Specific topics examined include information on the education and employment of scientists and engineers and the funding and performance of research and development by the Federal Government, industry, and academia.
• Analyzes factors responsible for changes in the science and technology resource system and assesses the effects of those changes.
• Describes the outputs of the science and technology resource system.

The results of the division's work are disseminated as NSF publications and are distributed electronically through NSF's Science and Technology Information System (STIS) and through the World Wide Web (WWW). Additional data products such as microdata tapes are also made available to the research community.

Most of the work of this division is performed internally and through contractual agreements with other federal agencies and appropriate non-federal organizations. Extramural analyses of the division's extensive databases and other special studies are occasionally supported through external grant awards. Examples of appropriate topics are

• Studies designed to track the training and distribution of the Nation's scientists and engineers. Specific areas of interest include the current and future employment of scientists and technical personnel and the changing demographic characteristics of scientists and engineers.
• Collection, analysis, and dissemination of information on the characteristics and patterns of funding for research and development and for other scientific and technological activities.
• Studies of science and technology enterprise and innovation systems. This includes the development of special indicators, primarily of an output nature, such as bibliometrics and studies of patents and licenses. Also of interest are modeling and simulations designed to better understand the distribution of human and financial resources for science and technology.
• Studies of the economic and social impact of science and technology. This would include, but not be limited to, studies on the returns to investment on research and development, business interests and investments in science and technology, and public attitudes to and understanding of science and technology.
• Collection and analysis of data on international science and technology investments, activities, and capabilities. More extensive and more current information is sought on foreign science and technology inputs, outputs, and impacts, the international flows of scientists and engineers, and indicators of S&T globalization and interaction.

• enabling U.S. researchers and educators to advance their work through international collaboration; and
• helping ensure that future generations of U.S. scientists and engineers gain professional experience overseas early in their careers.

Consistent with the international character of science and engineering, disciplinary programs throughout the Foundation offer support to U.S. scientists and engineers for the international aspects of their research that are judged to be important to the specific objectives of the work.

The Division of International Programs (INT) has the special function of expanding and facilitating the international dimensions of NSF¼s mission by promoting new partnerships between U.S. scientists and engineers and their foreign colleagues. Most of these programs are organized on a regional or country basis. Detailed information about individual programs, deadlines, and application procedures can be found in the publication Program Announcement of the Division of International Programs (NSF 95-88).

Types of Activities

Types of activities supported by INT are

• cooperative research involving a partnership between at least one U.S. principal investigator/research institution and a foreign counterpart investigator/institution;
• joint seminars and workshops;
• planning visits;
• international Research Fellow awards for junior investigators;
• dissertation enhancement awards; and
• summer Institutes in Japan and Korea and Research Experiences in Western Europe for graduate students.

In addition to these activities, which are designed primarily for individuals and small groups, the division encourages U.S. organizations and institutions to consider projects aimed at establishing or strengthening existing relations with their foreign counterparts for the purpose of advancing the international interests of U.S. science and engineering research and education. The division is particularly interested in projects that forge links between groups of investigators who are working in major U.S. research centers and similar groups in other countries that feature participation of graduate and postdoctoral investigators, and in activities conducted by professional science and engineering societies to facilitate discipline- related cooperation through foreign counterpart organizations.

Eligibility

Proposals for international activities are eligible for consideration in all fields of science and engineering that are supported by the Foundation. Proposals must be submitted by a U.S. institution except in the case of International Research Fellow Awards, which accept individual applications. Applicants for International Research Fellow awards must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Program Highlights

INT will accept proposals in any geographic area and for activities in any country that is not proscribed by the Department of State. Proposals in the following areas of current program emphasis are especially encouraged, although not exclusively:

• International Research Experiences for Junior Scientists and Engineers--Supports projects designed to enhance the international perspectives of the next generation of U.S. scientists and engineers, such as cooperative research activities involving undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral investigators, are considered high priority. The INT Division also supports an International Research Fellow program for investigators who have received their Ph.D. degrees less than six years before the application date or who have equivalent experience beyond the master's degree.

• Science and Engineering Interactions with Developing Countries--Places particular emphasis on stimulating long-term science and engineering links with developing countries, particularly in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Research in these countries may be relatively difficult to initiate, and opportunities to establish collegial relationships have been relatively neglected by U.S. investigators. Recognizing that isolation is a substantial barrier to scientific work in many developing countries, projects aim to establish center-to-center links and networks among centers and projects judged to be effective at improving scientific infrastructures and enhancing necessary conditions for effective long-term partnerships are encouraged.

• Opportunities for Science and Engineering Collaboration with Developed Countries--Supports projects designed to expand opportunities in science and engineering collaboration with developed countries such as Japan, Australia, and those in Western Europe. Program development workshops and support for the relatively risky exploratory phases of research collaboration are emphasized. Through support of these, INT intends to promote access to excellent facilities and establish long-term research relationships that can ultimately compete for support outside of the division on the basis of their potential to enhance the Nation's science and engineering capabilities.

• Eastern Europe, including the Newly Independent States--Widely recognizes the large stake that the United States has in encouraging the transformation of the science and technology systems of Eastern Europe and, in particular, the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union. In addition to supporting cooperative research between individual investigators, INT encourages projects that aim to establish long-term links between U.S. science and engineering centers and centers of excellence in the region, regional as opposed to bilateral projects, and interactions mediated by professional science and engineering societies. A long-term objective is to assist scientists and engineers in the region to become fully participating members of the international scientific community.

• Regional and Multilateral Initiatives--Encourages collaborative research projects and exploratory workshops involving scientists from several foreign countries. Proposals that involve U.S. scientists and engineers in research activities of multilateral organizations such as the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS), or the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are also encouraged.

• Research on International Aspects of Research and Technology--Supports research on the international aspects of research and technology. An important objective of this program is to increase the body of knowledge available on significant international research and technology issues that can serve as the basis for policy development in government, academia, and industry.

For More Information

For further information, contact the Division of International Programs by calling 1-800- 437-7408; by Internet: intpubs@nsf.gov.

Further information about requirements for specific geographical regions can be found in Appendix I of the publication Program Announcement of the Division of International Programs (NSF 95-88). Detailed information on activities supported by INT can also be obtained by contacting the relevant program officer for the regions or activities below.

• Africa, Near East, and South Asia, (703) 306-1707;
• the Americas, (703) 306-1706;
• East Asia and the Pacific, (703) 306-1704;
• Eastern Europe, including the Newly Independent States, (703) 306-1703;
• Japan, (703) 306-1701;
• Western Europe, (703) 306-1702;
• Research on International Aspects of Research and Technology, 306-1711; and
• International Research Fellow Awards, (703) 306-1706.