Longitudinal Studies in Social and Behavioural Sciences

The aim of the funding instrument Longitudinal Studies is to safeguard the continuity of longitudinal studies (surveys and panels) in the field of social and behavioural sciences. New ideas, tests and survey extensions can be funded in the traditional way (e.g. Investment Subsidy NWO Medium and Investment Subsidy NWO Large).

Who can apply

Only project leaders of studies that were appointed by NWO as important, established longitudinal studies of high quality can, by invitation only, apply for a grant. It concerns university based scientific studies. Every four years a new selection procedure takes place to see whether new studies are allowed to apply or whether existing studies are no longer allowed to apply. At this moment the following six longitudinal studies in the field of social and behavioural sciences are selected:

• Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study Netherlands (CILSNL), Prof. dr. F.A. van Tubergen;
• DNB Household Survey, Prof. dr. J.W.M. Das;
• Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterda -LASA, Dr. M.A. Huisman;
• Nationaal Kiezersonderzoek - NKO, Dr. H. van der Kolk;
• Survey of Health, Ageing and retirement in Europ -SHARE, Prof. dr. F.A. van der Duyn Schouten;
• Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey - TRAILS, Prof. dr. R. Veenstra.

What can be applied for

Project leaders can apply for a maximum of € 245.000 per study and are only allowed to fund costs directly related to data gathering and the documenting needed to render the data available. Costs for organisation, research (analysis, etc.) methodological improvements or innovation are not eligible for funding.

If a project leader wishes to obtain funding for the documentation needed to render the data available then he/she needs to explicitly state this as a separate cost category in the budget. A maximum of 5% of the budget applied for can be used for costs associated with the documentation needed to render the data available.

NWO-Division for the Social Sciences contribution will not be sufficient to cover the total costs. This means that project leaders will be required to make an effort to secure external funding for the data gathering.

Extra Information

The data collected with the aid of this NWO grant should be securely archived, rendered accessible and made freely available for further scientific research within two years of data collection. The data should therefore be thoroughly documented and be suitable for reuse. The application should describe how the applicants intend to achieve this. The applicant and DANS will enter into a data agreement at the start of the project, stating when the data will be transferred to DANS, or to another Trusted Digital Repository, and setting forth the conditions under which this will take place. For more specific information about the documentation and dissemination of data please consult the PDF document 'Informatiebrochure NWO-DANS datacontracten’ (in Dutch) via the NWOwebsite and/or contact DANS.

Criteria

For the evaluation of final applications the following criteria are used:

• Theoretical relevance;
• Methodological quality;
• Infrastructure;
• Social importance;
• Other criteria.

Please consult the brochure (only in Dutch) for more detailed information.

Procedure

Within two weeks of the application being received, the applicant will be informed whether or not it has been accepted for the application procedure. The Longitudinal Studies secretariat will determine this using several administrative criteria (see brochure, only in Dutch).

When the application is eligible a procedure will be followed in which respectively a minimum of three external reviewers are consulted, the opportunity to write a rebuttal is offered to applicants, and an ad hoc evaluation committee of at least three persons gives a granting advice to the Board of the Division for the Social Sciences. The Board will take the final decision about the grant.

Committees

The ad hoc evaluation committee will consist of experts and non-involved members of the committee Investment Subsidy Medium, the ESSNeth-committee, members of the committee that explored the possibilities for the subsidy instrument Longitudinal Studies in 2007 and other experts. In this way sufficient expertise is secured for a thorough evaluation.

Budget

The available budget for the period 2012-2015 is maximum M€ 1,47.

Financiers

NWO Division for the Social and Behavioural Sciences

Contacts

• Mr. drs. R.J.R. Slobben
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 09 76, e-mail: r.slobben@nwo.nl

Documentation for applying electronically