Examples of Successful Proposals
Development of an "Interested Participant" Data Base of Families with Infants and Children (tentatively called FIRSt)
| Lead Faculty Member: | Cynthia A. Stifter, Ph.D. Professor of Human Development Department of Human Development and Family Studies 105 White Penn State, University Park 814-865-2666 (office) 814-863-3878 (lab) tvr@psu.edu |
| Collaborating Faculty: | Clancy Blair, HDFS Pamela Cole, Psychology Kathryn Drager, Communication Disorders Mark Feinberg, Prevention Center Paul Klaczynski, Psychology Carol Miller, Communication Disorders Michelle Miller-Day, Speech Communication Rick Gilmore, Psychology Rayne Sperling, Educational Psychology |
Specific Aims
The objective of this proposal is to create a database of potential research participants living in and around Centre County. This database would be comprised of families with infants and children. The database will be available to Penn State faculty conducting research with this population.
Background
The goals of the proposed database are consistent with the mission of the Children, Youth, and Family Consortium which was established "to promote interdisciplinary teaching, research, and service with an emphasis on outreach and community collaboration." In listing their goals, the CYFC emphasizes the development of a research base that supports programs and policies that benefit the community recognizing that to do so the community and the University need to work together to accomplish these goals.
One way in which the community has supported research has been through participation in the various studies conducted by the faculty at Penn State. Indeed, much of what has been accomplished here at Penn State would not have been possible without the community's cooperation. Despite their commitment and the successes of the various research programs using human subjects, recruitment of participants in research, particularly that with infants and children, continues to be a difficult and time-consuming effort.
As an example, in three longitudinal studies that the Lead Investigator conducted the time it took to recruit the proposed samples ranged from 18 months (100 subjects) to 30 months (144 & 150 subjects). The length of time it took to recruit these families was not related to the number of infants born at Centre Community Hospital as there are approximately 1200 births per year in this area.
Easing the burden on researchers using human subjects is just one of the many benefits of a database of families. Other benefits would be:
Easing family burden. The creation of a database of families would not only ease the burden of recruitment for the researcher but would also alleviate any burden on families who may be contacted several times throughout the child's life with requests to participate in research. Researchers in child development at the Penn State campus have used various means to recruit children of varying ages. Inevitably, different researchers will want to study children of the same age. Furthermore, even when researchers are examining different age groups, the likelihood of contacting a family several times is high given the limited resources for recruitment. With a database of families, we can track family participation in research and control the number of requests for families who wish to limit participation.
Cost benefits. The costs benefits of a participants database are enormous when one considers the amount of time, effort, and personnel currently required to recruit child subjects in this area. Obviously if the time is reduced then costs are lowered. More importantly, the time to get research results out to the public and the scientific community would be greatly reduced.
Faculty recruitment tool. The availability of a family database can be used as a recruitment tool for faculty. As University Park is somewhat isolated, one of the concerns voiced by potential faculty hires when making a determination to come to Penn State is the availability of subjects for research.
Grant submissions. Future grant submissions would also be enhanced by the availability of a database of families. Subject recruitment is an important component of research proposals submitted for funding. Grant proposals that are able to note that Penn State has a database from which to draw on will alleviate any concerns about recruitment, particularly in an area such as Centre County.
Representative sample. From a scientific standpoint, a database of families with infants and children may be more representative of the population of Centre County than those families currently participating in research at Penn State. Many of the current methods for recruiting infants and children into research studies require families to actively contact the project to inform them of their interest in participating. Such methods generally are biased toward more educated, upper middle-class families. By creating a database that identifies as many infants and children living in the area as possible, such a bias can be reduced. This does not insure, however, that less educated, lower income families will agree to participate in research but rather enlarges the participant base from which to recruit.
Many universities have subject databases which are primarily located in Psychology Departments. For example, the following Big Ten universities have subject pools for the purposes of recruitment of infant and child research participants: University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In speaking to colleagues at these institutions, all agreed that the databases were essential to the success of their research projects.
Method
The purpose of this seed grant proposal is to create an "interested participants" database (Families Interested in Research Studies- FIRSt). The database will be computerized and will contain only skeletal information to ensure confidentiality and encourage participation. Included in the database will be the names and birthdates of all children in families registering, as well as the addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of these families. To build a comprehensive database we will obtain names from several sources as well as create avenues for families to register. Access to the database will be restricted to Penn State University faculty doing active research with infants and children. Guidelines for the use of this database will be created by a Supervisory Board which will consist of collaborating faculty listed in this proposal.
Recruitment sources:.Families with infants and children will be identified from several sources. The most popular method for identifying infants is through birth announcements published in the local paper. The Centre Daily Times publishes birth announcements on Tuesday and sometimes on Thursday. They also publish births in the Hospital Notes section which are posted daily. Both ongoing issues of the CDT and archives will be accessed for this information. Since these families will not have voluntarily registered for the database, guidelines will be created for contacting these families. Researchers interested in contacting families whose information was obtained through the local paper will be required to contact the families by letter before making any telephone contact. Once phone contact is made families may refuse to participate in the study as well as ask that their name be removed from the list.
Since births in Pennsylvania are not of public record it will be necessary to develop other methods for identifying and contacting families with infants. We propose to investigate the possibility of having a brochure handed out to each new parent at Centre Community Hospital. This method has been previously used by the Lead Investigator with great success.
To recruit families with children older than approximately one year, we will place advertisements in the Centre Daily Times. These advertisements would be run once a week for several months and include the name, phone number, email address, and website of a contact person. Discussions with the CDT staff about what pages of the paper are more popular with families with young children will be done to increase our exposure. We will also investigate the possibility of placing ads in other newspapers, and on local television bulletin boards.
Other possible sources that are associated with families with children will also be contacted: local child care centers, the Childbirth Education Association, pediatric and family health offices, and the Penn State Human Resources office.
Website. We propose to create a website to make it convenient for families to register to be on the participant list. Included on the website will be brief descriptions of the studies being conducted at Penn State. As with the advertisements, the website will have a contact person's name, address, phone number and email so that parents can obtain more information.
Use of the "Interested Participants" List
Use of the list will be open to collaborating faculty (and their students), who have indicated interest in the creation of the database. Members of the CYFC may have access but must first be approved by the Supervisory Board. Approval will be based on agreement to follow the Database Guidelines (listed below). The Supervisory Board will consist of several collaborating faculty listed in this proposal. Service on the Board will rotate yearly.
Guidelines for using the List
Listed below are tentative guidelines for use of the "Interested Participants" list by Penn State faculty and students doing research with infants and children. These guidelines will be used to make decisions about who will have access to the database as well as track the participation of the families in research so not as to overburden them with researchers' requests. The final guidelines will be formulated with input from members of the collaborating faculty.
- Investigators must have IRB approval
- Investigators must submit a brief description of their research project, the ages required, and the length of project
- Investigators must agree to keep track of their contact with families and whether families agreed to participate in the investigator's research. The investigator is responsible for reporting this information back to database manager, along with any changes in participant information and participants' willingness to be on the list.
- Investigators must understand that adherence to these guidelines is important to the continuation of the database and the success of future studies
Maintenance of Community Support
One of the stated goals of the CYFC is outreach. Several methods are proposed through which we can share with the community the activities of faculty studying infants and children. One such method is a community newsletter reporting on the research of faculty interested in infants and children. This could be distributed to the members on our list (those agreeing to participate) and posted on the FIRSt website. A second method would be to hold public forums on issues in child development drawing on the expertise of our own faculty. We could work with the CYFC in developing this idea. Finally, we might publish a list of faculty experts in child development who would be available for speaking to groups and distribute it to such agencies and institutions as WIC, Childbirth Education Association, Centre Community Hospital, and local school districts. Determining which methods to pursue will be discussed among the collaborating faculty in consultation with the CYFC.
Relevance to the CYFC
The creation of a database of families with infants and children serves several goals of the CYFC. For example, the database will "support basic and applied research" which furthers the "development of a research base that provides the theory and developmental models...," one of the primary goals of the CYFC. The present proposal is a product of the efforts of several faculty invested in research with infants and children. The diversity of discipline and the home departments of the collaborating faculty represents how the study of children is truly a multi-disciplinary task. This is consistent with another goal of the CYFC which is "to promote interdisciplinary activities and the integration of teaching, research and service, including outreach." Finally, as stated earlier, activities that result from the present proposal meet another aim of the CYFC, to support "collaborative relationships with communities." The creation of a database of families interested in participating in research at Penn State embodies this goal and in doing so supports the aims of the CYFC stated above.
Anticipated Outcomes
The present Level II seed grant is requested to begin compiling the list and identifying and solidifying other sources of families with infants and children. It is expected that once the list is set up, the methods for adding new families to the list are confirmed, the guidelines for use of the list created, and human subjects approval is obtained then the database could be permanently housed in a department or center. It has been proposed that the Child Study Center would be an appropriate place for the participant list to be housed. Pamela Cole, Director of the Child Study Center, is a member of the collaborating faculty. Once the database has been established it is expected that its maintenance would require only a few hours a week and could be handled by administrative personnel and supervised by a member of the Supervisory Board. Funds from the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Development could be tapped to support the maintenance of the list.
Timeline
It is hoped that the creation of the database can get underway at the beginning of 2002. We will begin with an existing database created by Rick Gilmore, a collaborating faculty member, and drawn from birth announcements. Once we have received IRB approval we will begin to add to that list weekly using birth announcements, as well as, search the CDT archives for births in the past year. We will also begin to put advertisements in the paper and contacting other sources. It is expected that this can be accomplished in 6 months after which the database will find a permanent home.
Budget
| Research Assistant (1/4 time ) | $3,071.00 |
| Tuition | 788.00 |
| Fringe (4.3% ) | 132.00 |
| Computer/printer/software | 2,500.00 |
| Advertisements | |
| 1 ad (2"x2")/biweekly/3 months | 601.92 |
| 1 ad (2"x2")/month on Family Pages | 248.16 |
| Paper subscription (weekly for 6 months) | 85.25 |
| Total | $7,426.33 |
Research Assistant - a quarter-time RA (stipend & tuition) is requested to set-up the database, search the newspaper archives, design the website, design and submit advertisements, initiate community contacts, and be the contact person for families calling about their interest in being listed. The RA will be supervised by the PI.
Computer/printer/software - a computer designated solely for the purposes of the family database is requested. Software to create the database and website are also required.
Advertisements/subscription - one ad biweekly for 3 months will maximize the exposure of the database to families. The ads will be placed strategically on pages that are more likely to be read by individuals with small children. An ad will be placed in the Family Pages monthly for 3 months. A subscription to the Centre Daily Times for 6 months is needed to search birth announcements and hospital notes.
Faculty Collaborators
Below is a list of the faculty collaborators who have expressed their interest and commitment to creating and maintaining a database from which to draw infant and child research participants. Included with the name, affiliation, and research focus (current project) is a brief comment on the benefits that would come with the availability of such a database.
Name: Clancy Blair, Ph.D., MPH
Department/College: HDFS/Health and Human Development
Research focus: The antecedents of children's school readiness, with a particular emphasis on emotion and motivation and the ways in which emotion is related to the development of metacognitive skills. Children between the ages of 3- 5 years but also have research questions relating to emotionality and motivation in infants and toddlers.
Benefits: "A subject pool would be of value to me in several ways. Primarily, it would assist me in developing sufficiently large samples with which to conduct my research in a timely manner. As a junior faculty member in HDFS, one of the biggest challenges I face is to complete several different research projects prior to tenure. The subject pool would assist me with this. Further, by drawing on a common subject pool, I might encounter unexpected opportunities for collaboration with other researchers utilizing the subject database. This would also assist me in meeting research goals prior to tenure."
Name: Pamela Cole, Ph.D.
Department/College: Psychology/Liberal Arts
Research focus: Development of emotion regulation, risks to development of competence. Ages 12 months through 5-6 years.
Benefits: "A pool of volunteer families would be useful for conducting smaller scale studies for developing evidence to support larger grant proposals and for graduate student projects that might require data not available archivally."
Name: Kathryn Drager, Ph.D.
Department/College: Communication Disorders/ Health and Human Development.
Research focus: "My research includes exploring applications of alternative means of communication for children and adults who are unable to use oral speech. Some current research projects are investigating the learning demands of computers used for speech output communication and the intelligibility of synthesized speech for children ages 2-5."
Name: Mark Feinberg, Ph.D.
Department/College: Center for Prevention Research/Health and Human Development
Research focus: Family relations at transition to parenthood, ages: children 0-2years.
Benefits: "This research examines the family processes around the time of first birth. Gaining access to families at this age is necessary for basic research as well as intervention development and pilot testing. For example, we are planning a telephone questionnaire study for this summer regarding parents' perceived needs. A database would be helpful in order to contact parents. Instead, we will be gathering names from the birth announcements from the local newspaper. This will not only duplicate efforts of other researchers, but parent contacts across studies are not coordinated."
Name: Rick O. Gilmore, Ph.D.
Department/College: Psychology/Liberal Arts
Research focus: The development of perception, action, and memory in infancy and childhood. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, or the relationship between behavioral change and brain development. Age range: I focus on infants from birth to 18 months, but I also study preschool and school-age children.
Benefit: "I see many advantages for Penn State's developmental researchers if there was a centralized database from which multi-level, multi-variable data sets could be derived."
Name: Paul Andrew Klaczynski, Ph.D.
Department/College: Psychology/College of Liberal Arts
Research focus: Cognitive & social cognitive development; motivational influences on social information processing; affects of beliefs on reasoning about social issues (e.g., gender, religion); the development of decision making.
Benefits: "I work with children from preschool through adolescence. Currently, I travel to Altoona to conduct my work with elementary and middle schools, mainly because of the difficulties getting access to the State College Schools (and because, for example, for gender research, we don't exactly have a population of kids who are very representative). A subject pool would provide undergrads and graduate students a systematic way of accessing a data base of potential volunteers. The way things often work, and are currently working for me, is on a study-by-study basis, hoping from one year to the next that a school that was interested one year will be interested the next year, etc."
Name: Carol Miller, Ph.D.
Department/College: Communication Disorders/College of Health and Human Development
Research focus: I study language development and disorders, particularly specific language impairment. My research mainly involves preschool children; I often include children with language disorders up to age 7.
Benefits: "In studying language disorders, I always have a need for comparison groups of typically developing children; some are matched to the experimental group by chronological age, others by language level. A participant pool would greatly simplify the process of recruiting families with young children who qualify for these comparison groups. In general, I believe that a participant pool would be attractive to potential new faculty members. In developmental research, participant recruitment is always a concern, and anything that makes it easier and less time-consuming to locate and contact potential participants is of great value."
Name: Michelle Miller-Day, Ph.D.
Department/College: Communication Arts and Sciences/Liberal Arts
Research focus: Currently investigating parent-child communication, children ages 3 - 13.
Benefits: "My research requires recruitment of parents and children for interviews and observational data collection."
Name: Cynthia Stifter, Ph.D.
Department/College: Human Development and Family Studies\Health and Human Development
Research focus: Socioemotional development, specifically the development of emotion regulation and its relation to behavior problems, social competence. Ages 0-6 years.
Benefits: "Having recruited 3 longitudinal samples, I have experienced the frustration of recruiting young subjects into a study. As stated above, the time it took to recruit these samples was considerable and would be greatly improved with a database of families with infants and children. I am also concerned that the length of time it has taken to recruit the participants is directly related to the time it takes to get the results of the studies out to the research community. This would be particular concern to tenure-track faculty."
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