Notice of Information: High-Priority Principles of Rigorous Research for NINDS Materials to Enhance Training in Experimental Rigor (METER) Funding Opportunity
Notice Number:
NOT-NS-23-011

Key Dates

Release Date:

August 10, 2022

Related Announcements

RFA-NS-21-033 - Materials to Enhance Training in Experimental Rigor (METER) (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

The Office of Research Quality at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is issuing this notice to inform the extramural research community about principles of rigorous biomedical research that have not yet been selected for development into educational units by previous awardees of the Materials to Enhance Training in Experimental Rigor (METER) (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity. Two receipt dates remain for METER: October 11, 2022 and October 10, 2023.

Background

METER and its companion funding opportunity Creating an Educational Nexus for Training in Experimental Rigor (CENTER) (UC2 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) together aim to facilitate teaching of fundamental principles of rigorous biomedical research by developing an innovative online educational resource for a broad range of scientists across multiple career stages and an array of learning environments. With help from the CENTER, METER awardees will compile and refine the core scholarly content for educational units on principles of rigorous biomedical research within this online resource. NINDS recently funded the single CENTER and the first round of METER awards. More information can be found on the NINDS website for the initiative.

Scope

Principles of rigorous biomedical research are cross-cutting concepts, processes, and practices that promote rigorous, transparent, and robust scientific experiments. These principles apply across a wide variety of scientific disciplines, techniques, and approaches. METER applicants are expected to develop each educational unit around a single principle of rigorous research. For that reason, an educational unit is defined as a set of educational materials, lessons, and activities that collectively address a single principle of rigorous research. Although principles of rigorous research are widely applicable, illustrative scientific examples within each educational unit are expected to be relevant to the neuroscience research community. METER applicants may propose creating materials for more than one educational unit/principle of rigorous research, and there is no specific limit to the number of units/principles each applicant can propose. Please consult the full METER funding opportunity for more information about its goals and how to apply.

After the first round of METER awards, principles of rigorous biomedical research that have not yet been selected for development into educational units include, but are not limited to:

  • Randomizing subjects or samples to treatment groups to mitigate systematic bias
  • Calculating sample size in advance of the experiment
  • Creating an analysis plan before starting the experiment
  • Choosing the appropriate unit of analysis (e.g., understanding technical vs. biological replicates)
  • Handling outliers in a manner that avoids bias
  • Conceptualizing probability and uncertainty
  • Choosing appropriate descriptive statistics
  • Understanding null hypotheses, p-values, statistical significance, and their caveats
  • Preventing multiplicity, p-hacking, and HARKing (hypothesizing after results are known)
  • Discerning appropriate choice and interpretation of complex statistical procedures
  • Making appropriate inferences from data
  • Applying intellectual humility
  • Pursuing multiple lines of evidence to bolster inferences
  • Discerning differences between hypothesis-generating (exploratory) and hypothesis-testing (confirmatory) research
  • Displaying data transparently during presentations
  • Identifying experimental details that are important to report
  • Reporting project plans, workflows, methods, outcomes, and divergence from plans transparently
  • Reducing publication bias
  • Pre-registering experimental protocols, plans, and analyses
  • Creating standard operating procedures for laboratory workflows
  • Managing and sharing data in a useful way
  • Independently reproducing and replicating experiments

This list is not exhaustive, and applicants are not restricted to proposing educational units around principles from this list. About 30-50 total educational units are expected to be incorporated into the online resource, so a breadth of topics is expected to be covered by the total body of funded METER applications.

Applicants who are considering applying for METER are strongly encouraged to consult with NINDS program staff early in the planning process for an application.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Devon Crawford, Ph.D.
Office of Research Quality
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Email: devon.crawford@nih.gov