Applications are invited for the Gift-of-Time Dissertation Research Grants for research related to moral development theory and practice.

Next application deadline: May 15, 2008

PURPOSE

To encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide variety of fields to make a significant contribution to advancing the field of moral development, typically two doctoral dissertation research grants will be given. The amount awarded for these grants is forthcoming and will be announced as soon as it is available. The grants will be awarded by the Association for Moral Education and funded by the Gift of Time Charitable Foundation. All funds can only be distributed through a not-for-profit university or educational institution.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Doctoral students are eligible to apply if they have completed all doctoral requirements except their dissertation. For students in the United States, this would mean that all course work and exams have been completed and their dissertation proposal has been formally approved. For students in other countries, functionally equivalent criteria may apply.

For all applicants, the topic of their research must be clearly relevant to advancing moral development theory or educational practice and the applicant must be in a strong position to complete the dissertation within the next academic year.

Dissertations being written in the fields of education, the social sciences, and the humanities are eligible for consideration (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, theology, etc.). All theoretical perspectives and research methods are welcome.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Students who wish to be considered for a Gift-of-Time Dissertation Grant should submit the following items as email attachments in either MSWord or pdf format:

• A four- to six-page letter, which provides concise answers to the following questions: (a) What is the general problem of concern and the specific purpose or aim of your study? (b) Briefly, what do we already know about this issue from the theoretical and research literature? (c) What is the specific research question you want to address or hypothesis you want to test? What specifically, that is, do you want to learn and why is this important? (d) What methods will you use in this investigation? How, that is, are you going to find out what you need to know? (e) How do you plan to analyze or make sense of what you find? (f) How will this grant help you? Letters longer than six pages will not be reviewed.
• A one-page time line and simple budget for the project, with justifications as appropriate. Funds may be used for any reasonable research expense, including materials, data analysis services, summer research support for the investigator, and so forth. No funds will be provided for the purposes of indirect costs.
• A two-page curriculum vitae, which includes the applicant's complete postal and e-mail addresses.
• An up-to-date list of courses completed during the PhD program (official transcripts not required).
• In addition, (5) the dissertation director (aka Chair of the Research Advisory or Supervisory Committee) must submit a letter directly to the AME Dissertation Research Grants Committeeconfirming that the proposal has been approved, providing the names of all persons serving on the student's dissertation committee, commenting on the proposal's strengths and limitations, and evaluating the student's ability to conduct the proposed research. These letters should also be sent as email attachments in either MSWord or pdf format.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Significance of the research problem for the field of moral development theory or educational practice, and clarity with which it is stated.
• Competence in identifying the relevant theoretical and research literature.
• Adequacy of conceptualization and the development of research questions.
• Quality of the proposed research method and design: plausibility, originality, comprehensiveness, appropriateness to the research problem.
• Quality and clarity of writing.
• Strength of letter received from dissertation director.
• Relevance of PhD coursework to proposed research.

It is not necessarily assumed that criteria will be equally weighted. Rather, it is expected that they will have varying relevance to research proposals from different disciplines.

Note that, in any given year, the Committee may make the determination that none of the submitted proposals are sufficiently deserving of the award.

DEADLINES

Entries may be submitted at any time, but all entries must be sent no later than the application deadline. Awards will be publicly announced at the following AME annual conference.

The requested application materials should be sent to:

Dr. Daniel Vokey, Chair
AME Dissertation Research Grants Committee
Department of Educational Studies
Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia