Module 6 - Dissemination

Overview | Who? Audience | How? Methods | Who-How-What | Proposal Steps | Resources

Who? Audience

Why Dissemination?

A proposal must include a communication strategy for reaching broad audiences with the findings of the project, including, where appropriate, scholars, practitioners, policymakers and public audiences. While the potential results of the proposed research are expected to be of sufficient quality and significance to merit peer-reviewed publication, approaches that reach broader audiences are also expected. Proposals should identify the key elements of a communication plan, such as target audiences and identification of the channels, media, or technologies appropriate for reaching specific audiences.

The ITEST solicitation specifies that the following components must be included in the dissemination section of the proposal:

  • Key elements of the communication plan, such as target audiences and the channels, media, or technologies appropriate for reaching specific audiences.
  • Dissemination strategies that reach the audiences that are appropriate to the strategic partnership, in particular those in addition to scholars reached through publications and presentations in conferences and other similar environments.

Why is dissemination important?

  • It allows others to build off of what you have learned and/or developed
  • It can be used to promote and share project products (e.g., curricular modules) and/or raise awareness around a specific topic (e.g., STEM learning for ELL populations).
  • It can broaden participation by sharing findings and products to diverse audiences and institutions
  • It can open a dialogue about the work
  • It can serve to archive the project’s findings and products even after funding has ended
  • It can open windows to new opportunities, research partners, and/or research participants
  • It helps tell the story of why NSF funding is important and/or useful

In addition, all NSF grant proposals are evaluated using two merit review criteria:

  1. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity, and
  2. The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity.

The dissemination section of your proposal is a great opportunity to reiterate the intellectual merit of your proposal (e.g., publishing in peer reviewed journals) and/or the broader impacts of the project (e.g., outreach to practitioner audiences).

Keep in mind that if funded, you will need to report on dissemination in your annual and final reports to NSF. Your proposal’s dissemination plan is an important first step to building out your project’s dissemination strategy and outlining the steps (and where possible, the timeline) needed to accomplish your plan. We strongly encourage projects to integrate dissemination into the project’s timeline across all funded years, rather than saving dissemination for the last year of the project.

Dissemination can also be fun! It is a chance to be creative and interact with others around a topic that you are passionate about.

Identifying your audience

Tone, vocabulary, outreach strategies, and messaging may differ, depending on your audience(s). As a first step to your dissemination plan, it is important to identify the audience(s) of:

  • your project (in general)
  • your project’s findings
  • your project’s products

Perhaps your audience is the same for all three categories. But that is unusual. More common is a project that (for example) has created modules (a product for a teacher audience) and is studying the modules’ effectiveness (findings for a researcher audience) and wants to share information about the project to broaden participation and help people learn about NSF-funded work (project in general for a public audience).

Audience of Your Project (In General)

Looking at your proposal, who is the main focus of the work? Is it designed to help teachers? Students? (Ex. We are creating an app for students. Therefore, the main focus of our project is on the students.)
 
With the previous answer in mind, who should know about your project’s work? (If possible, pick one main audience.) If you are developing a student app for iTunes, your key audience might be parents (or teachers). If you are developing a professional development program, your key audience might be teachers or district leaders.
 
 
Now, select from the following, ALL the audiences that might be interested in hearing about your project. The answers have identified your target audiences for your project itself.
 
 
 

Audience of Your Project’s Findings

Next, brainstorm a list of potential findings and who would be most interested in those findings. Refer to your research questions to identify potential findings.

List of Findings (Ex. Students with X intervention perform better on exams.)
 
Who Should Hear About these Findings (Ex. Teachers, District Leaders, Administrators)
 

Audience of Your Project’s Products

Last, please brainstorm a list of the products your project plans to produce and who would be most interested in those products. Refer to your proposal. Do you plan to write a paper about your findings? Are you developing a module?

List of Products (Ex. NGSS Resource)
 
Who Should Hear About these Products (Ex. Teachers, District Leaders, Administrators)

Continue on to the next section for methods of dissemination common for projects.

 

Course Homepage

This course is being preserved for historical purposes. While the project has ended, the materials remain highly relevant for proposal development and can still serve as a valuable resource for NSF proposal writers. The course is no longer maintained, and some content may reference past initiatives or deadlines.