Research and Service Programs in the PHS Challenges in Organization (1991) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Duplication, Replication, and Complementarity
Duplication, Replication, and Complementarity
Pages 109-118
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 109... ...
DEFINITIONS In discussing these terms, it is important to distinguish between research projects and research programs. Projects refers to singular research efforts, such as individual experiments or a set of experiments, that are designed to answer a specific hypothesis and that are funded by a research grant or reported in a journal article.
|
From page 110... ...
It is not thought to be particularly rampant. Eliminating duplicative research programs is a means of saving public money, but duplication of research projects and programs is acceptable under special circumstances, such as a period of great scientific opportunity or a period of great crisis.
|
From page 111... ...
agreements on funding and referral guidelines,4 each institute is interested in unique aspects of pain—anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, etiology, organ systems, behavior, and so forth~nd, therefore, the overlapping research programs are, for the most part, complementary. REPLICATION, DUPLICATION, AND COMPLEMENTARITY IN THE CASE STUDIES Information on research grants funded by NIH and ADAMHA in the case study areas was obtained and classified as described in Chapter 3.
|
From page 112... ...
A second premise is that duplication is most likely in situations where there are many grants funded in a particular area, particularly in several institutes. Alzheimer's disease research, for example, was thought most likely to include duplication because of the large number of grants in health status research and the many institutes that support research in this
|
From page 113... ...
It was only in the fetal alcohol syndrome that the number of health status research grants was large enough to cause concern about duplication. Information gathered for the study suggests that duplication of basic and clinical biomedical research is not a problem in the PHS.
|
From page 114... ...
If in the course of this all-out attack on many fronts of a very difficult scientific problem, some potentially duplicative research projects or programs are funded, it is probably not worth ferreting out or worth the risk of missing a potentially important discove~y.9~0 Schizophrenia and Parkinson's Disease: Dopamine Research In the case study of schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, the area of most likely overlap is the aberrant chemical system common to both diseases the dopamine system. However, the dopamine systems relevant to schizophrenia differ in anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, and physiology from those relevant to Parkinson's disease.
|
From page 115... ...
Neither research projects nor research programs regarding dopamine in NIMH or NINDS are significantly duplicative according to the committee's analysis. In fact, they are replicative in some cases, but more often they are complementary.
|
From page 116... ...
Mechanisms in place to limit unnecessary duplication of research include self-regulation by the scientific community, the peer review process for journal publication and grant applications, and guidelines developed by the PHS for funding and referral. Perhaps the most effective of these measures is the intense competitive pressure that scientists apply to one another and to themselves: The federal biomedical research system works like a marketplace, with imaginative ideas and specialized materials being the principally traded commodities, and information exchange as well as peer recognition for one's accomplishments acting as the currency of trade.
|
From page 117... ...
Institute and agency administrators meet on a regular basis to discuss their contribution to the crosscutting effort; such communication helps to decrease the chances that institute research programs seriously duplicate each other; instead, these coordinating mechanisms encourage the development of complementary programs. The scientist-administrators would gain nothing by approving, encouraging, or funding duplicative research; the key to increasing next year's appropriation is to show results from this year's investment.
|
From page 118... ...
J Fox, "Report on Scientific Methodology," paper prepared for the IOM Committee on Co-Administration of Service and Research Programs of the NIH, ADAMHA, and Related Agencies, 1991; available from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va.*
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.