How do you use previous grant applications to improve your research strategy?

1 Analyze successful grant applications

The first step is to analyze successful grant applications from your field or discipline, especially those that were funded by the same agency or program that you are targeting. You can find examples of successful grant applications online, through your institution's library or research office, or by contacting colleagues or mentors who have received grants in the past. By analyzing successful grant applications, you can learn how to structure your research strategy, what kind of language and tone to use, what kind of evidence and arguments to present, and what kind of gaps and challenges to address. You can also identify the key elements that make a research strategy compelling, such as a clear and specific research question, a novel and feasible research design, a strong rationale and justification, and a clear alignment with the funding agency's mission and objectives.

2 Review unsuccessful grant applications

The second step is to review unsuccessful grant applications, either your own or those of others. You can request feedback from the funding agency or the reviewers, or you can ask a colleague or mentor to review your proposal and give you constructive criticism. By reviewing unsuccessful grant applications, you can identify the weaknesses and flaws in your research strategy, such as a vague or broad research question, a lack of originality or innovation, a weak or unrealistic research design, a poor rationale or justification, or a mismatch with the funding agency's priorities and expectations. You can also learn from the mistakes and pitfalls that other applicants have made, and avoid repeating them in your future proposals.

3 Update your literature review

The third step is to update your literature review, which is the foundation of your research strategy. A literature review is a summary and synthesis of the existing research on your topic, and it shows how your project fills a gap or advances the knowledge in your field. To update your literature review, you need to conduct a comprehensive and systematic search of the relevant databases, journals, books, reports, and other sources of information. You need to select the most relevant and recent studies, and critically evaluate their strengths, limitations, methods, findings, and implications. You need to organize your literature review into themes, categories, or subtopics, and show how they relate to your research question and objectives. You need to highlight the gaps, controversies, or inconsistencies in the literature, and explain how your project addresses them or contributes to them.

4 Refine your research methods

The fourth step is to refine your research methods, which are the tools and techniques that you will use to collect and analyze data for your project. Your research methods should be appropriate, rigorous, ethical, and feasible for your research question and objectives. To refine your research methods, you need to describe the design, sampling, data collection, data analysis, and data management of your project. You need to justify your choices of methods, and explain how they will help you answer your research question and achieve your objectives. You need to acknowledge the limitations, risks, and challenges of your methods, and describe how you will address them or mitigate them. You need to demonstrate that you have the skills, resources, and support to carry out your methods successfully.

Using previous grant applications to improve your research strategy is a smart and effective way to enhance your chances of getting funded. By analyzing successful and unsuccessful grant applications, updating your literature review, and refining your research methods, you can craft a research strategy that is clear, coherent, convincing, and relevant to the funding agency and the reviewers.