|
Fatal Flaws
The common pitfalls described earlier are serious, but just one of them is not likely to sink an otherwise sound application.
However, there are a number of fatal flaws that will render your proposal unfundable. The following problems are critical enough to be considered fatal flaws:
- Poor research design—If you rely on techniques with inherent limitations, you may not be able to move on to the next phase of the study.
- Inadequate knowledge of the literature—If you hinge your entire proposal on an observation made by others, make sure it is still accepted in the field.
- Lack of innovations—Make sure that your proposal was not already done by a source unknown to you.
- Not following the directions—After all that work, wouldn't it be horrible to have your proposal thrown out because you went over the allowable page limit, asked for too much money, or turned your proposal in late?
|
