Reconciling Science and Feasibility
Multi-site or not? I believe that the science in this project would be stronger if I conduct the experiment in more than one cardiac rehabilitation center, especially since it is an implementation study. However, the cost of another site (or two) is tremendous (I think). I’ll have my project director do a quick “budget” draft on this project right now, so I can get a feel for whether or not another site is even feasible within the NIH budget limitations of a standard R01 mechanism. I know that it might seem really early to you for me to be putting together even a draft budget this soon in the grant writing process, but I find that I do it several times during grant writing as I weigh my options between optimal science and financial feasibility. I’m sure there will be lots of other issues on which I will struggle with reconciling the science and different kinds of feasibility – financial, time, manpower, sample availability, subject burden -- to name a few. But then, that is the fun of grant writing to me – working through those thorny issues. If grant writing were a strict formula, that would be no fun!
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