This section offers details on how to submit a proposal and what you will have to specify when you submit (including the how to specify the type and size of the sample).
Any faculty member, postdoctoral fellow, graduate student, or researcher affiliated with a college or university anywhere in the world. We regret that we cannot provide opportunities for any other individuals and groups.
Proposals can explore any topic relevant to health, society, economics, or politics.
Proposals are being accepted now and on a continuous basis. Excepting special competitions, CHIP50 has no submission deadlines. That said, CHIP50 will have an end date for fielding surveys without cost and thus we suggest monitoring the website for details.
A proposal should be submitted via CHIP50 web-based system which requires completing a form and attaching an anonymous proposal (https://bit.ly/chip50-apply). The web-based form will ask for: 1) a designated contact author (with whom all official CHIP50 correspondence will be held) and 2) all applicants’ names, affiliations (departments and institutions), and e-mail addresses. The form also allows applicants to submit the names and e-mails of up to four possible reviewers (who cannot be recent collaborators, students, advisors, or have any other real or perceived conflict of interest), and up to three reviewers “to avoid.” CHIP50 does not promise to follow the former list but will, in most cases, abide by the latter list. Entering either type of suggestion is not required.
The form also requests that applicants provide demographic information about each applicant: career stage (position, years to or from Ph.D.), gender identity, and racial/ethnic identity. This is optional and, if provided, will not be shared with the reviewers or used in proposal evaluations/decisions (and those who do not provide it will not be penalized). These data are exclusively for the CHIP50 team to track the diversity of their application pool and whether biases emerge in decisions.
The form requires uploading a PDF version of a proposal whose file name should be the title of the proposal(or a shortened version of it). To preserve the anonymity of the review process, the main text of proposals should be stripped of content that identifies the applicants. The names of the applicants should not be provided in the proposal. References to previous research that are stated in the third person are acceptable. If a proposal includes self-identifying content, it will be returned to the contact applicant along with a request that it be resubmitted without this information.
A regular proposal is limited to four double-spaced (12-point font) pages of text (including footnotes/endnotes), plus references, up to two pages of tables, and the actual survey items to be included. The entire proposal with all appendices or supplements of any sort may not exceed fifteen pages. Power analyses, which are strongly encouraged, may also be referenced in the main text and placed in a short appendix that does not count against the four-page limit.
When revisions are invited to proposals, these should be accompanied by a memo that details changes; concision is encouraged. The memo should appear at the top of the revised proposal (before the main text).
Again, all proposals must be double-spaced and 12-point font and combined into a single PDF file. A smaller font is allowed in footnotes and endnotes, and there are no specific formatting requirements for tables.
Proposals that exceed these limits will be returned by CHIP50 staff.
To be successful, a proposal must include: 1) a title, provided at the top of the first page of the proposal; 2) the “type”of application that includes a particular number of respondent items with justification; 3) a thorough description of the motivation, given the type of proposal (i.e., state-based, large sample) and study design; 4) an explanation of how the study will make a valuable contribution to science and society, considering existing research (the most relevant of which should be cited); and 5) an appendix with actual questions (and description of stimuli if relevant). The study can be aimed to test a specific hypothesis or hypotheses or be more descriptive in nature. Regardless, it should generate new and broadly applicable knowledge.
You cannot have more than one active proposal (under evaluation) on which you are the lead author/proposer (defined as the point of contact or primary investigator). You can have more than one active (under evaluation) proposal if you are not the lead author/proposer on all but one of them.
CHIP50 seeks proposals that break new ground in the area they investigate, the procedures they employ, or both. Ideally, your proposal should offer the potential for a clear scientific advance.
Proposals that focus on novel and focused ideas will be viewed as more credible. While certainly not required, it can be helpful if the proposal is conducted in coordination with non-CHIP50 data collection endeavors (in the past or simultaneously). Again, this is not required, especially given data similar to CHIP50 are generally not available but, if possible, it can be helpful.
The implementation of CHIP50 surveys involves two types of questionnaires: a “long form”that respondents from 35 states receive. The list of these states can be found at the “long form and short form states” link (on the main project page). These are more populous states and allow for the collection of larger samples with longer surveys. A “short form”contains fewer items and is what respondents in 15 states and D.C. answer. These states are substantially more difficult and costly to sample and hence the approach. Which states applicants receive depends on the proposal. This also determines the number of items applicants can request. We do not intend to discourage applicants from collecting data from all states, and thus, they should not shy away from it. The costs simply differ depending on the state.
Items are calculated as follows.
1. A single close-ended survey question is a single item.
2. Each question in a grid is a half item.
3. A single open-ended survey question is 1.5 items. If more than 2 sentences are requested for the response, then it is another .5 items for every additional 2 sentences requested/expected.
4. A text-based experimental stimulus is an item for every 3 sentences.
5. The core items do not count against the applicants—data from those items are provided for all successful proposals.
With this in mind, the parameters for each type of application areas follows.
1. State-based proposals.
2. Large sample proposals.
In the future, CHIP50 will also invite proposals for rapid implementation, over-time data collection, and additional over-samples. These details will be provided when such options are available.
Core items appear on every CHIP50survey and data from those items will be provided to every successful applicant with their data. The core items include the following.
Age Gender
Race/ethnicity Education
ReligionHousehold income Employment statusMarital status
Parental status (if children under 18) Party affiliation
Political ideology Political interest Zip code
County State
Rural-Urban
Additional “core” items concerning demographics/politics/health may be provided on particular surveys. Successful applicants will be made aware of additional items.
There are no limits on the number of times investigators may use CHIP50.
In a very limited number of cases, CHIP50 can provide additional respondent-questions (items). Such requests, however, are required to pass higher review standards than regular proposals. If the request entails substantial additional costs on CHIP50, we will have to reject the proposal.
Applicants to CHIP50 cannot pay for additional questions or samples. If a researcher would like to purchase 15 or more minutes of survey time with a CHIP50 sample (outside of the typical application process), they should contact the CHIP50 team for pricing (e.g., the average price for a 15-minute survey, currently, is between $1.80 and $2 a respondent). Eventually, CHIP50 will only be available for a fee.
