Magnitude of indirect epistemic benefits of proposal writing

Quantify the size of the indirect epistemic effects of writing grant proposals—such as idea generation, refinement, and sharing—under competitive funding systems relative to non-competitive environments.

Background

Proposal writing may have positive externalities by helping researchers generate, refine, and share ideas, but such benefits can occur outside competitive funding contexts as well.

To accurately assess the net value of competitive grant systems, the magnitude of these indirect benefits must be measured and compared across different funding environments.