Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context

Overview

The Russell Sage Foundation’s (RSF) core program on Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context merges its long-standing program on Behavioral Economics and its special initiative on Decision Making and Human Behavior in Context. This program encourages perspectives from multiple disciplines, including economics, psychology, political science, sociology, law, public policy, and other social sciences, to further our understanding of economic, social, political, and psychological decision-making processes, attitudes, behaviors, and institutional practices in public and private contexts such as policing/criminal legal systems, employment, housing, politics, racial/ethnic relations, and immigration. The term “behavior” is used in multiple ways across disciplines. Behavioral observation has long been used for psychological research on human behavior. Experimental psychologists conduct field and/or laboratory experiments to learn more about why people take certain actions. Behavioral economists focus on the decision-making processes of individuals and institutions. In political science, the subfield of political behavior focuses on attitudes. Sociologists study how human behavior is shaped by the groups to which people belong and by the social interactions that occur within those groups. Social scientists across these areas are increasingly proposing interventions in ongoing policies and programs to test the effectiveness of their theories and models.

Research in this area is expanding rapidly. RSF is open to a range of questions consistent with its mission to “improve social and living conditions in the United States” and the funding priorities of its other core programs on Social, Political and Economic Inequality, Race, Ethnicity and Immigration, and Future of Work.

RSF priorities do not include analyses of health or mental health outcomes or health behaviors as these are priorities for other funders. For the same reason, RSF seldom supports studies focused on educational processes or curricular issues but does prioritize analyses of inequities in student achievement or educational attainment. Limited consideration will be given to projects that test well-established behavioral effects without examining their context or underlying mechanisms. RSF does not fund studies using data from other countries unless they are part of a comparative project aimed at elucidating social and living conditions in the U.S.

The kinds of topics and questions that are of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Biases and Misperceptions
• Institutions, Policies, Social Structures and Networks
• Motivations, Incentives and Choice Architecture
• Habits, Time Preferences, Mental Bandwidth and Behavior Change
• Affect and Emotions

Additional Considerations
RSF rarely considers projects for which the investigators have not already fully-developed the research design, the sample framework, access to data, etc. Investigators are encouraged to submit an LOI after they have developed and pre-tested survey instruments, completed preliminary data analyses if the data are publicly available or conducted some preliminary interviews for qualitative studies.

RSF encourages methodological variety and inter-disciplinary collaboration, but all LOIs and proposals must have well-developed conceptual frameworks and research designs. Analytical models must be well-specified and research questions and hypotheses (where applicable) must be clearly stated.

Grants are available for research assistance, data acquisition, data analysis, and investigator time for conducting research and writing up results.

We are particularly interested in analyses that make use of newly available data or demonstrate novel uses of existing data, to answer emerging or long-standing questions of interest in the foundation’s program areas and special initiatives. We also support original data collection. Proposals to conduct field experiments, in-depth qualitative interviews, and ethnographies are also encouraged.

LOIs must include specific information about the proposed data and research design. After peer review, about 15% of those who submit an LOI will receive an invitation to submit a proposal. If you are unsure about the foundation's expectations, we strongly recommend that you review the grant writing guidelines on our website and also view an instructional webinar.

Award Information
Funding: There are two levels of funding for core grants, Trustee-approved grants and Presidential-Authority grants. The maximum grant amount for a Trustee grant is $200,000, including 15% indirect costs.  Grants up to $75,000 are considered Presidential-Authority grants. RSF has 3 funding cycles per year and only considers proposals that are invited following review of an initial letter of inquiry. After peer review, about 15% of those who submit an LOI will receive an invitation to submit a full proposal.  The final funding rate for core research grants is approximately 6-10% of submitted LOIs.