Glossary of Research Terms
The research world is loaded with a dizzying array of technical terms, acronyms, and bureaucratese. Here are simple definitions for some of the terminology you may encounter as you seek funding and prepare proposals. Some of these definitions are taken from the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB; see below) Circular A-21, Subpart A, Sec. 2. Further information is available by clicking on the web links provided. (Note: A few of these links go to PDF files, which you will need Adobe Reader to view and print.)
Words in a definition that appear in italics are also glossary entries.
AAALAC — Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. See IACUC for information about animal care compliance.
Allowable costs — those costs that can be charged to a grant (e.g., salaries, equipment) or reimbursed to the university under an award agreement.
Animal care compliance, Animal Care Committee — See IACUC.
Applied research— focused, systematic study and investigation undertaken to discover the applications and uses of theories, knowledge, and principles in actual work or in solving problems. See Research.
Audit — a formal examination of the accounts, compliances, or fiscal status of an organization or individual, or the technical side of a program.
Award — funding obligated by a sponsor to provide support or stimulation to accomplish a particular project or public purpose; includes grants, contracts, and other agreements in the form of property. See also sponsored project.
Award agreement — a legal commitment in which a sponsor agrees to fund a project at a certain level and the university agrees to carry out the activities outlined in the proposal over a specific project period.
Basic research — focused, systematic study and investigation undertaken to discover new knowledge or interpretations and establish facts or principles in a particular field. See Research.
CAS — Cost Accounting Standards; federally mandated standards for accounting for costs, intended to ensure uniformity in the budgeting and spending of funds.
Close out — the act of completing all internal and sponsor requirements and procedures to terminate a sponsored project.
Commodities — a budget category that includes miscellaneous expendable materials and supplies, such as paper, printer cartridges, etc. Much equipment on federal grants also falls into this budget category. Note that computer software is considered contractual services, not commodities. See section 9 of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Compliances and Certifications — federal and state rules and requirements for institutions and individual investigators concerning the responsible handling of research involving human subjects, vertebrate animal care, human stem cells, and hazardous substances, as well as other legal issues (such as conflict of interest, drug-free workplace, etc.). Administrative officers of an institution must regularly certify, by their signature, compliance with these rules and regulations; individual investigators must comply with institutional requirements (including going through IRB and other approval procedures or training as necessary) and must sign to that effect on the proposal cover sheet and Proposal/Award Checklist. See Compliances.
Conflict of commitment — any situation in which non-university activities are sufficiently demanding of time and attention that they interfere with assigned duties or with responsibilities to students or the university.
Conflict of interest (COI) — any situation in which an employee influences university business, research, teaching, or other decisions in ways that lead or could lead to any form of personal financial gain for the individual or his/her family, or that give or appear to give improper advantage to others to the detriment of the university.
Contract — a legally binding arrangement or performance agreement for carrying out a specific service or procuring a product that entails specific obligations for both sponsor and recipient. Contracts are most often awarded by government agencies and by business and industry, rather than by foundations.
Contractual services — an SIU budget category that includes services such as postage, photocopying, telecommunications, campus research facilities use, etc., and also computer software. See section 9 of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Copyright — a legal protection of an author's tangible work from unauthorized reproduction. Copyrightable materials are usually of an artistic, scholarly, instructional, or entertainment nature. See SIUC's Intellectual Property Policy.
Cost sharing —the support provided by a university for a sponsored project, either as cash or in-kind contributions; the university's cost share may be through equipment provided or purchased for the project, or, most commonly, as a portion of faculty salary and fringe benefits. See cost-sharing guidelines in ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Cover sheet - the first page of a proposal, often in a format supplied by an agency (e.g., NSF), showing summary data on the proposal and PI/PD, plus all required compliance check-offs. (See Proposal/Award Checklist).
DHHS — Department of Health and Human Services, the federal entity that incorporates many important research sponsors (e.g., NIH, PHS) and oversight offices (e.g., ORI, OHRP) and that serves as the cognizant agency for negotiating SIUC's F&A rate.
Direct costs — those costs that can be specifically attributed to a particular sponsored project and are necessary for it to be successfully carried out. Includes equipment; salary, wages, and fringe benefits; travel and communication; commodities and contractual services, and so forth, itemized in a proposal budget and necessary to carry out the project. Departmental administrative costs (support staff), even if attributable to a specific project, are not considered direct costs by funding agencies.
Electronic research administration (ERA) — performing institutional research administration by facilitating the preparation and processing of proposals, receipt of awards, and award management through electronic means, thereby reducing or eliminating paper from the transactions. Most funding agencies now require electronic submission of proposals.
Encumbrance —funds specifically set aside (i.e., "encumbered") for future costs prior to their actual expenditure.
Equipment — tangible, non-expendable personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of more than $5,000 per unit on federal grants. The acquisition cost to be defined as equipment is $100 or more on nonfederal grants where the agency does not specify a threshold. See section 9 of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
F&A — Facilities and Administrative costs or rates (formerly known as indirect costs, IDC, or overhead). Real costs incurred for common or joint institutional activities and objectives—including general administration (accounting, payroll, purchasing), physical plant operation and maintenance (utilities, sewer), library, building depreciation, etc.—which cannot, therefore, be specifically identified with particular sponsored projects or instructional functions. Usually expressed as a rate (percentage) that has been negotiated with a specific federal agency (SIUC's negotiating agency is the Department of Health and Human Services, or DHHS). The rate for a particular award varies depending on whether the project is classified as research or training/other, and whether it will be conducted primarily on- or off-campus. SIUC's F&A rates...
Fellowship — a type of grant that is awarded directly to an individual rather than to an institution, and is usually not processed through ORDA unless required by the funding agency.
Final report — a technical or final report submitted to the sponsor at the end of a project period that summarizes progress and findings, and lists resultant publications.
Fiscal year (FY) — any 12-month annual accounting period, functioning independent of calendar years, and designated by the calendar year in which it ends. SIUC's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
Fringe benefits — employee benefits paid by the employer (e.g., FICA; retirement; health, life, and other types of insurance; worker's comp; etc.). SIUC pays fringe benefits for faculty, A/P staff, and civil service staff who are employed at 50% time or more for a period of at least eight months. Fringe benefits are also provided to postdoctoral fellows. Graduate assistants and student workers are not provided fringe benefits. Fringe benefits constitute part of the direct costs of a sponsored project.
Gift — a flexible, irrevocable award (of money, equipment, or other property) provided by a donor with few or no conditions specified (such as contractual requirements, specification of a period of performance, or formal financial accounting). Gifts do not act as grants supporting research activity, and as such are handled by the SIU Foundation, not by ORDA.
Grant—an award made on the basis of a proposal that typically sets out a series of conditions for a sponsored project, such as specific objectives, work plan, timetable, formal financial accounting, and reporting obligations. With the exception of some fellowships and special awards, all grants are awarded to the institution (SIUC) rather than to individuals, and proposals and award agreements must be processed through ORDA. For definitions of different types of grants, see section 1 of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Human Subjects Committee — an SIUC committee, organized and administered through ORDA and reporting to the Chancellor, charged with reviewing all research projects involving human subjects conducted by any individuals (including students) affiliated with SIUC, as required by federal law. Approval should be obtained before the proposal is submitted, and must be obtained before the project can begin. Nationally, human research subjects protection is overseen by the OHRP. Same as IRB. [Information on human subjects compliance]
IACUC — Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; an SIUC committee, organized and administered through ORDA, set up to review research proposals and monitor research, testing, and training programs involving vertebrate animals for standards of care and compliance with federal, state, institutional, and any other applicable guidelines. Note that approval must be obtained from the IACUC for research using laboratory and nonlaboratory animals (such as livestock and wildlife). A completed Animal Use Protocol form is required for review. Approval should be obtained before the proposal is submitted, and must be obtained before the project can begin. Nationally, legal oversight for protection of laboratory animals resides with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare in the National Institutes of Health (part of DHHS).
IDC (see F&A).
IRB — Institutional Review Board; an internal committee within the university, set up to review research proposals for their compliance with federal, state, institutional, and any other applicable guidelines for research involving human subjects. See Human Subjects Committee.
Indirect costs (IDC) (see F&A).
Intellectual property (IP) — a broad term that includes inventions, discoveries, know-how, processes, methods, materials, copyrightable works, original data, and other creative or artistic works (which may have value). Intellectual property includes that which is protectable by statute or legislation, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, mask works, and plant varieties. It also includes the physical embodiments of intellectual effort, for example, models, machines, devices, designs, apparatus, instrumentation, circuits, computer programs and visualizations, biological materials, chemicals, other compositions of matter, plants, and records of research. At SIUC, intellectual property most frequently refers to patentable inventions and copyrightable works created by faculty and staff in the course of their research or scholarly activities.
Invention — discovery and reduction to practice of a new product, apparatus, process, composition of matter or living organisms, or improvements to existing technologies in those categories, whether or not patented or patentable.
Matching funds — funds obligated by the institution that are a specific condition of a grant or contract award. For federal grants, matching funds must be from nonfederal sources.
MTDC — Modified Total Direct Costs; that portion of a proposal that includes salaries, wages, fringe benefits, materials and supplies, travel, and all other direct costs, minus equipment, capital expenses/renovation costs, space rental costs, stipends, tuition, and the portion of any sub-award in excess of $25,000. If a funding agency pays SIUC's full indirect (F&A) cost rate, indirect costs typically are charged only on MTDC. See F&A Rates.
No-cost extension— an extension of an award beyond the originally stated project period, but without additional funding, to allow completion of project objectives.
Off-campus — the off-campus F&A rate applies to a sponsored project if more than 50% of the project is performed off-campus, i.e., in facilities not owned by SIUC and/or to which rent is directly allocated to the project.
OHRP — Office for Human Research Protections, a federal entity within DHHS.
OMB (Office of Management and Budget) — a federal entity that issues a series of regulatory guidelines or circulars (OMB Circulars) addressing issues facing university research and administration. These include:
- A-21 (Cost Principles for Educational Institutions),
- A-110 (Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations), and
- A-133 (Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations).
On-campus — sponsored research or training carried out by university personnel who are physically located on university property while engaged in project activity more than 50% of the time. The on-campus F&A rate applies to these grants.
ORI — Office of Research Integrity (in DHHS).
OTS — Other Than Salary; an SIU internal budget category that includes all items, such as commodities, contractual services, equipment, travel, student worker wages, etc., except salaries and fringe benefits. See section 9 of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Overhead (see F&A).
Patent — a legal granting of the right to stop others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention. There are three types of U.S. patents: utility (machines, products, processes, compositions), design (protection for "aesthetic appearance"), and plant (asexually reproduced plants). See SIUC's Intellectual Property Policy.
Per diem — a daily allowance paid to personnel working on a sponsored project to cover normal costs of living while away from home, specifically meals and lodging.
PD — Project Director; usually refers to the head of a sponsored training or service project (as opposed to a research project); has the same responsibilities as a PI.
PI — Principal Investigator; the primary person responsible for the design, scientific/technical conduct, administration, and reporting of a sponsored research project.
Project period — the total time for which a sponsored project has been approved, within which there may be one or more budget periods or years.
Proposal— an application or request to a sponsor for funding for a research, training, or service project. Formal proposals are prepared by a PI/PD, consist of descriptions of project goals and methods as well as a budget, and are submitted through ORDA on behalf of SIUC. Successful proposals result in an award (grant or contract) for a sponsored project. ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide includes sections on Proposal Preparation and Proposal Submission.
Proposal/Award Checklist — an internal form that shows summary data on the proposal and PI/PD, plus all required compliance check-offs. This form is used to route proposals through the university to obtain all required administrative signatures. See Proposal Submission in ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide.
Research— focused, systematic study and investigation undertaken to increase knowledge and understanding of a subject. At SIUC, the term is used inclusively to refer to scholarly, empirical, creative, critical, and/or expressive activities in the sciences, humanities, arts, and other scholarly fields, which expand, clarify, reorganize, or develop knowledge or artistic perception. Includes Research training. Research may be basic or applied.
Research training — activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the instruction function of the university.
RFP — Request For Proposal. An announcement soliciting proposals addressing a specific topic of research, methods to be used, and final products or "deliverables." This is a competitive process resulting in award of a contract or grant.
SACHRP — Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Subjects Protections. This body provides guidance and recommendations to DHHS and its Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) on issues relating to the protection of human research subjects.
Sponsor—any organization (federal and state agencies, private foundations, business and industry, nonprofit associations, local government) that funds or "sponsors" a research, training, or service project. ORDA and other SIUC units also sponsor various research activities (e.g., Faculty Seed Grants), but because these are internal awards they are not technically considered sponsored projects, which are externally funded.
Sponsored project — a research, training, or service activity supported by an external (non-university) grant or contract. Sponsored project awards are officially accepted by the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University on behalf of a faculty or staff member.
Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee (SCRO) — an SIUC committee, organized and administered through ORDA, charged with reviewing all research projects involving human stem cells conducted by any individuals affiliated with SIUC, as required by state law. Projects involving stem cells are reviewed by other relevant University safety/compliance committees before receiving sign-off by SCRO; see the SIUC Policy and Procedures Governing Stem Cell Research.
Training (see Research training).