Making Your Case

In the book I mentioned last week, Foundations of Grant Writing: A Systemic Approach Based on Experience, the authors (Walker and Pascoe) make the point that in a grant, you need to be able to make a case and they offer some different ways to design your case. They also suggest that PIs talk to lawyers about how they design their cases to convince a judge and jury to get some new perspective on designing their case.

In developing an argument, you have two core pieces: your claim and the premises that support that claim.Walker and Pascoe suggest that in building a case, you begin by brainstorming a diverse set of premises. What are all the needs that will be filled, benefits realized, and disasters averted by your research project being completed? Think about it from a financial, societal, moral, and health perspective to be sure you're not missing something.  After this brainstorming phase, begin to organize these premises. The authors suggest using deductive logic in the overview (going from broad to specific premises).

Walker and Pascoe also outline several approaches to creating your case that I summarize below.

Linear, Deductive
In using this approach, you begin by identifying your central claim, "rank-ordering" your premises, making sure that they are clear, they flow, and generally move from broad statements of justification to more specific, ending with your central claim, which your readers should arrive at naturally, based on your deductive path.

Question-Answer Case Argument
In this approach, you begin your grant outlining a number of questions that get to the heart of what your project is addressing. You then use literature and your narrative to provide answers to these questions and guide your reader to the conclusion that your project is needed as a next step in responding to the issue outlined.

Review, Critique, and Solve
This approach begins with the literature and what's been done in your area. You then critique this work, highlighting gaps in the body of work and showing how your project will address the gap(s).

Theory-action
For this approach, you start by outlining the theoretical framework and background in which your work is rooted, show how your research will use and build on this theory to produce specific outcomes. This approach works well when the result of your research might be policy change.

In thinking about your grant as making a case or an argument for your research, it can offer you a venue for really demonstrating the importance of your work and the passion you have for it. Imagine you were in a court room, or better yet, standing before your review panel. How would you convince them?

Resources
Foundations of Grant Writing: A Systemic Approach Based on Experience - Walker & Pascoe, 2015, p. 54-67