Trends in Dissemination Patterns of NIDRR Grantees

Researchers who receive funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) were asked to report the products of their research to the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) during Fiscal Years 1993-1996 (FY93-FY96). NARIC presented the information received in the Compendium of Products of NIDRR Grantees and Contractors  (NIDRR; 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997). The purpose of the Compendium   is to provide "researchers, rehabilitation professionals, and others in the field of disability with practical information on the spectrum of research, demonstration, training, engineering, and technical assistance materials produced with NIDRR support" (NIDRR, 1995).

The dissemination patterns reflected by the products reported to NARIC and presented in the Compendium  were first analyzed by the NCDDR in The Research Exchange, V1 N3 (NCDDR, 1996). Now, the NCDDR has added data from FY95 and FY96 in order to identify longer-range trends in the types of products produced by NIDRR-funded research and reported to NARIC.

It must be noted that product reporting is not required of grantees, and the format for collecting and reporting these data has changed over the four-year period. This has some impact on the data gathered and presented in the Compendium  each year. The data sources for this analysis were the printed documents produced by NARIC for each of the four fiscal years studied. The NCDDR analysis provides a picture of the research results that were reported by NIDRR grantees as well as the trends observed, limitations notwithstanding. Comparisons among the NIDRR program areas are presented for information purposes, with no intent to suggest that all program areas should have similar results. Projects with a training focus would be expected to produce more training materials, while research studies would be more likely to produce results reported in journal articles and conference presentations.

One noticeable trend has been a steady decline in the overall percentage of grantees reporting products resulting from their NIDRR grant activity. In FY93, 44 percent (130 of 294 projects) reported products to NARIC. This contrasts with data from the most recent Compendium  which shows that 83 of approximately 300 projects (28 percent) reported one or more products resulting from their NIDRR grant activity during FY96 (NIDRR, 1997).

In considering whether this response-rate pattern affected the overall number of products reported, the NCDDR analyzed the number of products reported for each program area for FY93-FY96. Although the overall percentage of NIDRR-funded programs that reported products has decreased, the total number of products reported by NIDRR grantees has steadily increased since FY93, when 766 products were reported (NIDRR, 1994). In FY 94, 1,010 products were reported, followed by 1,128 products in FY95 and 1,185 products in FY96 (NIDRR; 1995, 1996, 1997).

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