When I have read grants, most have (unfortunately) fallen closer to: “This idea doesn’t make any sense” than “This idea would be perfect if they just had one more thing”. When a grant falls into the latter, I suspect recipients do often get advice.
I think the problem is that most feedback would be too harsh and fundamental—these are very difficult and emotionally costly conversations to have. It can also make applicants more frustrated and spread low fidelity advice on what the grant maker is looking for. A rejection (hopefully) encourages the applicant to read and network more to form better plans.
I would encourage rejected applicants to speak with accepted ones for better advice.
“these are very difficult and emotionally costly conversations to have”
I don’t think this has to be the case. These things can usually be circumvented with sufficiently impersonal procedures, such as rating the application and having a public guide somewhere with tips on how to interpret the rating and a suggested path for improvement (e.g. talking to a successful grant recipient in a similar domain). A “one star” or “F” or “0″ rating would probably still be painful, but that’s inevitable. Trying to protect people from that strikes me as paternalistic and “ruinously empathetic”.
When I have read grants, most have (unfortunately) fallen closer to: “This idea doesn’t make any sense” than “This idea would be perfect if they just had one more thing”. When a grant falls into the latter, I suspect recipients do often get advice.
I think the problem is that most feedback would be too harsh and fundamental—these are very difficult and emotionally costly conversations to have. It can also make applicants more frustrated and spread low fidelity advice on what the grant maker is looking for. A rejection (hopefully) encourages the applicant to read and network more to form better plans.
I would encourage rejected applicants to speak with accepted ones for better advice.
“these are very difficult and emotionally costly conversations to have”
I don’t think this has to be the case. These things can usually be circumvented with sufficiently impersonal procedures, such as rating the application and having a public guide somewhere with tips on how to interpret the rating and a suggested path for improvement (e.g. talking to a successful grant recipient in a similar domain). A “one star” or “F” or “0″ rating would probably still be painful, but that’s inevitable. Trying to protect people from that strikes me as paternalistic and “ruinously empathetic”.