Funded Research Programme: Important notes for applicants

1. Projects in which participants take a test

• If your proposed project involves participants taking one of our tests, please explain in the proposal exactly how and where this will take place. Give as much detail as possible about the place, date, and so on.
• In most cases, the best way is for the participants to take the test in the normal way, for example at a local centre. In this case, please include the test fees in the budget section of the proposal.
• If you propose for the participants to take the test in a different way, please explain why this is necessary and exactly what will happen. For example, explain how test security will be maintained and describe any services that you will need from Cambridge English.
• Note that Linguaskill is run through local agents, not centres. In some territories it can be taken at home with remote proctoring.

2. Requests for data or materials

• We sometimes provide data or materials to researchers who are funded under FRP. However, there are numerous types of data or materials that cannot be provided, even to projects that are funded under FRP.
• In many cases, the best way is to use data or materials that are publicly available. These are available for use by all researchers. For example, sample questions are available for most of our tests. For full information see section 2 of Requests for data or materials for academic research (this PDF is not specific to FRP).
• We are not able to provide information on schools that offer preparation for our tests, or introductions or access to schools or teachers.
• In some cases, we are able to provide data or materials, but we will not permit them to later be made public in any article or presentation. (In the past this has not caused any problems for researchers.)
• Any data or materials must only be used for the purpose of the research project and in accordance with the Research Funding Agreement.
• If you decide to request data or materials, give full details of exactly what you want and how you plan to use it. If you are asking for tests (items/tasks), explain whether the publicly available materials are sufficient, and how you will ensure confidentiality, and also see section 1 of this webpage.
• If you plan to use publicly available data/materials (for example sample questions from our website), list these, and mark them as PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.
• Mark all data/materials as ESSENTIAL or NOT ESSENTIAL by listing them in the appropriate boxes in the application form.  (This applies to all data/materials, including PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ones.)
• If you mark data/materials as ESSENTIAL and we are not able to provide them, your proposal will not be accepted.
• If you mark data/materials as NOT ESSENTIAL, this means that you will be able to carry out the project whether or not we provide them.
• You are encouraged to contact us early in your application process for an informal discussion about data/material availability. Send an e-mail to frp@cambridgeenglish.org, with subject "FRP R12 data/materials", and describe the data/materials in as much detail as possible.