Outstanding Research

ISPI ACADEMIC AWARD:

OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AWARD

Extended Application Window:

1 August - 30 September 11:59pm EDT

Award Description

The ISPI Academic Awards Program features two distinguished categories: the Distinguished Dissertation Award (DIS) and the Outstanding Research Award (OSR).

The Outstanding Research Award recognizes exemplary research that advances the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) or related disciplines such as Adult Education, Learning Technologies, Behavioral Psychology, and Vocational Education. The award honors research that contributes new insights, applications, or technologies that enhance the theory or practice of improving human performance. Award recipients will be invited to present their research at the annual ISPI conference and are encouraged to submit their work to Performance Improvement Quarterly for publication consideration.

This award is open to both professionals and graduate students (master’s and doctoral), and includes work such as dissertations, theses, independent studies, or research conducted under external contracts with academic institutions

What Qualifies

Research grounded in systematic inquiry and data collection methods (e.g., classic experimental, quasi-experimental, single-subject, or meta-analytic studies).
Applied studies exploring the impact of HPT interventions, tools, or design strategies on performance outcomes.
Outcomes-oriented research comparing programs with similar goals to guide decision-making.
Technology-oriented research assessing tools and techniques used in performance improvement.
Measurement-focused research or model-building studies grounded in rigorous methodology.

What Does Not Qualify

Anecdotal or opinion-based writing without systematic data collection or analysis.
Conceptual or theoretical essays lacking empirical evidence.
Articles without implications for HPT practice or without relevance to performance improvement.
Projects that do not follow a structured research process (e.g., no clear research question, design, data collection, or analysis).

Application Process

This award follows a common application process:

Review these "Five UnSecrets to Winning an ISPI Award"—a checklist and optional quiz designed to help you improve your application performance, with no tracking of your views or quiz responses.
Download and complete the application proposal. (If the proposal link doesn’t open in Chrome, please try using Firefox, Safari, or Edge instead.)
Click the “Apply Now” button to enter your contact information, upload the proposal, and submit the application. Your proposal must be a single Word or PDF file (not password-protected or in portfolio format).

Qualifying Criteria

The Applicant or Nominee must be either a Gold Level Member or an Advocate Member of ISPI. To qualify, the research must:

Have been primarily conducted by the applicant or team. For student submissions, a faculty letter confirming the student’s lead role is required (to be uploaded separately in the online application form).
Systematically compare plausible alternatives relevant to the development or application of HPT methods (e.g., two or more experimental conditions).
Draw conclusions that are generalizable across relevant contexts.
Demonstrate clear practical implications and immediate real-world impact.
Be completed within the three years preceding the application deadline.
Have addressed all the outlined criteria listed in the applicant proposal.
Have been received by the deadline.

Distinguishing Criteria

Submissions for the Outstanding Research Award (OSR) will be evaluated across seven sections:

Section 1: Identify Research Question / Literature Review
Section 2: Study Design: Planning and Appropriateness
Section 3: Sampling and Population
Section 4: Data Collection
Section 5: Data Analysis
Section 6: Conclusion
Section 7: Communication of Results

Each section will receive a qualitative rating—EXCELS, MEETS, or BELOW—based on overall strength, clarity, and alignment.
For complete evaluation criteria, please refer to the award rubric.

For questions about applying for an Award, please email: awards@ispi.org