It’s common for PIs to point to the existence of a knowledge gap in the proposal introduction, often presenting it as justification for supporting the project. It is reasonable to note a gap; often there is much known about a topic but there is still key information missing. Capturing it could be useful in explaining observed behavior, in enabling better predictions, or even in solving a long-standing mystery.

While I’m not against the term knowledge gap, the existence of such a gap, on its own, is usually not sufficient justification for funding. Here are two downsides of depending only on a knowledge gap:

1. It positions the effort as little more than filling a gap. The image that comes to mind is shoveling soil or gravel to fill a hole in the ground, or pouring concrete to repair a sidewalk. While in the real world this is important work that keeps people safe from falls, it makes you think of bringing things back to their original condition – i.e., repairing, rather than creating something new and transformative. I’m certain the work you are proposing is more than a repair job.

2. Secondly, there are some things we just don’t need to know, at least not right now. Knowledge gap gives the reader no feeling for the relative urgency of the effort. One can always collect more data on something to increase our knowledge. You can count the number of trees on a hillside, but would that have any significant value? Maybe, or maybe not; we can't know without context.

Here is what to focus on instead:

The Importance: What is the challenge, and how is it an impediment to solving problems? This is similar to the knowledge gap but also different because it takes the argument a step further. Sure, there is information that we don’t have now that you plan to acquire, but by connecting that to specific challenges and problems you will be explicating why this lack of knowledge is a problem -- technically, socially or, ideally, both ways.

For example, not knowing the pathways by which a compound migrates through soil is a knowledge gap. To make a compelling case for filling that gap, provide information on specific challenges your research will address. Perhaps it will generate an understanding that can be applied to many similar compounds. Perhaps in certain forms the compound becomes toxic, and uncovering the transport mechanisms will inform novel approaches to remediation. The work’s importance may be obvious to you, but it likely will not be to all readers, so address this all explicitly.

The Need and Feasibility: What is the opportunity? Here you will explain which theories, data, and/or methods are exploitable to enable you to achieve your objective. There should be a reason why it will now be possible to accomplish this work – work that could not have been accomplished only a few years ago. If it could have been accomplished by now, then why hasn’t someone done so? There may be good reasons for this, but make sure you spell them out.

If explaining the importance and feasibility doesn’t come naturally to you, that’s okay. It can be harder than it looks, and for that reason at Wise Investigator we spend time working through this issue. With practice you will learn to explain your research in this framework. In today’s brief treatment I do not wish to imply that it’s easy for everyone to master. However, one way to sharpen your skills is to browse abstracts of recently funded NSF proposals and observe how those researchers described the challenges and opportunities in their projects.

In sum, if you use the term knowledge gap, be careful. The problem is not the words themselves but rather that many PIs habitually end their arguments right there. I suggest that you avoid the term – and instead focus on explanations of what information is now missing, why it’s missing, why you are the one to do this, and why now is the right time to make the investment of doing so.

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