Projects Finder Help

Basic Instructions |  ANY/ALL  |  Field Descriptions 

Basic Instructions

Projects Finder is not case-sensitive. You may enter upper or lower case characters.

Projects Finder searches character strings, including spaces, just as they are entered. Thus, "child" in the name field yields all projects which have this string of characters, including projects with the words "childhood," "children," "child," etc., anywhere they appear in the project's name. "John" in the Key Staff Last Name field yields "John," "Johns," "Johnstone," etc.

Searching Multiple Terms - ALL, ANY

"ALL" is the default search. If you select multiple fields on which to search, you should control your search using "ALL" or "ANY." "ALL" searches for records containing all the terms selected. For example, a search on Descriptor=Autism and State=NC would yield projects funded in NC that focus on autism.

Selecting "ANY" searches for records containing any of the terms chosen. A search using "ANY" would yield documents where at least one of the terms appeared in each project's record. "ANY" is used to combine terms that have similar meaning and broadens the search.

Field Descriptions

Project Name -- Use this field to search for a project when you know its name or part of its name. Enter any partial word, word, or words. Projects Finder will search for the string of characters you enter. It is usually helpful to enter a couple of words to reduce unwanted "hits."

Staff last name -- Enter the last name of the person whose projects you are looking for. Key staff include the primary administrator: Principal Investigator, Co-PI, as applicable; Project Director, Co-Director, as applicable; and/or, possibly, Project Coordinator. Because Projects Finder searches a string of characters, "John," for example, will yield all instances of "John" and "Johns," etc.

State -- Select the 2-character postal code of the state. A State Code reference table is provided. Projects funded in the selected state will be shown as well as projects funded in other states but with Co-principal Investigators or Directors located in the selected state (See States Involved below)

States Involved -- Projects may be active in states other than the one in which they are located. For example, an outreach project may have replication sites in several states, or a research project may have sites in several states.

Project Type --The OSEP-funded project types in Projects Finder are: "Deaf-Blind," "Demonstration," "Child Find Demonstration," "Progress Monitoring Demonstration," "Research," "Personnel Preparation," "Outreach," "Institutes, Studies, Centers, and Technical Assistance," "Regional Resource Centers," "Congressionally Mandated Activities," "General Supervision Grants," "State Improvement/Personnel Development Grants," and "Technology and Media." Click on the drop-down list and select the type in which you are interested. While most projects included in Projects Finder have early childhood as an exclusive or primary focus, some include early childhood within a broader scope of work.

Word/Phrase -- You may search for any character string (word, part of word, phrase) in the abstract (description), of the project. Since this will be an exact match, beware of variants such as autism, autistic, etc. "Autis" would yield more "hits."

Project Descriptors -- NECTAC has indexed all of the projects in Projects Finder by our controlled vocabulary of project descriptors. Searching on these descriptors enables the user to find all projects with a particular focus regardless of the language used in their abstract or in their names. The list of descriptors is in the drop-down menu on the search page. You may view the descriptors (PDF: 19kb) or print the file for your reference. The list includes: age ranges, disabling conditions, settings for service delivery, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, family variables, content/intervention variables, and personnel related variables.

Funding Status -- A search will yield all projects in the database, including those completed in 2002-2006. Often project products, Web sites, and other resources are available after a projects funding period is over. If you wish to limit your search to only those currently funded, or only completed projects, please select the appropriate option from the drop down list.