Compliance-gaining strategies as revealed by the contents of selected federal funding proposals.

Abstract

This study involved the testing of a typology of persuasive strategies in a descriptive setting for the first time. The "Project Narrative" portion of a set of federal funding proposals was analyzed via content analysis. Three hypotheses involving the use of persuasive strategies were tested. A fourth hypothesis regarding the results of those tests was conducted. Recommendations for further study included analysis of the texts of various documents such as private funding proposals, the minutes of decisionmaking bodies' meetings, speeches, and advertisements. The data revealed that the authors of the proposals analyzed employed a variety of strategies; although they preferred reward-oriented strategies. Thus the investigator failed to accept any of the four hypotheses.