research strategy and action plan

How to write a research plan: Step-by-step guide

Last updated

30 January 2024

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Today’s businesses and institutions rely on data and analytics to inform their product and service decisions. These metrics influence how organizations stay competitive and inspire innovation. However, gathering data and insights requires carefully constructed research, and every research project needs a roadmap. This is where a research plan comes into play.

There’s general research planning; then there’s an official, well-executed research plan. Whatever data-driven research project you’re gearing up for, the research plan will be your framework for execution. The plan should also be detailed and thorough, with a diligent set of criteria to formulate your research efforts. Not including these key elements in your plan can be just as harmful as having no plan at all.

Read this step-by-step guide for writing a detailed research plan that can apply to any project, whether it’s scientific, educational, or business-related.

What is a research plan?

A research plan is a documented overview of a project in its entirety, from end to end. It details the research efforts, participants, and methods needed, along with any anticipated results. It also outlines the project’s goals and mission, creating layers of steps to achieve those goals within a specified timeline.

Without a research plan, you and your team are flying blind, potentially wasting time and resources to pursue research without structured guidance.

The principal investigator, or PI, is responsible for facilitating the research oversight. They will create the research plan and inform team members and stakeholders of every detail relating to the project. The PI will also use the research plan to inform decision-making throughout the project.

Why do you need a research plan?

Create a research plan before starting any official research to maximize every effort in pursuing and collecting the research data. Crucially, the plan will model the activities needed at each phase of the research project.

Like any roadmap, a research plan serves as a valuable tool providing direction for those involved in the project—both internally and externally. It will keep you and your immediate team organized and task-focused while also providing necessary definitions and timelines so you can execute your project initiatives with full understanding and transparency.

External stakeholders appreciate a working research plan because it’s a great communication tool, documenting progress and changing dynamics as they arise. Any participants of your planned research sessions will be informed about the purpose of your study, while the exercises will be based on the key messaging outlined in the official plan.

Here are some of the benefits of creating a research plan document for every project:

Project organization and structure

Well-informed participants

All stakeholders and teams align in support of the project

Clearly defined project definitions and purposes

Distractions are eliminated, prioritizing task focus

Timely management of individual task schedules and roles

Costly reworks are avoided

What should a research plan include?

The different aspects of your research plan will depend on the nature of the project. However, most official research plan documents will include the core elements below. Each aims to define the problem statement, devising an official plan for seeking a solution.

Specific project goals and individual objectives

Ideal strategies or methods for reaching those goals

Required resources

Descriptions of the target audience, sample sizes, demographics, and scopes

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Project background

Research and testing support

Preliminary studies and progress reporting mechanisms

Cost estimates and change order processes

Depending on the research project’s size and scope, your research plan could be brief—perhaps only a few pages of documented plans. Alternatively, it could be a fully comprehensive report. Either way, it’s an essential first step in dictating your project’s facilitation in the most efficient and effective way.

How to write a research plan for your project

When you start writing your research plan, aim to be detailed about each step, requirement, and idea. The more time you spend curating your research plan, the more precise your research execution efforts will be.

Account for every potential scenario, and be sure to address each and every aspect of the research.

Consider following this flow to develop a great research plan for your project:

Define your project’s purpose

Start by defining your project’s purpose. Identify what your project aims to accomplish and what you are researching. Remember to use clear language.

Thinking about the project’s purpose will help you set realistic goals and inform how you divide tasks and assign responsibilities. These individual tasks will be your stepping stones to reach your overarching goal.

Additionally, you’ll want to identify the specific problem, the usability metrics needed, and the intended solutions.

Know the following three things about your project’s purpose before you outline anything else:

What you’re doing

Why you’re doing it

What you expect from it

Identify individual objectives

With your overarching project objectives in place, you can identify any individual goals or steps needed to reach those objectives. Break them down into phases or steps. You can work backward from the project goal and identify every process required to facilitate it.

Be mindful to identify each unique task so that you can assign responsibilities to various team members. At this point in your research plan development, you’ll also want to assign priority to those smaller, more manageable steps and phases that require more immediate or dedicated attention.

Select research methods

Research methods might include any of the following:

User interviews: this is a qualitative research method where researchers engage with participants in one-on-one or group conversations. The aim is to gather insights into their experiences, preferences, and opinions to uncover patterns, trends, and data.

Field studies: this approach allows for a contextual understanding of behaviors, interactions, and processes in real-world settings. It involves the researcher immersing themselves in the field, conducting observations, interviews, or experiments to gather in-depth insights.

Card sorting: participants categorize information by sorting content cards into groups based on their perceived similarities. You might use this process to gain insights into participants’ mental models and preferences when navigating or organizing information on websites, apps, or other systems.

Focus groups: use organized discussions among select groups of participants to provide relevant views and experiences about a particular topic.

Diary studies: ask participants to record their experiences, thoughts, and activities in a diary over a specified period. This method provides a deeper understanding of user experiences, uncovers patterns, and identifies areas for improvement.

Five-second testing: participants are shown a design, such as a web page or interface, for just five seconds. They then answer questions about their initial impressions and recall, allowing you to evaluate the design’s effectiveness.

Surveys: get feedback from participant groups with structured surveys. You can use online forms, telephone interviews, or paper questionnaires to reveal trends, patterns, and correlations.

Tree testing: tree testing involves researching web assets through the lens of findability and navigability. Participants are given a textual representation of the site’s hierarchy (the “tree”) and asked to locate specific information or complete tasks by selecting paths.

Usability testing: ask participants to interact with a product, website, or application to evaluate its ease of use. This method enables you to uncover areas for improvement in digital key feature functionality by observing participants using the product.

Live website testing: research and collect analytics that outlines the design, usability, and performance efficiencies of a website in real time.

There are no limits to the number of research methods you could use within your project. Just make sure your research methods help you determine the following:

What do you plan to do with the research findings?

What decisions will this research inform? How can your stakeholders leverage the research data and results?

Recruit participants and allocate tasks

Next, identify the participants needed to complete the research and the resources required to complete the tasks. Different people will be proficient at different tasks, and having a task allocation plan will allow everything to run smoothly.

Prepare a thorough project summary

Every well-designed research plan will feature a project summary. This official summary will guide your research alongside its communications or messaging. You’ll use the summary while recruiting participants and during stakeholder meetings. It can also be useful when conducting field studies.

Ensure this summary includes all the elements of your research project. Separate the steps into an easily explainable piece of text that includes the following:

An introduction: the message you’ll deliver to participants about the interview, pre-planned questioning, and testing tasks.

Interview questions: prepare questions you intend to ask participants as part of your research study, guiding the sessions from start to finish.

An exit message: draft messaging your teams will use to conclude testing or survey sessions. These should include the next steps and express gratitude for the participant’s time.

Create a realistic timeline

While your project might already have a deadline or a results timeline in place, you’ll need to consider the time needed to execute it effectively.

Realistically outline the time needed to properly execute each supporting phase of research and implementation. And, as you evaluate the necessary schedules, be sure to include additional time for achieving each milestone in case any changes or unexpected delays arise.

For this part of your research plan, you might find it helpful to create visuals to ensure your research team and stakeholders fully understand the information.

Determine how to present your results

A research plan must also describe how you intend to present your results. Depending on the nature of your project and its goals, you might dedicate one team member (the PI) or assume responsibility for communicating the findings yourself.

In this part of the research plan, you’ll articulate how you’ll share the results. Detail any materials you’ll use, such as:

Presentations and slides

A project report booklet

A project findings pamphlet

Documents with key takeaways and statistics

Graphic visuals to support your findings

Format your research plan

As you create your research plan, you can enjoy a little creative freedom. A plan can assume many forms, so format it how you see fit. Determine the best layout based on your specific project, intended communications, and the preferences of your teams and stakeholders.

Find format inspiration among the following layouts:

Written outlines

Narrative storytelling

Visual mapping

Graphic timelines

Remember, the research plan format you choose will be subject to change and adaptation as your research and findings unfold. However, your final format should ideally outline questions, problems, opportunities, and expectations.

Research plan example

Imagine you’ve been tasked with finding out how to get more customers to order takeout from an online food delivery platform. The goal is to improve satisfaction and retain existing customers. You set out to discover why more people aren’t ordering and what it is they do want to order or experience.

You identify the need for a research project that helps you understand what drives customer loyalty. But before you jump in and start calling past customers, you need to develop a research plan—the roadmap that provides focus, clarity, and realistic details to the project.

Here’s an example outline of a research plan you might put together:

Project title

Project members involved in the research plan

Purpose of the project (provide a summary of the research plan’s intent)

Objective 1 (provide a short description for each objective)

Objective 2

Objective 3

Proposed timeline

Audience (detail the group you want to research, such as customers or non-customers)

Budget (how much you think it might cost to do the research)

Risk factors/contingencies (any potential risk factors that may impact the project’s success)

Remember, your research plan doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel—it just needs to fit your project’s unique needs and aims.

Customizing a research plan template

Some companies offer research plan templates to help get you started. However, it may make more sense to develop your own customized plan template. Be sure to include the core elements of a great research plan with your template layout, including the following:

Introductions to participants and stakeholders

Background problems and needs statement

Significance, ethics, and purpose

Research methods, questions, and designs

Preliminary beliefs and expectations

Implications and intended outcomes

Realistic timelines for each phase

Conclusion and presentations

How many pages should a research plan be?

Generally, a research plan can vary in length between 500 to 1,500 words. This is roughly three pages of content. More substantial projects will be 2,000 to 3,500 words, taking up four to seven pages of planning documents.

What is the difference between a research plan and a research proposal?

A research plan is a roadmap to success for research teams. A research proposal, on the other hand, is a dissertation aimed at convincing or earning the support of others. Both are relevant in creating a guide to follow to complete a project goal.

What are the seven steps to developing a research plan?

While each research project is different, it’s best to follow these seven general steps to create your research plan:

Defining the problem

Identifying goals

Choosing research methods

Recruiting participants

Preparing the brief or summary

Establishing task timelines

Defining how you will present the findings

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Research Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2028

Last updated: 6 March 2023

Version of 14 January 2021

Purpose and Scope

This document sets out the University of Gloucestershire’s research strategy and action plan for the period 2021 – 2028.
The timeframe of 2021 – 2028 has been chosen in order to map onto the expected phasing of the next Research Excellence Framework. Although no announcements have yet been made about how and when any future REF exercise may be run, our working assumption for the purposes of this strategy is that submissions will be due in 2027, with results announced during 2028, and that the REF rules on outputs, impacts and ratings will remain broadly as now. We have made that assumption because one purpose of this strategy and action plan is to guide the preparation of the strongest possible submission for the next REF. However, the scope of this strategy goes wider than the REF, to encompass all research undertaken by the University. Research is a primary function of the University, and achieving excellence in our research is a primary goal of the University, so we need clear strategic direction for our research programmes irrespective of future REF rounds.
This document has been developed through a process of iterative discussion including meetings of the Research Committee, a seminar for the University’s research leaders, and discussion in the Council and the Academic Leadership Group. It will inform the preparation of the University’s next overall strategic plan, which will be developed during 2021 for the period 2022 to 2027, along with the associated Academic Strategy (Education Strategy 2022-2027).
The University’s current strategic plan for 2017 – 2022 states as our four primary goals:
To provide a breadth and richness of experience that enables all our students to reach their full potential.
To provide teaching and support for learning of the highest quality.
To undertake excellent research and innovative professional practice which enrich students’ learning and create impact and benefit for others.
To build partnerships which create opportunity, innovation and mutual benefit for the communities we serve
While this strategy is most obviously related to the third of these goals, it is also relevant to the other three:
Students should have opportunities to engage with research as part of their University experience.
Students should gain an understanding of how research creates innovation, insight and improved practice in their future professional lives.
We have a presumption in favour of undertaking research collaboratively with partners.
We want our research to lead to wider benefits for our community.
In recent years we have made good progress in building the scale and quality of our research activity, albeit from a very modest base. In the 2014 REF exercise we submitted 56 research active staff to 6 units of assessment (UOAs). 44% of the University’s research was classified as world-leading or internationally excellent (3* or 4*). Our Grade Point Average was 2.38, our “research power” rating was 134, and we were ranked equal 98 th out of 129 HEIs for Grade Point Average [1] . Although that represented progress and a good outcome for the University, it was very small scale compared with the UK’s major research universities.
In the period since then we have significantly developed the range of our research. Our current expectation is that we will enter over 125 research active staff to 13 UOAs by the deadline of 31 March 2021 set for the 2021 REF. So we have more than doubled the scale of our research activity during the past REF period. Although we do not know what ratings will be given to our outputs, impact case studies and environment statements, our hope, based on assessments by expert external reviewers, is that around half of our outputs could be rated 3* or 4*.
During the same period we have doubled our contract research income from less than £700,000 per annum to £1.4 million per annum.
These achievements reflected sustained hard work by academic colleagues across the University to pursue their own research, engage with colleagues in collaborative research, support the creation of a wide variety of research outputs, build research cultures, bid for funding, spread shared understanding of research methods and standards, and embed research as a core academic purpose of the University. That commitment to building the University’s research profile has been impressive.
Our aim in this new strategy is to build on these achievements, and make at least equivalent progress during the next REF cycle.
We endorse the definition of research used in the Research Excellence Framework 2014: “a process of investigation, leading to new insights, effectively shared”.

[1] To give a sense of relative scale, UCL submitted 2,566 staff to the 2014 REF and their research power rating was 8,261.

Ambition, Goals and Success Indicators for Research

We want to be a research-rich University. The traditional descriptors of “research intensive” or “teaching led” do not work well for us as an expression of what we aspire to be. So we should restate the goal in our University strategy as:

“To develop across the University a research-rich culture in which research is valued as a core purpose of the University, all teaching and learning is enriched through research, and all staff and students have opportunities to engage with high-quality research which creates benefit, impact and enhanced professional practice.”

Within this goal, our research ambitions are that:
All students have their learning enriched by access to relevant research, in order to gain an understanding of how new knowledge and professional practice is created in their field.
Our research leads to impact and benefit in the real world, improving professional practice, and promoting social, economic and cultural enhancement.
Research is undertaken, presented and discussed as an integral and rewarding part of the life and culture of each subject community.
The University has a reputation for high quality research in our selected priority areas, making us an attractive place to work for academics with research ambitions.
The University has a reputation for being a good partner in joint research programmes, and actively seeks opportunities for research partnerships.
If we set ourselves the strategic intent of making equivalent progress during the next REF cycle as we have during the previous cycle, that would imply adding up to 7 new Units of Assessment (ie potentially up to 20 out of 34 current UOAs), increasing the number of staff submitted up to around 200 (which would represent around half of our current academic staff [2] ), and setting a quality target of two-thirds of our REF outputs being judged 3* or 4*.
Consistent with our wider goals and values as a University, we want all our research to lead to beneficial impacts and applications to professional practice, real world solutions and creative innovations. We remain committed to practice as research, particularly in the arts and media. We see a strong connection between research and professional development. Much of our research is rooted in the community, encouraging community engagement in co-creation, and has a concern for social disadvantage and vulnerabilities. Much of our research also reflects the University’s commitment to, and achievements in, sustainability. Although this strategy is concerned with research and therefore aligned to the Research Excellence Framework, our focus on impact and application means there is an important connexion with our knowledge exchange and business and community engagement strategy, aligned to the Knowledge Exchange Framework. We need to ensure that the two continue to complement each other, and that each evolves in a way that supports the other.
We want to make a reality of “research informed teaching” for students. That must go beyond simply telling students about new research publications. The primary purpose and benefit of integrating research in teaching across the curriculum is to promote in all students critical inquiry and critical thinking that enables them to be successful professional, creative and critical thinkers and practitioners, with an understanding of how to collect, analyse and apply evidence to create solutions. Our Academic Strategy (Education Strategy 2022-2027) will continue to prioritise successful integration of teaching, learning and research to create a vibrant academic experience for students within a thriving academic subject community.
We want to explore the potential for research activity that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, because we believe there is extensive scope in those cross-over areas for rewarding and innovative research activity. As described below, we already apply a thematic approach in identifying our research priorities, deliberately not bounded by subject structures, and will continue to do so. At the same time, we recognise that deep subject expertise is a pre-requisite of all successful University teaching and research, and that we will need to continue to align our research outputs to the subject-based definitions used for REF Units of Assessment.
We do not want our research to operate in isolation, or in destructive tension with the University’s other goals. Our central mission as a University remains rooted in service to our students and our community, enabling all our students to achieve their full potential and to progress to rewarding lives and successful careers. Our research must complement and reinforce that mission, creating benefit for students and the community. We do not want to create a hierarchy in which research is seen to have higher prestige and status relative to the value and recognition the University accords to teaching, support for student employability and welfare, professional connexion, and community partnerships.
We will use the following indicators to assess progress in delivering this strategy:
REF quality ratings for outputs, impact case studies, and environment statements, and the number of staff and outputs submitted to each REF.
External reviewer quality ratings for outputs and impact case studies, and the number of outputs submitted to external quality review each year.
Number of citations of research publications on the UOG research repository each year.
Research contract income won each year.
Number of Postgraduate Research students enrolled, and proportion successfully completing each year.
We do not intend to set a target for the number or proportion of UOG academic staff who should be research engaged in producing outputs suitable for the REF. We believe that achieving high quality in our research is more important than driving up the quantity of our research. We also believe we will be more successful if engagement in research flows from the enthusiasm, interest and professional ambitions of staff wishing to participate in research, rather than corralling the reluctant simply to meet a target. We also do not wish to imply that there is a hierarchy of value or prestige, given the importance of the contributions colleagues make in other career pathways to other University priorities such as teaching, student employability, and technology enhanced learning.

[2] As at September 2020, the University employed 369 academic staff on permanent contracts and 65 on fixed term contracts, excluding part-time hourly paid staff.

Research Priority Areas and Units of Assessment

In 2014 the University defined 6 “Research Priority Areas” (RPAs). The scope of several has been adjusted over time, but they have remained broadly stable in thematic scope. They are:
Applied Business and Technology
Being Human: Past, Present and Future
Creative Practice as Research
Environmental Dynamics and Governance
Learning and Professional Contexts
Sport, Exercise, Health and Wellbeing.
Annex A contains the current mapping of RPAs to UOAs and to Schools.
The RPAs were originally developed with the intention of identifying selected areas of research in which the University either already was excellent or had the potential to become excellent. Their purpose was to provide a common and shared thematic framework to shape how academic colleagues could collaborate on research programmes, aligning their individual outputs to a shared purpose, and to guide university investment. They were intentionally inter-disciplinary, crossing School and discipline boundaries.
The consensus in recent discussions is that the RPA model has been effective and important as a mechanism for providing consistent research leadership. It has served the University well and brought several benefits:
Because RPAs were deliberately not mapped onto the structure of Schools, they have provided a space within which interdisciplinary research has developed. They have been able to flex and evolve in the way the focus of research programmes and thematic connections have developed, starting with quite a loose and speculative concept of the RPA scope and focussing it over time in discussion with the research community on areas of interest and energy.
They have created a consistent, expert, focused leadership for research over the REF period linked to, but outside of, School management structures. That is now a valuable social asset for the University.
By drawing together that expertise on a regular basis through Research Committee, the University has been able to achieve a sustained and consistent focus on developing research across the University, with a deliberate approach to preparation for the REF.
They have developed a way of working that allows and expects all research leaders to play a part in collective leadership, moving away from the previous focus on individual, isolated research interests. The model is collegial, non-parochial, and has enabled a wide range of colleagues to participate.
They have combined in a useful way both a process/mechanistic function (working with their linked UOAs to manage research outputs, determine the allocation of funds etc) and a conceptual/intellectual function.
On the cusp between two REF exercises, it is timely to revisit the scope of our RPAs. They should align broadly with our academic portfolio, make meaningful connections between cognate subject areas, and reflect clusters of research interest, enthusiasm and expertise amongst our staff, all of which evolve over time. Much has changed since the RPAs were first scoped in 2014. For example, the rapid expansion of the University’s nursing and allied health taught programmes has created the potential capacity to build an aligned research programme. We have recently created a new subject community in engineering, and we shall be introducing new courses in 2021 in biomedical sciences, architecture, construction and the environment which will further extend the base of academic expertise on which our research can draw.
So we should re-scope our Research Priority Areas for the period to 2028.
The RPAs originally mapped onto 12 UOAs. A 13 th UOA was added in 2019 to recognise the successful growth of research in sociology. So our current list of target UOAs for the 2021 REF is:
4: Psychology, Psychiatry, Neuroscience
12: Engineering
13: Architecture, Built Environment, Planning
14: Geography, Environmental Studies
17: Business and Management Studies
21: Sociology
23: Education
24: Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure, Tourism
27: English Language and Literature
28: History
31: Theology and Religious Studies
32: Art and Design: History, Practice, Theory
34: Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management.
Meanwhile, as noted above, the University’s teaching portfolio and the research and professional interests of our staff have continued to evolve. This means that, as well as revisiting the scope of RPAs, we should review our target UOAs to ensure that we continue to target those which give us the best prospect of achieving good REF outcomes in 2028 with strong outputs and impact.
As we have seen with sociology, it is possible to decide quite late in the cycle to add further UOAs if a sufficient body of research outputs and impacts has been assembled. But it is also important to plan well ahead for UOA submissions. Being clear about target UOAs is important for establishing the thematic intent, character and centre of gravity for shared research activities, designing in impact and environment from the outset, and identifying potential research partners.
Given recent and proposed growth in our teaching programmes, potentially we could consider the following additional UOAs:
2: Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care
3: Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy
5: Biological Sciences
11: Computer Science and Informatics
20: Social Work and Social Policy
33: Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies.
Putting these various RPA and UOA considerations together, for the next phase of our research development we will re-scope RPAs and associated UOAs as follows:
One merit of the RPAs as they have operated to date is that they have flexed and evolved. So the RPA titles, and the mapping to UOAs, shown in the table are not immutable. We will use them as an initial proposition as a basis for planning and shaping our research direction and programmes for the next six years, and they will evolve over that period. As happened in the previous REF period, RPAs will be able to adapt both their title and their scope to meet changing needs and preferences. RPAs can work together on shared interests: for example the RPAs on “Culture, Heritage and Transmission” and “Creative Practice and Theory” have a shared interest in humanity, arts and culture. Research engaged staff will continue to be able to contribute to research programmes in any RPA to which their research is relevant, without being constrained by the School in which they are based for teaching.
As the next step, RPA Convenors and UOA Co-ordinators will be asked to undertake an initial scoping of the strategic direction of research in their RPA or UOA. RPA Convenors will also undertake an initial assessment of the prospects for developing credible submissions by 2027 in the potential new UOA areas identified above.
The current REF rules do not set any minimum threshold for the number of staff submitted to each UOA. For the 2021 REF, UOG is not planning any submissions larger than 20 FTEs, and one is as small as 4 FTEs. Small size is not of itself a problem if the quality of outputs is high. But a small staff base can pose problems in assembling the required minimum 2 impact case studies, and it creates higher risk around staff turnover. All UOA submissions need to be supported by a sufficient teaching base. So RPA Convenors need to form a view early in the REF cycle about whether it is credible to develop enough research outputs, including outputs of 3/4* quality, and both impact and environment statements, to make a worthwhile UOA submission by the end of the cycle.

Research Leadership

One consequence of the RPA and UOA structure is that the University has developed a cadre of senior research leaders in RPA Convenors and UOA Co-ordinators who add great value for the University. Compared with previous REF periods, all of our Professors, Associate Professors and Readers are now expected to contribute to research leadership, and the creation of a set of dedicated and expert leadership roles has been successful and powerful in driving growth and progress.
At present, they are roles, not posts, and they are not time limited. Suitable individuals have been invited to take on the roles as vacancies have arisen. Given the re-scoping of RPAs and target UOAs set out above, we will need to reconfirm existing, or appoint new, RPA Convenors and UOA Co-ordinators to give the best fit of research expertise, skills and interests, using an open, fair and transparent process that is consistent with our own REF Code of Practice. This appointment process will be overseen by the University’s Senior Academic Appointments Panel. Getting Convenors and Co-ordinators confirmed in their roles is an important first step so that the role holders can then proceed with confidence to develop their scoping and strategic direction for their RPA/UOA to 2028.
It should be part of the RPA convenor and UOA coordinator role to keep under review emerging leadership talent in their research area as a form of succession planning. The University’s annual Staff Review and Development programme for all staff provides the mechanism for colleagues to express an interest in this form of career development.
At the same time, concerns have been raised that, by keeping research leadership outwith the School structure, it has been harder for some School leaders to ensure research is well integrated in the activities, business plans, budget allocations, staff recruitment, and workforce plans of each subject community and School. This has led to varying levels of engagement by School management structures in objective setting and performance management relating to research. Pages 30 and 31 in The University’s REF Code of Practice shows how the relationship between RPAs and Schools is intended to work.
To improve communication between RPAs, UOAs and Schools, in future Heads of School (or a nominated representative from the School Senior Management Team) should be members of relevant RPA steering groups, and similarly the RPA convenor and/or UOA coordinator should attend relevant meetings of School Senior Management Teams. School Senior Management Teams should ensure that research regularly features on their agenda, and that RPA and UOA leads are engaged in those discussions.
The Senior Academic Appointments Panel will continue to award the titles of Professor and Associate Professor on the basis of applications from suitable candidates (internal and external). These awards will only be made for roles which have been identified by Schools as being needed within their leadership teams, mapped to the expectations in the relevant academic career pathway and supported by external references. At present, the number of Professors and Associate Professors varies greatly between Schools, depending both on the scale and maturity of research activity in the School and on the School’s prioritisation of research leadership roles within the leadership team. Over time, as we extend research activity across the University, we expect to level up the availability of research leadership roles carrying the Professor and Associate Professor title.
Across RPAs the appetite to appoint Visiting Professors, Visiting Associate Professors and Visiting Fellows has varied. This can be a useful way of adding research leadership capacity and networks. It is something we encourage RPAs and UOAs to pursue, putting recommendations for appointment to the Senior Academic Appointments Panel.

Identifying and Supporting Research Engaged Staff

The University’s REF Code of Practice details how we identify those staff who meet the criteria for submission to the REF, in terms of being independent, engaged researchers. It will remain important to us that we use the Code to ensure full application of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles in identifying and supporting research active staff. The set of procedures contained in the Code has served us well during the past REF period in supporting a significantly higher number of staff to become research active, operating primarily through the annual Staff Review and Development programme and the support of UOA co-ordinators and RPA convenors.
This has enabled individual academics to take the initiative in identifying whether they do, or don’t, wish to develop their research careers, recognising that at UOG we need to give equivalent support and recognition to a variety of career goals and contributions including excellence in teaching and professional practice as well as research. As set out in the UOG Academic Career Pathways , it will remain important that we appoint, value and recognise staff who can contribute well to the whole range of University goals for teaching, learning, professional networks and employability, with no presumption that academic staff must be research active in the sense of being REF-engaged and developing outputs for REF submission.
In each recruitment exercise for a new member of academic staff, it will be for the recruiting manager to determine what to say about requirements for research qualifications and track record in the advertisement and job description, depending on the balance of contribution they need to teaching, student support, employability, professional practice and other School goals as well as research.
The University has committed to the Concordat on the career development of researchers , which gives us a strong framework for supporting research active colleagues, including early career researchers, while applying EDI principles. We will continue to apply an expectation that all staff who wish to be research active have the capacity to achieve high quality research outputs which will be eligible for the REF, while recognising the need to support staff to develop their research skills and capability over time, including through coaching and mentoring. We support the work of our Early Career Researcher Network, which is represented on the Research Committee.
One area of our current practice that is too patchy and variable is the engagement of RPA and UOA leads in staff recruitment and in SRDs. If RPA convenors and UOA co-ordinators are to work with line managers in supporting staff to develop their research careers and produce high quality research outputs, there needs to be a closer link to the discussions that should be happening in annual SRDs about research ambitions and objectives in the case of research-engaged staff. However, at present, it is not clear that SRDs are being used in this way for many staff. It is a priority to ensure that all academic staff who are, or wish to be, research active can discuss their research ambitions and plans at least annually with their manager and with the relevant RPA and UOA leads as a basis for agreeing the outputs they should deliver and the support and mentoring they need in any SRD period. This is particularly important for Early Career Researchers.
It is already a requirement that new academic staff who do not already have a teaching qualification should undertake the Academic Professional Apprenticeship, with the PG Certificate in Academic Practice as the knowledge award. That academic development programme can include training in research as well as teaching skills, and the University will enrol suitable new members of staff on our Masters in Research (MRes) programme. This offer for our new staff will embrace fully both the UK Professional Standards Framework and Advance HE Fellowships, and the Vitae Career Development for Researchers framework that is core to the Concordat. The University also supports academic staff to undertake Doctoral study where they wish to do so and can commit to successful and timely completion.
In recruiting new academic staff, we will continue to apply the presumption that people should be appointed to the Teaching and Scholarship Academic Career Pathway, unless a specific case is made to appoint to the teaching and research pathway. Wherever academic staff then develop their research engagement and produce REF-relevant research outputs, we will switch job family by agreement to the Teaching and Research Pathway, as we have done in preparing for the REF 2021.

Research Funding

One area that needs attention during the period to 2028 is securing research funding contracts. At present performance is very patchy across UOAs. Some have secured substantial research funding, others virtually none. As a University, we have been over-dependent on EU research funding (Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020), given the expectation that following BREXIT, UK universities will no longer be able to bid in their own right for Erasmus+ research funding.
We need both to level up performance across UOAs in securing research funding, and diversify away from EU programmes. We need stronger incentives, support and performance management to promote successful research bidding. In the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) and the University Funding Office, and in some UOAs, we have some expert capacity in research bidding. As and when resources allow, we should strengthen that capacity and provide support for colleagues in developing the skills of successful bid writing, with workshops to share experience of successful bidding. The day of the individual researcher successfully securing individual research grants is largely over, and we need to build our capacity for bidding at scale, and in partnership with other Universities, particularly for Research Council funding. RPAs have an important role in putting together collective research bids, and bidding partnerships, of that type.
By far the largest investment the University makes in research is in the form of staff time agreed through SRDs and WAMs. We also allocate to RPAs and UOAs the QR grant funding allocated to us by UKRI/OfS based on previous REF performance, amounting to about £700,000 per year for the previous REF cycle. Each RPA produces proposals for spending its allocation, which are approved by the Research Committee. Typically, they will be spent on things such as staff sabbaticals, the appointment of research assistants, presenting at conferences, and organising writing retreats. During the past REF period, our QR income has been used to support growth in research quality and outputs, irrespective of the rating achieved by that UOA in the previous REF.
Hopefully that QR grant funding will increase if we do secure an improvement in our research ratings in REF 2021; and that will increase the money we can invest in supporting existing and new research capacity for the next REF. We may want to use some of that funding to build up the capacity for research bidding or for other forms of investment in building new research capacity. We would expect the formula for allocating funds to RPAs to continue to take account of the number of research active staff, and the number of research outputs assessed by external reviewers at 2*, 3* and 4*, seeking to balance considerations of volume and quality. The re-scoped RPAs will again be asked to prepare proposals for using their formula funding allocations in order to create the best foundation for continued progress over the period to 2028.
We have achieved real success in some UOAs (notably Applied Business and Technology and Learning and Professional Contexts) in securing EU funding that has supported important work in applied research development and the creation of international applied R&D partnerships and networks. That should remain an important part of our wider research strategy, albeit that it does not necessarily lead to lots of REF-able outputs, and that Erasmus+ funding will not be available in the next period. Being active in applied R&D consortia with partners is likely to become increasingly important as an aspect of the post-BREXIT and post-pandemic industrial strategy and economic recovery programme.

Research Centres

The University has in the past established a variety of Research Centres. Some have real organisational substance: our leading example is the Countryside and Community Research Institute. Others are largely a marketing tool with a website presence. We do not need to designate Research Centres as a way of co-ordinating activity in a given research area, because that function is carried out by RPAs.
It is good practice to review Research Centres periodically, and close those which have no real substance. In recent years, we have greatly improved the way our research is presented through our website and in our research repository, but ongoing development is needed, both to raise the profile of the excellent research we do and to inform potential PGR applicants about the scope of our research.

Research Culture and Environment

In the past REF period, RPA and UOA leads have had the primary role in developing a supportive research culture, developing annual plans for their respective research areas. Post Graduate Research Leads (PGRLs) in each School have had the specific role of developing and implementing action plans for PGR students in their Schools.
This Framework has successfully developed a stronger research culture, in some cases from scratch since 2014. We will need to apply the same methods in developing any new UOA submissions from scratch for 2027/8.
Some Schools and Subject Communities recruit much larger numbers of PGR students than others. The Business School is the outlier, with a very large and successful programme of DBA and Business PhD students totalling some 300 students. Those students are largely part time and highly dispersed (many being in Germany, Austria and the Gulf States), making it difficult to create a tightly engaged research culture. Other Schools have introduced professional doctorates, but some on a small scale, making it difficult to develop peer cohort identity.
Within its overall student number targets, each School needs to set targets for PGR recruitment and ensure it has a PGR subject offer that is attractive to applicants. That will include considering options for developing and delivering high quality online and distance PGR programmes, building on our experience both of the DBA and the rapid application of online technologies during the Coronavirus pandemic to create excellent and engaging learning materials and environments. PGRLs will continue to play a key role in the recruitment of, and support for, PGR students. The Head of Postgraduate Research and Chair of Research Degrees Committee, Professor Nigel McLoughlin, will co-ordinate the work of the PGRLs and the development and delivery of an annual action plan for post-graduate research.
Many other Universities make extensive use of PGR students to support both teaching and research programmes, to such an extent that there is concern in some cases about exploitation. There are examples in the School of Computing and Engineering of offering PGR students a package of support which enables them to combine working towards their Doctorate with teaching support and demonstration work to provide professional development and some income. Similarly, within the Environmental Dynamics and Governance RPA, PGR students are involved in teaching and presenting. Nonetheless, the University could do a lot more to value, and create valuable experiences and opportunities for, our PGR students.
When we advertise for funded PGR studentships, and when we award places to PGR students, regardless of whether they are in receipt of a studentship or self-funded, we should state clearer, stronger expectations about their contribution to collective research activity and culture, for example:
in their first year contribute to seminars;
in their second year talk about their research to other PG students;
in their final year, co-teach with staff.
That would support PGR students in building up their skills and confidence in a developmental way. We should also look at further possibilities in support of early career academics, and how we include PGR students within those opportunities for networking and development. The University has set aside space on each of our teaching campuses for PGR students where they can work and socialise together, but we need to do more to create a sense of community for our PGR students. This may be online as well as on campus.

ANNEX A: Mapping of RPA to UoA to Subject to School and Leadership: REF 2021

Rpa convenors and budget holders:, uoa codes and uoa coordinators: ref 2021, was this article helpful.

Action Research: Steps, Benefits, and Tips

Introduction

History of action research, what is the definition of action research, types of action research, conducting action research.

Action research stands as a unique approach in the realm of qualitative inquiry in social science research. Rooted in real-world problems, it seeks not just to understand but also to act, bringing about positive change in specific contexts. Often distinguished by its collaborative nature, the action research process goes beyond traditional research paradigms by emphasizing the involvement of those being studied in resolving social conflicts and effecting positive change.

The value of action research lies not just in its outcomes, but also in the process itself, where stakeholders become active participants rather than mere subjects. In this article, we'll examine action research in depth, shedding light on its history, principles, and types of action research.

Tracing its roots back to the mid-20th century, Kurt Lewin developed classical action research as a response to traditional research methods in the social sciences that often sidelined the very communities they studied. Proponents of action research championed the idea that research should not just be an observational exercise but an actionable one that involves devising practical solutions. Advocates believed in the idea of research leading to immediate social action, emphasizing the importance of involving the community in the process.

Applications for action research

Over the years, action research has evolved and diversified. From its early applications in social psychology and organizational development, it has branched out into various fields such as education, healthcare, and community development, informing questions around improving schools, minority problems, and more. This growth wasn't just in application, but also in its methodologies.

How is action research different?

Like all research methodologies, effective action research generates knowledge. However, action research stands apart in its commitment to instigate tangible change. Traditional research often places emphasis on passive observation , employing data collection methods primarily to contribute to broader theoretical frameworks . In contrast, action research is inherently proactive, intertwining the acts of observing and acting.

The primary goal isn't just to understand a problem but to solve or alleviate it. Action researchers partner closely with communities, ensuring that the research process directly benefits those involved. This collaboration often leads to immediate interventions, tweaks, or solutions applied in real-time, marking a departure from other forms of research that might wait until the end of a study to make recommendations.

This proactive, change-driven nature makes action research particularly impactful in settings where immediate change is not just beneficial but essential.

Action research is best understood as a systematic approach to cooperative inquiry. Unlike traditional research methodologies that might primarily focus on generating knowledge, action research emphasizes producing actionable solutions for pressing real-world challenges.

This form of research undertakes a cyclic and reflective journey, typically cycling through stages of planning , acting, observing, and reflecting. A defining characteristic of action research is the collaborative spirit it embodies, often dissolving the rigid distinction between the researcher and the researched, leading to mutual learning and shared outcomes.

Advantages of action research

One of the foremost benefits of action research is the immediacy of its application. Since the research is embedded within real-world issues, any findings or solutions derived can often be integrated straightaway, catalyzing prompt improvements within the concerned community or organization. This immediacy is coupled with the empowering nature of the methodology. Participants aren't mere subjects; they actively shape the research process, giving them a tangible sense of ownership over both the research journey and its eventual outcomes.

Moreover, the inherent adaptability of action research allows researchers to tweak their approaches responsively based on live feedback. This ensures the research remains rooted in the evolving context, capturing the nuances of the situation and making any necessary adjustments. Lastly, this form of research tends to offer a comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand, harmonizing socially constructed theoretical knowledge with hands-on insights, leading to a richer, more textured understanding.

Disadvantages of action research

Like any methodology, action research isn't devoid of challenges. Its iterative nature, while beneficial, can extend timelines. Researchers might find themselves engaged in multiple cycles of observation, reflection, and action before arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. The intimate involvement of the researcher with the research participants, although crucial for collaboration, opens doors to potential conflicts. Through collaborative problem solving, disagreements can lead to richer and more nuanced solutions, but it can take considerable time and effort.

Another limitation stems from its focus on a specific context: results derived from a particular action research project might not always resonate or be applicable in a different context or with a different group. Lastly, the depth of collaboration this methodology demands means all stakeholders need to be deeply invested, and such a level of commitment might not always be feasible.

Examples of action research

To illustrate, let's consider a few scenarios. Imagine a classroom where a teacher observes dwindling student participation. Instead of sticking to conventional methods, the teacher experiments with introducing group-based activities. As the outcomes unfold, the teacher continually refines the approach based on student feedback, eventually leading to a teaching strategy that rejuvenates student engagement.

In a healthcare context, hospital staff who recognize growing patient anxiety related to certain procedures might innovate by introducing a new patient-informing protocol. As they study the effects of this change, they could, through iterations, sculpt a procedure that diminishes patient anxiety.

Similarly, in the realm of community development, a community grappling with the absence of child-friendly public spaces might collaborate with local authorities to conceptualize a park. As they monitor its utilization and societal impact, continual feedback could refine the park's infrastructure and design.

Contemporary action research, while grounded in the core principles of collaboration, reflection, and change, has seen various adaptations tailored to the specific needs of different contexts and fields. These adaptations have led to the emergence of distinct types of action research, each with its unique emphasis and approach.

Collaborative action research

Collaborative action research emphasizes the joint efforts of professionals, often from the same field, working together to address common concerns or challenges. In this approach, there's a strong emphasis on shared responsibility, mutual respect, and co-learning. For example, a group of classroom teachers might collaboratively investigate methods to improve student literacy, pooling their expertise and resources to devise, implement, and refine strategies for improving teaching.

Participatory action research

Participatory action research (PAR) goes a step further in dissolving the barriers between the researcher and the researched. It actively involves community members or stakeholders not just as participants, but as equal partners in the entire research process. PAR is deeply democratic and seeks to empower participants, fostering a sense of agency and ownership. For instance, a participatory research project might involve local residents in studying and addressing community health concerns, ensuring that the research process and outcomes are both informed by and beneficial to the community itself.

Educational action research

Educational action research is tailored specifically to practical educational contexts. Here, educators take on the dual role of teacher and researcher, seeking to improve teaching practices, curricula, classroom dynamics, or educational evaluation. This type of research is cyclical, with educators implementing changes, observing outcomes, and reflecting on results to continually enhance the educational experience. An example might be a teacher studying the impact of technology integration in her classroom, adjusting strategies based on student feedback and learning outcomes.

Community-based action research

Another noteworthy type is community-based action research, which focuses primarily on community development and well-being. Rooted in the principles of social justice, this approach emphasizes the collective power of community members to identify, study, and address their challenges. It's particularly powerful in grassroots movements and local development projects where community insights and collaboration drive meaningful, sustainable change.

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Engaging in action research is both an enlightening and transformative journey, rooted in practicality yet deeply connected to theory. For those embarking on this path, understanding the essentials of an action research study and the significance of a research cycle is paramount.

Understanding the action research cycle

At the heart of action research is its cycle, a structured yet adaptable framework guiding the research. This cycle embodies the iterative nature of action research, emphasizing that learning and change evolve through repetition and reflection.

The typical stages include:

Identifying a problem : This is the starting point where the action researcher pinpoints a pressing issue or challenge that demands attention.
Planning : Here, the researcher devises an action research strategy aimed at addressing the identified problem. In action research, network resources, participant consultation, and the literature review are core components in planning.
Action : The planned strategies are then implemented in this stage. This 'action' phase is where theoretical knowledge meets practical application.
Observation : Post-implementation, the researcher observes the outcomes and effects of the action. This stage ensures that the research remains grounded in the real-world context.
Critical reflection : This part of the cycle involves analyzing the observed results to draw conclusions about their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
Revision : Based on the insights from reflection, the initial plan is revised, marking the beginning of another cycle.

Rigorous research and iteration

It's essential to understand that while action research is deeply practical, it doesn't sacrifice rigor . The cyclical process ensures that the research remains thorough and robust. Each iteration of the cycle in an action research project refines the approach, drawing it closer to an effective solution.

The role of the action researcher

The action researcher stands at the nexus of theory and practice. Not just an observer, the researcher actively engages with the study's participants, collaboratively navigating through the research cycle by conducting interviews, participant observations, and member checking . This close involvement ensures that the study remains relevant, timely, and responsive.

Drawing conclusions and informing theory

As the research progresses through multiple iterations of data collection and data analysis , drawing conclusions becomes an integral aspect. These conclusions, while immediately beneficial in addressing the practical issue at hand, also serve a broader purpose. They inform theory, enriching the academic discourse and providing valuable insights for future research.

Identifying actionable insights

Keep in mind that action research should facilitate implications for professional practice as well as space for systematic inquiry. As you draw conclusions about the knowledge generated from action research, consider how this knowledge can create new forms of solutions to the pressing concern you set out to address.

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Strategic Research Action Plans 2019-2022

EPA research provides the solutions the Agency and the Nation need to meet today’s complex environmental and human health challenges. The overall research effort is organized around highly integrated and transdisciplinary national research programs that are closely aligned with the Agency's strategic goals and cross-agency strategies. Each program is guided by a Strategic Research Action Plan developed by EPA with input from its many internal and external partners and stakeholders.

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A-E Strategic Research Action Plan 2019-2022

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CSS Strategic Research Action Plan 2019-2022

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Action Research: What it is, Stages & Examples

Action research is a method often used to make the situation better. It combines activity and investigation to make change happen.

The best way to get things accomplished is to do it yourself. This statement is utilized in corporations, community projects, and national governments. These organizations are relying on action research to cope with their continuously changing and unstable environments as they function in a more interdependent world.

In practical educational contexts, this involves using systematic inquiry and reflective practice to address real-world challenges, improve teaching and learning, enhance student engagement, and drive positive changes within the educational system.

This post outlines the definition of action research, its stages, and some examples.

Content Index

What is action research?

Stages of action research, the steps to conducting action research, examples of action research, advantages and disadvantages of action research.

Action research is a strategy that tries to find realistic solutions to organizations’ difficulties and issues. It is similar to applied research.

Action research refers basically learning by doing. First, a problem is identified, then some actions are taken to address it, then how well the efforts worked are measured, and if the results are not satisfactory, the steps are applied again.

It can be put into three different groups:

Positivist: This type of research is also called “classical action research.” It considers research a social experiment. This research is used to test theories in the actual world.
Interpretive: This kind of research is called “contemporary action research.” It thinks that business reality is socially made, and when doing this research, it focuses on the details of local and organizational factors.
Critical: This action research cycle takes a critical reflection approach to corporate systems and tries to enhance them.

All research is about learning new things. Collaborative action research contributes knowledge based on investigations in particular and frequently useful circumstances. It starts with identifying a problem. After that, the research process is followed by the below stages:

Stage 1: Plan

For an action research project to go well, the researcher needs to plan it well. After coming up with an educational research topic or question after a research study, the first step is to develop an action plan to guide the research process. The research design aims to address the study’s question. The research strategy outlines what to undertake, when, and how.

Stage 2: Act

The next step is implementing the plan and gathering data. At this point, the researcher must select how to collect and organize research data . The researcher also needs to examine all tools and equipment before collecting data to ensure they are relevant, valid, and comprehensive.

Stage 3: Observe

Data observation is vital to any investigation. The action researcher needs to review the project’s goals and expectations before data observation. This is the final step before drawing conclusions and taking action.

Different kinds of graphs, charts, and networks can be used to represent the data. It assists in making judgments or progressing to the next stage of observing.

Stage 4: Reflect

This step involves applying a prospective solution and observing the results. It’s essential to see if the possible solution found through research can really solve the problem being studied.

The researcher must explore alternative ideas when the action research project’s solutions fail to solve the problem.

Action research is a systematic approach researchers, educators, and practitioners use to identify and address problems or challenges within a specific context. It involves a cyclical process of planning, implementing, reflecting, and adjusting actions based on the data collected. Here are the general steps involved in conducting an action research process:

Identify the action research question or problem

Clearly define the issue or problem you want to address through your research. It should be specific, actionable, and relevant to your working context.

Review existing knowledge

Conduct a literature review to understand what research has already been done on the topic. This will help you gain insights, identify gaps, and inform your research design.

Plan the research

Develop a research plan outlining your study’s objectives, methods, data collection tools, and timeline. Determine the scope of your research and the participants or stakeholders involved.

Collect data

Implement your research plan by collecting relevant data. This can involve various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, document analysis, or focus groups. Ensure that your data collection methods align with your research objectives and allow you to gather the necessary information.

Analyze the data

Once you have collected the data, analyze it using appropriate qualitative or quantitative techniques. Look for patterns, themes, or trends in the data that can help you understand the problem better.

Reflect on the findings

Reflect on the analyzed data and interpret the results in the context of your research question. Consider the implications and possible solutions that emerge from the data analysis. This reflection phase is crucial for generating insights and understanding the underlying factors contributing to the problem.

Develop an action plan

Based on your analysis and reflection, develop an action plan that outlines the steps you will take to address the identified problem. The plan should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals). Consider involving relevant stakeholders in planning to ensure their buy-in and support.

Implement the action plan

Put your action plan into practice by implementing the identified strategies or interventions. This may involve making changes to existing practices, introducing new approaches, or testing alternative solutions. Document the implementation process and any modifications made along the way.

Evaluate and monitor progress

Continuously monitor and evaluate the impact of your actions. Collect additional data, assess the effectiveness of the interventions, and measure progress towards your goals. This evaluation will help you determine if your actions have the desired effects and inform any necessary adjustments.

Reflect and iterate

Reflect on the outcomes of your actions and the evaluation results. Consider what worked well, what did not, and why. Use this information to refine your approach, make necessary adjustments, and plan for the next cycle of action research if needed.

Remember that participatory action research is an iterative process, and multiple cycles may be required to achieve significant improvements or solutions to the identified problem. Each cycle builds on the insights gained from the previous one, fostering continuous learning and improvement.

Explore Insightfully Contextual Inquiry in Qualitative Research

Here are two real-life examples of action research.

Action research initiatives are frequently situation-specific. Still, other researchers can adapt the techniques. The example is from a researcher’s (Franklin, 1994) report about a project encouraging nature tourism in the Caribbean.

In 1991, this was launched to study how nature tourism may be implemented on the four Windward Islands in the Caribbean: St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and St. Vincent.

For environmental protection, a government-led action study determined that the consultation process needs to involve numerous stakeholders, including commercial enterprises.

First, two researchers undertook the study and held search conferences on each island. The search conferences resulted in suggestions and action plans for local community nature tourism sub-projects.

Several islands formed advisory groups and launched national awareness and community projects. Regional project meetings were held to discuss experiences, self-evaluations, and strategies. Creating a documentary about a local initiative helped build community. And the study was a success, leading to a number of changes in the area.

Lau and Hayward (1997) employed action research to analyze Internet-based collaborative work groups.

Over two years, the researchers facilitated three action research problem -solving cycles with 15 teachers, project personnel, and 25 health practitioners from diverse areas. The goal was to see how Internet-based communications might affect their virtual workgroup.

First, expectations were defined, technology was provided, and a bespoke workgroup system was developed. Participants suggested shorter, more dispersed training sessions with project-specific instructions.

The second phase saw the system’s complete deployment. The final cycle witnessed system stability and virtual group formation. The key lesson was that the learning curve was poorly misjudged, with frustrations only marginally met by phone-based technical help. According to the researchers, the absence of high-quality online material about community healthcare was harmful.

Role clarity, connection building, knowledge sharing, resource assistance, and experiential learning are vital for virtual group growth. More study is required on how group support systems might assist groups in engaging with their external environment and boost group members’ learning.

Action research has both good and bad points.

It is very flexible, so researchers can change their analyses to fit their needs and make individual changes.
It offers a quick and easy way to solve problems that have been going on for a long time instead of complicated, long-term solutions based on complex facts.
If It is done right, it can be very powerful because it can lead to social change and give people the tools to make that change in ways that are important to their communities.

Disadvantages

These studies have a hard time being generalized and are hard to repeat because they are so flexible. Because the researcher has the power to draw conclusions, they are often not thought to be theoretically sound.
Setting up an action study in an ethical way can be hard. People may feel like they have to take part or take part in a certain way.
It is prone to research errors like selection bias , social desirability bias, and other cognitive biases.

LEARN ABOUT: Self-Selection Bias

This post discusses how action research generates knowledge, its steps, and real-life examples. It is very applicable to the field of research and has a high level of relevance. We can only state that the purpose of this research is to comprehend an issue and find a solution to it.

At QuestionPro, we give researchers tools for collecting data, like our survey software, and a library of insights for any long-term study. Go to the Insight Hub if you want to see a demo or learn more about it.

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Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’s)

Action research is a systematic approach to inquiry that involves identifying a problem or challenge in a practical context, implementing interventions or changes, collecting and analyzing data, and using the findings to inform decision-making and drive positive change.

Action research can be conducted by various individuals or groups, including teachers, administrators, researchers, and educational practitioners. It is often carried out by those directly involved in the educational setting where the research takes place.

The steps of action research typically include identifying a problem, reviewing relevant literature, designing interventions or changes, collecting and analyzing data, reflecting on findings, and implementing improvements based on the results.

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Research Strategy
Strategy Action Plans

2023 Research Strategy Action Plans

University of utah health, national distinction.

Description

National distinction of University of Utah Health's research enterprise is critically important for faculty and trainee recruitment and engagement, competitiveness for federal and foundation funding, and philanthropic fundraising. As a leading academic medical center, we have the opportunity and obligation to produce transformative advances that change the way medicine is practiced.

Rachel Hess MD, MS

Christopher Hill, DPhil

Prioritized Goals

Optimize Faculty Recruitment
Optimize Faculty Mentoring
Increase individual faculty national recognition and celebrate scientific achievements.

Research Across the Translational Spectrum

Our robust research enterprise portfolio requires monitoring, balancing, and strategic planning to ensure that we are pursuing the optimal range of activities. It is therefore critical that we continually evaluate and, as appropriate, rebalance our research efforts to optimize the ratios of early/mid/senior investigators, wet/dry research, basic/clinical, T0-T5, federal/other funding, career/independent/programmatic funding, etc.

Proactively retain highly successful research faculty.
Ensure succession planning for research programs, centers of excellence, training grant directors, and research leadership positions.
Promote scientific excellence and innovation as core values.
Create an integrated infrastructure for translational/clinical research.

Partnerships & Multidisciplinary Research

Classroom teacher and students looking at laptop

We are fortunate that our U of U Health Sciences Center has an affiliated University Hospital, and is embedded within a major public research university that includes an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. As research becomes ever more interdisciplinary, we must continue to create strong partnerships across our different University programs, departments and colleges, and with other local and national health systems. Such partnerships create unique opportunities for individual investigators to have maximum impact, and also increase our ability to compete for major program-level grants that can support transformative research on major challenges that face our world.

Julie Fritz, PhD, PT

Heather T. Keenan, MD, PHD, MPH

Integrate research with U of U Health clinical practice by expanding intra-campus partnerships and collaborations.
Work with other health systems locally and nationally to identify the best possible research collaboration opportunities and proceed where mutual agreement can be reached.
Strengthen relationships with key stakeholders and collaborators to optimize the conduct and impact of late translational research.

Innovation & Commercialization

IP generation and technology commercialization are important innovation milestones, embody impactful translational research, and lead to the production of new therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and software that improves human health and spurs economic growth in Utah. It is therefore critical that we continue to support strong research discovery, IP protection, licensing, entrepreneurship, and commercialization efforts so academic discoveries are brought to market, startup companies create new jobs and economic growth for the state and nation, and Utah is established as a leader in life sciences.

Satoshi Minoshima, MD, PhD

Enhance our culture of innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization and the policies that guide these activities.
Continue our strong efforts for commercialization.
Promote programs that train future entrepreneurs.
Engage and partner with stakeholders including campus groups, PIVOT, policy makers, industry leaders and donors to elevate the value of HS innovations and discoveries.

Public Outreach & Communication

Robust research communication provides an opportunity to create common understanding of current research, its relevance within the University, to Utah and its strong biomedical and technology sectors, and society in general. Research communication in combination with education and clinical service missions support the University overall and its unique position in Utah and the Intermountain West. Expanded efforts must be made toward pockets of excellence (e.g., the Genetic Science Learning Center), base research communications, and leveraging the success of public health outreach (e.g., the Wellness Bus) to raise awareness for allied research efforts.

Julie Kiefer, PhD

Develop existing communication platforms and mediums for areas of opportunity and establish new platforms as appropriate.
Build connectivity to our primary audiences.
Develop impactful content that can be presented on platforms and shared with our various stakeholders/audiences.

Research Space and Infrastructure

High quality space increases research output by providing necessary capacity, fostering creativity, and promoting interactions between researchers with complementary expertise. At present, space limitations represent the single greatest impediment for increasing research productivity at U of U Health. Challenges include a simple lack of available research space, proper programmatic co-localization, and balancing the distribution of on and off campus research sites. Simply put, we have an urgent need for at least one new research building if we are to meet our goals for HSC extramural growth.

Richard I. Dorsky, PhD

James E. Cox, PhD

Build a major new wet-lab research building.
Revision of wet-lab metrics and establishment and implementation of dry-lab metrics.
Establish research space gap plan for the critical period between when health sciences research space is exhausted to when a new research building opens.
Establish health sciences vivaria master plan, eventual CMC replacement.
Establish new leadership and guidance on space.

Research Education & Training

U of U Health will provide outstanding research training that is multidisciplinary and innovative and that prepares our diverse cadre of predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees to become successful scientists in a rapidly evolving and complex research enterprise. Robust curricula cover the basic, disease-related, clinical and/or translational disciplines and provide the foundation for research experiences. Along with novel programmatic activities, strong mentoring and oversight, our programs facilitate development toward independent research careers by ensuring that trainees acquire the operational and professional skills to advance knowledge and improve health for all the citizens we serve.

Christopher Hill, D.Phil

Maximize external training support for PhD trainees, MD-PhD trainees, and postdocs.
Develop systems to support appropriate growth and excellence of graduate programs.
Train the next generation of clinician scientists.
Increase diversity of graduate students and success of diverse students.
Strengthen postdoctoral support and mentoring.
Create a standard of mentoring

Career Development

Recognized as an institution that values faculty as its greatest asset, U of U Health will provide a learning environment in which its research faculty can be nurtured to continually grow by gaining new technical, operational and professional skills that enhance career advancement, leadership roles and improve retention. Faculty development programs are responsive to the needs of faculty at early, mid, senior and leadership stages of development and ensures that mentoring through transition phases within the spectrum of grant opportunities is effective in helping each faculty reach his/her unique potential.

Rachel Hess, MD, MS

Robert Silver, MD

Improve quantity, quality and consistency of mentorship for early, mid-career and senior faculty, considering differing needs for career and scientific mentorship, and specific mentoring strategies for faculty from underrepresented groups.
Train the next generation of clinician scientists

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

EDI Research Back of Six People Wearing Blue Shirts Walking Outside

We are deeply committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as core values. It is established that more diverse groups make better decisions, lack of identifiable role models discourages participation, and failure to provide an inclusive environment diminishes potential well-being.

Foster a culture in which equity, diversity and inclusion are valued and continually advanced.
Promote scholarship on issues of equity, diversity and inclusivity.
Optimize recruitment and enhance retention and success of trainees, staff, and faculty.

Financial Strength & Sustainability

Sustainability and competitive advantage depend upon maximizing the funds available for research, both externally through grants, philanthropy, State, VA, etc., and internally through maintenance of financial models that support investments in research and promote research excellence. Sustainability will also require strong partnership with the hospitals, including appropriate funds flow and recognition that research distinction enhances clinical competitive advantage; issues that are discussed in the report on multidisciplinary research and partnership. Some most important objectives identified in this section relate to faculty, department, and initiative support and expectations – which have been merged with related objectives from other sections and presented as a consolidated section.

Optimize support for departments, programs and initiatives.
Understand funding success trends and maximize submission of competitive external grant proposals.
Maximize research support from philanthropy and the State (and Federal) government.
Optimize the size and impact of research investment.

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Research Strategy Action Plans

Health sciences strategy.

Please contact Jeremy Franklin with your feedback and ideas.

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Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2024-2028

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Research goals.

This strategic plan includes four major goals, which cover the depth and breadth of research necessary to improve the understanding of and to address the effects of alcohol misuse on individuals and society. These goals complement the Cross-Cutting Research Themes , Cross-Cutting Research Programs , and Supporting the Mission sections of this strategic plan.

NIAAA aims to advance research on the brain cells and circuits that underlie and are altered by alcohol misuse, and the complex relationships between alcohol misuse and physiological effects throughout the body.

a bar graph and trend on a laptop screen

NIAAA will continue to support epidemiological research to identify and track patterns of alcohol use and misuse, drinking-related outcomes and disparities, and individual and environmental variables that confer risk or resilience.

NIAAA encourages the development, evaluation, and implementation of culturally appropriate individual, family, school, community, and policy-based strategies to prevent alcohol misuse, alcohol use disorder, and related consequences.

NIAAA encourages research to refine diagnosis, enhance treatment, sustain recovery, and ultimately, to reduce the treatment gap for alcohol use disorder and other alcohol-related health conditions.

niaaa.nih.gov

An official website of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

Suicide is an urgent and growing public health crisis. More than 49,000 people in the United States died by suicide in 2022. That’s one death every 11 minutes.

National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

The 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention is a bold new 10-year, comprehensive, whole-of-society approach to suicide prevention that provides concrete recommendations for addressing gaps in the suicide prevention field. This coordinated and comprehensive approach to suicide prevention at the national, state, tribal, local, and territorial levels relies upon critical partnerships across the public and private sectors. People with lived experience are critical to the success of this work.

The National Strategy seeks to prevent suicide risk in the first place; identify and support people with increased risk through treatment and crisis intervention; prevent reattempts; promote long-term recovery; and support survivors of suicide loss.

Four strategic directions guide the National Strategy:

2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Cover

Strategic Direction 1: Community-Based Suicide Prevention

Goal 1: Establish effective, broad-based, collaborative, and sustainable suicide prevention partnerships.

Goal 2: Support upstream comprehensive community-based suicide prevention.

Goal 3: Reduce access to lethal means among people at risk of suicide.

Goal 4: Conduct postvention and support people with suicide-centered lived experience.

Goal 5: Integrate suicide prevention into the culture of the workplace and into other community settings.

Goal 6: Build and sustain suicide prevention infrastructure at the state, tribal, local, and territorial levels.

Goal 7: Implement research-informed suicide prevention communication activities in diverse populations using best practices from communication science.

Strategic Direction 2: Treatment and Crisis Services

Goal 8: Implement effective suicide prevention services as a core component of health care.

Goal 9: Improve the quality and accessibility of crisis care services across all communities.

Strategic Direction 3: Surveillance, Quality Improvement, and Research

Goal 10: Improve the quality, timeliness, scope, usefulness, and accessibility of data needed for suicide-related surveillance, research, evaluation, and quality improvement.

Goal 11: Promote and support research on suicide prevention.

Strategic Direction 4: Health Equity in Suicide Prevention

Goal 12: Embed health equity into all comprehensive suicide prevention activities.

Goal 13: Implement comprehensive suicide prevention strategies for populations disproportionately affected by suicide, with a focus on historically marginalized communities, persons with suicide-centered lived experience, and youth.

Goal 14: Create an equitable and diverse suicide prevention workforce that is equipped and supported to address the needs of the communities they serve.

Goal 15: Improve and expand effective suicide prevention programs for populations disproportionately impacted by suicide across the life span through improved data, research, and evaluation.

Federal Action Plan

The Federal Action Plan identifies more than 200 actions across the federal government to be taken over the next three years in support of those goals. These actions include:

Evaluating promising community-based suicide prevention strategies
Identifying ways to address substance use/overdose and suicide risk together in the clinical setting
Funding a mobile crisis locator for use by 988 crisis centers
Increasing support for survivors of suicide loss and others whose lives have been impacted by suicide

These actions will be monitored and evaluated regularly to determine progress and success, and to further identify barriers to suicide prevention.

2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Federal Action Plan Cover

Get Involved

Join the conversation. Everyone has a role to play in preventing the tragedy of suicide. Find social media material, templates, and other resources to support and participate in the shared effort.

thumbnail image of 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention toolkit.

Read the press release

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By Isobel Fisher 02/05/2024

African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) have released their latest newsletter which looks at their journey so far under their 2022-2026 strategic plan. This edition covers the Centre’s shifts, innovation, research initiatives, policy action, impact on communities, and the success of projects so far across Africa. Milestones; collaborative efforts and evidence of the unwavering commitment to improving health and well-being across the African continent is also highlighted.

To read this newsletter, please visit the APHRC website or download below!

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Research Strategies and Methods

First Online: 22 July 2021

Cite this chapter

Paul Johannesson 3 &
Erik Perjons 3

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Researchers have since centuries used research methods to support the creation of reliable knowledge based on empirical evidence and logical arguments. This chapter offers an overview of established research strategies and methods with a focus on empirical research in the social sciences. We discuss research strategies, such as experiment, survey, case study, ethnography, grounded theory, action research, and phenomenology. Research methods for data collection are also described, including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observations, and documents. Qualitative and quantitative methods for data analysis are discussed. Finally, the use of research strategies and methods within design science is investigated.

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Johannesson, P., Perjons, E. (2021). Research Strategies and Methods. In: An Introduction to Design Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78132-3_3

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