1.4 - Planning an involvement strategy
So far, questions about why, who and how to involve people lead to a plethora of answers. Research teams need to consider the answers appropriate to their particular project because whom to involve and how depends on the nature of the task.
| Ask | Think about | Because |
|---|---|---|
| How much time do you and they have? | The time scale for the research project, the time required for their tasks, preparation time, follow-up time. | ...other people may have different priorities and working practices which delay the researchers preferred timetable. |
| What stage in the project do you require input? | The skills and knowledge required and time available | … quick responses from one or two research aware service users may be essential for the proposal. Piloting leaflets with typical patients may improve the ethics application. A group meeting for discussing emerging findings may be most constructive. |
| How are you going to communicate with them? |
Face-to-face, telephone, email, post? Individually or collectively? At your workplace, their home ground, or somewhere neutral? |
…there will be differences in the time needed; the opportunities for asking questions, sharing and clarifying ideas; the effort of attending; the familiarity of the surroundings; and the cost. |
| How often will you communicate with them? | Once? Repeatedly? | …repeat consultations allow for mulling over. |
| How are you going to reach decisions? | Within the research team alone? With a wider group? | …formal methods of achieving a degree of consensus take more time, but offer more transparency. However, formal methods may capture the full range of views yet not achieve consensus. |
News feeds
Follow NIHR on Twitter