Joining it all up: developing research-practice linkages in the UK

Joining it all up: developing research-practice
linkages in the UK
Presentation to the School of Business and Economics, Åbo
Akademi University, Finland
Thursday 13th March 2014
Professor Hazel Hall

www.napier.ac.uk/iidi
Welcome to today‟s presentation
Page 2
Professor Hazel Hall
@hazelh
http://hazelhall.org
http://about.me/hazelh
h.hall@napier.ac.uk
0131 455 2760

Work of the Centre for Social Informatics
Page 3
CPD
Knowledge management
Library and Information Science, e.g.
research resources for LIS
Social media strategies with focus on knowledge
management, risk management and engagement
strategies
…
Research – research councils, Europe
E-participation
E-governance
Information Society
Library and Information Science, e.g. AHRC
Smart cities
…
Research: contract, consultancy, “other”
Knowledge management
Library and Information Science e.g. CILIP
Market research
Online communities
Project management
Social computing
Sociotechnical project evaluation
…
One of five research centre within IIDI
Distributed Computing, Networking & Security
Emergent Computing
Information & Software Systems
Interaction Design
Social Informatics: exploring human-
technology relationships in context, and their
impact, e.g. on organisations, communities

Two eras
Page 4
National projects: 2009-2012
Library and Information Science Research
Coalition
Developing Research Excellence and Methods
(DREaM)
Research in Librarianship Impact Evaluation
Study (RiLIES)
“Impact”: 2012 onwards
Professional bodies
Practitioner groups
Researcher groups

www.napier.ac.uk/iidi Page 5
To facilitate a co-ordinated
and strategic approach to LIS
research across the UK
(2009-2012)
To explore the extent to which
LIS research projects
influence practice (2011)
To create outputs to support
the use and execution of
research by librarians and
information scientists (2012)
To develop a UK-wide
network of LIS researchers
(2011-2012)

http://lisresearch.org
http://lisresearch.org/dream http://lisresearch.org/rilies

Resources still useful and
well-used

Previous work
New workCollect data
Establish an understanding
of the research context
Identify an opportunity
to make a contribution
Determine a research
approach
Analyse data
Relate findings to
research context
Published research
adds to research
context
Need for an
appreciation of:
range of available
methods/tools;
dissemination
channels; means of
ensuring that
research output has
impact, e.g. for
policy development.
Need for an
appreciation of what
has already been
done in the domain
in order to identify
(1) appropriate
research aims and
questions and (2)
methods to be
deployed.
Published research
directs future effort

Previous work
New workCollect data
Establish an understanding
of the research context
Identify an opportunity
to make a contribution
Determine a research
approach
Analyse data
Relate findings to
research context
Published research
adds to research
context
Need for an
appreciation of
research methods in
order to evaluate
findings reported in
the literature.
Need for an
appreciation of what
has already been
done in the domain
in order to identify
possible practice.
Published research
directs future effort
As consumers of
research, practitioners
need an awareness of
research processes

Importance of research-led practice
To exploit existing knowledge base for services (outcomes)
improvement  improve decision making for services delivery
To enhance the value of prior work
• to capitalise on significant investment in previous studies
• to raise the value of previous studies through reuse
To demonstrate the value and impact of service delivery
Page 10

… reduced anti-social behaviour
…contributed to improvements in
pupils‟ exam results
…attracted international student fee
income
… raised research assessment ratings
… increased literacy levels

Barriers to research-led practice: “evaluation by-pass”
(Booth, 2006)
Valuable research work is often not published at all
Multidisciplinary nature of the LIS literature, across publications of various domains,
makes it difficult to access
Much valuable research is held in grey sources: straightforward access not always
obvious, e.g. unpublished internal studies, summaries on listservs
There is a preference amongst practitioners for face-to-face dissemination channels
- tailored, lowered incidence of information overload, addresses issues of
fragmented infrastructures – but opportunities to attend professional events are few
Some practitioners suffer restricted access to social media channels – valued for
immediacy, updates on on-going projects
Page 12
Booth, A. (2006). Clear and present questions: formulating questions for evidence based practice. Library Hi Tech, 24(3), 355-368.

And lack of practitioner-led research (as opposed to
research-led practice)?
Irony of librarians helping others identify evidence to support their
practice, but less likely to do for themselves
Few LIS practitioners publish research in international peer-reviewed
journals – except North American librarians seeking tenure
Page 13

Time constraints of the practitioner role
Limited knowledge of research
approaches
Low internal support of research activity
Poor access to external support of
research activity, e.g. funding, mentors
Failure to recognise research of others
and own research activity/skills as such
Mind the gap (26 November 2006) by Luigi Rosa. Available from http://www.flickr.com/photos/30571787@N00/307814064, accessed 5 March 2014

To facilitate a co-ordinated and strategic
approach to LIS research across the UK
Bring together information about LIS research
opportunities and results
Encourage dialogue between research funders
Promote LIS practitioner research and the
translation of research outcomes into practice
Articulate a strategic approach to LIS research
Promote the development of research capacity in
LIS

To develop a UK-wide
network of LIS researchers
(2011-2012)

Funding to develop a UK-wide network of LIS
researchers
Build research capacity and capability
Raise quality and standards: research training,
practice, output, value, impact, and influence
Secure foundation for long-term research
collaborations – in LIS and beyond

Launch conference
British Library Conference Centre, July 19th 2011
87 participants
Programme included:
 2 keynotes
12 one minute madness presentations
4 breakout sessions
Plenary
Networking
Excellent feedback

Three linked workshops
Edinburgh Napier University & British Library
25th October 2011, January 30th 2012, & 25th April
2012
30 workshop cadre members attended all three
12 formal sessions:
broad research approaches
qualitative and quantitative techniques
research practicalities
“Unconference half hour” and networking

Concluding conference
British Library Conference Centre, July 9th 2012
93 participants
Programme included:
 2 keynotes
20 one minute madness presentations
Invited paper
Panel session
Award presentation
Networking

Project infrastructure: technical and social
Project web page http://lisresearch.org/dream-project
All events previewed, amplified live, reviewed and
archived online (slides, recordings, and summaries)
Online community site: http://lis-dream.spruz.com/
Linked Lanyrds: http://lanyrd.com/profile/lis_dream/
Twitter account: @LIS_DREaM
Twitter DREaM participant list:
https://twitter.com/#!/LIS_DREaM/dream-participants

Professional event amplification

Event reviews by delegates

The DREaM online community

The Twitter feed

The Twitter list

Participation and reach in numbers
5 events
led by 33 „official‟ contributors
for 213 on-site delegate participants
from 12 countries (and 4 continents)
not counting „remote‟ audience of ~80 blog posts,
~1000+ tweets, multiple web pages, SlideShares,
Vimeos, SoundClouds etc.

Brettle, A., Hall, H., & Oppenheim, C.
(2012).We have a DREaM: the Developing
Research Excellence and Methods
network. Paper presented at the 4th
International Conference on Qualitative and
Quantitative Methods in Libraries, Limerick,
Ireland, 22-25 May 2012.
1. Did we increase research capability
and capacity?
2. Did we raise standards?
3. Did we create a foundation for future
research collaborations?

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
In theory Applied in
practice
Expert
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Social network analysis 3 0 10 0 8 23 1 2 0 0
Discourse analysis 2 0 12 1 6 19 2 4 0 0
Ethics & legal issues 0 0 3 0 6 10 12 12 2 3
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
Research techniques from
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
Tying research output to
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Horizon scanning 4 0 7 1 7 17 4 5 0 0
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
Increasing research impact 0 0 5 0 8 13 8 10 1 2
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Research skills
audits conducted in
workshops 1 and 3

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
practice
Expert
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Research skills
audits conducted in
workshops 1 and 3

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
practice
Expert
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Increased
familiarity with
workshop themes

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
practice
Expert
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Overall growth
in theoretical
knowledge

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
practice
Expert
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Small increase
of application in
practice

Never heard
of this
Heard but
unfamiliar
practice
Expert
Ethnography 2 0 9 1 8 23 3 1 0 0
Action research 4 0 4 1 8 18 6 6 0 1
history 5 0 9 0 4 20 3 5 0 0
Web metrics 3 0 10 0 5 23 4 2 0 0
policy 0 0 8 0 5 14 8 8 1 3
Repertory grids 17 0 5 2 0 22 0 1 0 0
Data mining 0 0 11 2 10 21 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 0 93 8 67 223 52 57 4 9
Increase in
number of cadre
member experts

Critical incident technique - cadre reported
Increased research capacity and capability
Growth in knowledge and research confidence
Raised standards
Impact and influence – demonstrating research knowledge in the
workplace
Quality of training – new resources to share
Research practice – methodological choice
Foundations for future collaborations
Widened networks and research relationships

To explore the extent to which
LIS research projects
influence practice (2011)
To create outputs to support
the use and execution of
research by librarians and
information scientists (2012)

Addressing the issues: project conception
Researchers should involve practitioners in research design
Funders should support research that is relevant to the needs of the
practitioner community and – allied to this – an explicit goal of research
should be to influence practice
Research undertaken should have high level support: steering
committees, influential stakeholders
Page 37

Addressing the issues: project execution
Practitioners should be invited to participate in the research from the
outset, e.g. capacity building workshops as hook
Information about the project should be disseminated throughout its
duration (and not just at the end)
Page 38

Addressing the issues: project reporting
Output is best “digested” by practitioners in teaching and community
support materials
Recommendations should be made explicit – data should not be left to
“speak for themselves”
Opportunities for face-to-face delivery should be sought
Textual sources need to be presented in accessible language
Report in the “right” places: professional journals, open access, tweet
and blog, use key researcher connectors
Page 39

“Impact” 2012 onwards?
Professional bodies
Practitioner groups
Researcher groups
Page 41

Higher profile for
research skills

LIRG invigorated

Practitioner groups
One third of the book‟s contributors were associated
with LIS Research Coalition activities
Event programme committee, speakers and
delegates
DREaM network and cadre members
Prize winners
Page 44

Research groups
working more closely
with practitioners

Other general impacts of the
investment
New approaches to supporting LIS
at “industry” level - Coalition
New approaches to delivering
support, e.g. DREaM infrastructure
Popularising new approaches, e.g.
one minute madness (see July
2012‟s video)
Export to other subject domains

Joining it all up: developing research-practice linkages in the UK

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