Planning research

The key components of a programme
1. Decide on the broad issue that you wish to know more about
2. Undertake preliminary research to see what has already been discovered about the broad issue
3. Undertake preliminary research to establish the total population effected by the broad issue, including professionals and policy makers who can act on the results
4. As a result of steps 2 & 3, see what gaps exist in current knowledge of:
a. the population and
b. the issue
5. Decide which of these gaps is most significant and, therefore, needs to be tackled first
6. Devise a question or questions that, if answered, could fill the gaps in knowledge wholly or partially
7. Establish all of the survey methods that could be used, including qualitive information as well as quanitive data
8. Decide which of them to employ to answer the question(s)
9. Include methods for cross-checking the quality of replies
10. Decide on the order for using the chosen methods
11. Conduct the survey using the chosen methods
12. Analyse the results to see how far they have answered the question(s)
13. Conduct further research, if necessary, to cover significant gaps identified by the first analysis
14. Make a final analysis of all results
15. Decide on the form of publication that can best distribute the results to the relevant professionals and policy makers and those effected by the issues researched
16. Produce the relevant papers or other chosen means of publishing the results
17. Communicate the data to:
a. Professionals
b. Policy makers
c. Others effected by the issues researched

Paul Newman
December 2015