Users and Social Science Research: Policy, Problems and Possibilities

Abstract

Recent times have seen a significant reorientation in public funding for academic research across many countries. Public bodies in the UK have been at the forefront of such activities, typically justified in terms of a need to meet the challenges of international competitiveness and improve quality of life. One set of mechanisms advanced for further achieving these goals is the incorporation of users' needs into various aspects of the research process. This paper examines some of the consequences of greater user involvement in the UK Economic and Social Research Council by drawing on both empirical evidence and more speculative argumentation. In doing so it poses some of the dilemmas for conceptualizing proper user involvement. Introduction 1.1The last few years have seen an emphasis in many industrialised countries on harnessing publicly funded research for the goals of national competitiveness and quality of life. These goals have attempted to be achieved by encouraging researchers to pursue topics relevant to 'users' and conduct inquiry in a manner appropriate for them. Now in the UK, all the Research Councils and public sector research agencies operate within a language of users and a policy orientation which reflects the current political focus on wealth creation and quality of life. While attempts to improve the user and commercial relevance of physical sciences and engineering research in universities have generated significant, and sometimes critical, commentary, the social sciences are typically excluded from such analysis. This paper begins to rectify this situation. 1.2While funding changes towards users pose problems for universities and their academic staff (Tapper and Salter, 1995), this paper only looks at problems at the level of researchers. It explores the attitudes of a number of researchers conducting research relevant to users and asks what problems they face in light of this turn to users in funding arrangements. Evidence is drawn from a survey of academics engaged in projects deemed relevant to business by their funding agency, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). As this paper demonstrates, the process of making research appropriate to 'users' is not straightforward. Notions of what constitutes a proper user, for instance, are contested. As a result, it will be argued that the means of incorporating users in the research process are problematic. 1.3The paper is divided into seven sections. The next briefly summarises some of the major policy points surrounding the ESRC and provides some initial comments on user relations. The following two sections describe the survey undertaken along with the findings. Mixed with the findings are more speculative comments on the implications of user relations on the research process. The fifth section builds on these arguments and the problematic aspects of user involvement identified by respondents to consider an existing programme of user involvement. This is followed by a consideration of what types of alternative 'user' relations ...

Partnership experiences: Involving decision-makers in the research process

“…Researchers especially have been trained to think that one of the primary advantages of the academic system is its ability to support independent research conducted at arm's length from other competing in uences that might jeopardize research quality and direction. 11 Although our study revealed two situations in which there was disagreement (admittedly resolved by the researchers having the nal say), we did not uncover concerns about the quality of the research precipitated by decision-maker involvement. On the contrary, in some situations the decision-maker partner was perceived to have injected a new kind of rigour into the process, a sort of ongoing healthy self-consciousness about the contextual implications of the research.…”

“…As new directions for fostering greater use of applied research are developed, universities, research funders, researchers, and to some extent decision-makers, will increasingly need to recognize and support these activities 'as part of the ''real'' work of research'. 11 Our respondents (especially researchers) stressed the extensive time and effort required to facilitate engagement activities between researchers and decisionmakers. They also noted that these costs are not adequately recognized either generally by the academic system (including universities and research funders) or by individual researchers in their planning of the research process, observations which have been repeatedly recognized.…”

Organizational Factors that Influence University-Based Researchers’ Engagement in Knowledge Transfer Activities

“…Such consequent trends-what Delanty (2001) calls the "new managerialism" or "academic Taylorism"-have occurred for universities all over the world: for example, they have been noted by authors in the United States (Lynton and Elman 1987), Canada (Abu-Laban 1989), Australia (Trotman and Robertson 1992), Britain (Bridges 1998), andMexico (Ibarra-Colado 2001). For some scholars, Mode 2 has led to a loss of traditional academic autonomy-the end of the tenure system, the promotion of scholarship that is geared toward satisfying customer demand over disciplinary needs or individual curiosity (Rappert 1997;Trotman and Robertson 1992); for others, it has resulted in an uncomfortable disjunction between the new expectations and the old discipline-driven modes of work, including the persistence of discipline-based criteria for reward and advancement (Lynton and Elman 1987).…”

Living with motor neurone disease: lives, experiences of services and suggestions for change

“…If services are to be developed, and standards set and maintained, then people's lives and experiences of services must be fully understood. Moreover, within the broader policy context that stresses the involvement of service users in the formulation of policy and practice (Secretary of State for Health 2000a,b), there needs to be active engagement with people's views on service improvements (Rappert 1997). In the UK, the Health and Social Care Act 2001, which came into force in 2003, places a duty on services to consult with users before any changes are made to services (Her Majesty's Government 2001).…”