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Guiding principles for co-produced research
Produced by Professor David McGillivray, School of Business & Creative Industries, University of the
West of Scotland (david.mcgillivray@uws.ac.uk) for Spring into Methods course on co-produced
research, 14-18th September 2020.
1. Organising Co-Production: Design and Structure
You may have a commitment to the ideas associated with research conducted in partnership with
another organisation but have little experience of designing and structuring the arrangement to
ensure that expectations are clear for each party. It is, therefore, important to be able to initiate,
design and plan what a co-produced research project will look like. The sort of questions you might
ask yourself include:
• Do I need to formalise the relationship between my institution and the research partner,
and what impact might that have on our relationship from the outset?
• If I do need to formalise the relationship, who can help me with that task within my
institution?
• If the research idea is supported by funding, how are decisions made about allocating those
funds, who monitors spend and accounts for it?
• Do I need to identify a key contact within the partner organisation to ensure lines of
communication are clear from the outset? Does that person have time above and beyond
their existing role to support this additional activity?
2. Developing Working Principles
In co-produced research it is likely that you’ll be spending an extended period of time working with a
research partner that you may, or may not, already know. While in a University context, there is
often a degree of autonomy in the time researchers spend on their research, that may not be the
case for those working in the partner organisation. It is, therefore, imperative that proposed working
arrangements are discussed and agreed upon at the beginning of the relationship. The sort of
questions you might ask yourself include:
• How often and using what communication method do I communicate with my research
partner?
• How often should I meet with the research partner and where should those meetings take
place?
• How do I share information relevant to the research and how can I be sure that this
information is accessible, but secure, to both parties?
• What do I do if agreed working principles prove to be ineffective and I feel they need to be
changed?
3. Negotiating Ethics
When conducting any research, whether as a doctoral candidate or a full-time researcher, it is likely
that you will be expected to adhere to your institution’s research ethics procedures and protocols.
However, when an external organisation is a partner in your research this can add to the
complexities associated with applying for, and securing, ethical approval. Furthermore, securing
institutional approval may not necessarily mean that your research can go ahead as planned, unless
your research partner is also in agreement with the approach taken. The sort of questions you
might need to ask yourself include:
• How do I align the requirements of institutional ethics with those of the researcher
partner/project proposed?
• What do I do if my research partner is concerned that that institutional ethics procedures
are too onerous and time-consuming and fail to align with their own participant consent
procedures?
• When thinking of generating ‘impact’ from my work I want to publish blog posts, films and
photographs relating to the research, how do I ensure I have agreements for these outputs?
4. Building and Maintaining Relationships
When you’re involved in collaborative forms of research that involve working closely with people
from other organisations outside of the Academy, building strong, trusted relationships is crucial but
never easy. You may not have met the research partner until you secured a studentship, or the initial
contact within the partner organisation may have moved on and a replacement has recently taken
their place. The sort of questions you might ask yourself include:
• How do I forge a relationship with my research partner when we come from different
institutional settings?
• How do deal with potential disagreements, opposing views or tensions that exist in any
relationship?
• How do I manage private and professional identities in the research partnership?
5. Impact and Sustainability
Co-produced research can be viewed as a useful way of generating valuable impact outside of the
academic space, which is increasingly valued by research funders and universities. Working closely
with non-academic actors can lead to more immediate policy or practice changes and bring the
researcher closer to those that might benefit from research insights. However, the landscape of
impact is not without its challenges. Co-produced research can generate tensions when it comes to
presenting and disseminating research findings. Short term impact measures can be alluring but
might also compromise longer term sustainability between researchers and their partners.
The sort of questions you might ask yourself include:
• Do I need to develop a pathway to impact as part of the research project and how do I go
about doing this?
• How do I avoid exploiting research partners and participants when there is pressure to
promote the impact of research?
• When projects come to an end how can sustainability be factored in?