Strategic Forum for Research in Education

Is there appropriate provision and incentivisation for the production of high quality and innovative applied research?

The framework for discussion proposed to participants at Forum II  (held on 17th and 18th June 2009 in Reading) described applied research as “interdisciplinary research applied to contemporary issues (typically research council, government or charitable funding of research-intensive universities and centres)”. This description served to structure the discussions at SFRE II. Participants highlighted further conceptual complexities, some of which are captured in facilitators’ accounts of the group discussions  at SFRE II.

Examples/ overview from countries

From 2000 to 2009, the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) has funded and managed a structured programme of applied research across the lifecourse covering a range of different topics. The cumulative programme budget has totalled some £43m – with major contributions from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Government Education Departments in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the UK Research Councils and JISC. The overarching aim of TLRP was to support and develop educational research leading to improvements in outcomes for learners of all ages, in all sectors and contexts of education, training and lifelong learning throughout the UK. Wales and Northern Ireland have benefited more recently with the extension of TLRP which provided a funding stream to support collaboration and interdisciplinarity and could therefore act to counterweight some of the effects of competition between the small numbers of HEIs in these countries. User engagement and partnership working have been central to the aims and ambition of TLRP.  

Applied Educational Research Scheme (AERS) has run in Scotland for the past five years (from 2004) and has been funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council. Using a collaborative approach, the aim of AERS was to produce high-quality research to improve school education in Scotland, with a focus on developing the Scottish research capacity (see Brown, 2008: Hamilton, 2009). The scheme consisted of three networks which were collaborations across HEIs and schools – these networks were: Learners, Learning and Teaching Network (LLTN), Network on School Management and Governance (SMG) and the Schools and Social Capital Network (SSCN). AERS also had explicit focus on user engagement.

Collaborative centres and projects are particularly important in Wales in order to develop capacity and high-quality multi- and interdisciplinary research, partly due to the impact of the level and distribution of QR funding in Wales and the implications this has for developing a ‘critical mass’ of researchers in one HEI (see  Davies, 2009). There are several multidisciplinary (and some cross-institutional) centres such as the Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice at Bangor University and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) which is based at Cardiff University but works across other HEIs in Wales. Networks across HEIs are also important and TLRP funding has supported isolated clusters of researchers through various projects. The Welsh Education Research Network (WERN), funded from 2007 to 2009 by the ESRC and HEFCW, links all eleven of the institutions undertaking education research in Wales in order to develop capacity through a social practices model and increased collaboration.

In Northern Ireland there is a broad range of work – both of research method and subject – taking place.  Some of this has been supported by the NI extension to the TLRP such as the Activating Children’s Thinking in Northern Ireland (ACTS) project. Examples of longitudinal work in Northern Ireland include the EPPNI (Effective Pre-school Provision in Northern Ireland), linked to the EPPE (Effective Provision of Pre-School Education) project in England, and the Youth Development Study (run by the Institute of Child Care Research and supported by the Research and Development Office) which follows 5,000 young people in Northern Ireland looking at a range of factors relating to their lives.

In England applied work is funded through government departments and by research organisations and charities. The EPPE project mentioned earlier is an example of a government funded longitudinal study. Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Nuffield Foundation are significant funders in terms of the charitable contribution to applied research.

The current state of applied education research

Discussions at SFRE II noted that some of the best education research was applied in nature (notwithstanding that by its very nature the field of education research has strong links with practice and policy, thus can be conceived of as “applied”).  This fact has also been indicated in the report of the Education Sub-Panel of RAE 2008.  However, remaining weaknesses pointed out at SFRE II included the relative small scale nature of much applied education research, with insufficient effort being given to how the findings may be ‘scaled up’ to have more impact for wider audiences. There was also a concern noted that the potential of investing more in larger-scale longitudinal work had not been fully explored. Co-ordinating organisations are crucial to minimise replication and waste in the knowledge management system, particularly when resources are scarce.  As the co-ordinated programmes of TLRP and AERS come to an end there is a space for a body with a co-ordinating role. 

What does high quality applied research look like?

High quality applied research is informed by theory and should be characterised by methodological rigour as much as other types of education research. Applied research is concerned with solving a practical problem and therefore usually demands an interdisciplinary approach. Communication and user engagement are crucial to the success of applied research. Ways forward to improve the quality and contribution of applied research involve practitioners, policymakers and researchers working together more closely, in order to foster greater understanding, trust and appreciation.

Sustainability

Participants at the forum expressed a concern that there was a serious risk in terms of applied research provision if consideration was not given to the lack of funding for this area as the AERS and TLRP ended, particularly in a time where all resources are stretched. It was felt that there was a need to think innovatively about future sources of funding for applied research that supported collaborative working and capacity building activity.

Further questions/ outstanding issues

• How can funding and commissioning structures be aligned to better support a broader understanding of applied research in order to enable more innovative, proactive and forward looking research?
• How can more innovative thinking about dissemination be fostered in order to ensure  that research has genuine impact on practice? This could involve a deeper engagement – with all funders and researchers – at the outset and throughout the research process. Impact plans, as required in ESRC proposals, are useful in this in that they force researchers to consider dissemination and user engagement from the beginning of the research.
• How can the work of SFRE be built on to move beyond disagreements over different perspectives in order to develop a shared understanding between users and producers of research? How can the gap between researchers and users be bridged? Should there be more formal/explicit reliance on ‘bridging’ or intermediary organisations (or units within research/user organisations) to bridge the gap? Forum III will return to these issues.