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What do policy people need to know about research translation?

katinadonise


I am sure many of us have had the experience of being approached by university researchers who have a project in mind that they think you will be really interested in participating in. It is their great idea; they are sure you will also think this is a great idea. It is certain to produce great papers in the peer reviewed literature and will be well cited, an important metric in the work of an academic. Your support will increase the chance the grant funding is approved, and the research can go ahead.


You maybe think this is an interesting research area, in a vague sort of way and so agree to support the project in kind. The project goes ahead, a policy brief is written and a presentation to staff of the outcomes. And then it is forgotten.


Can this be a different story?


Policy makers can have a deliberative, strategic approach to research translation. The first step is being very clear about the policy outcome you want. This may seem obvious, but actually the clearer you are about this the more likely all work will be tailored specifically to that outcome. From the start, if we think about translation into the real world, we think about proposals that are sustainable. These are unlikely to be projects or programs of work, but rather system level interventions. While there are other factors that are critical to policy making, such as political will, community relevance, funding, strategic priority, or stakeholder engagement, the focus of this blog is how we can think critically and deliberately about the information needs for good policy making.


There are gaps in knowledge everywhere regarding making policy. This could be missing information for parts of the policy intervention itself (e.g. what size tax is needed to curb soft drink consumption?) or to understand whole community sentiment on a contentious issue to counter the power of loud advocates (e.g. abortion reform) or to understand how big a problem is (e.g. prevalence of social isolation). Policy makers can map out the information needs across the entire life cycle of policy making, through to real world change. This could point out gaps that need to be filled to support the process.


Armed with what we specifically need to know, we gather what we can. Sometimes this is information need can be bridged by working on a review of the literature, where the research already exists. Expert systematic reviews will bring together all of the relevant literature, assess the quality of it, and taking the higher quality papers only, will summarise the state of the literature.


Sometimes, we need to produce more information. As policy makers, this often means we then need to find the best academic partner for the job. Being well connected to the local academic environment within the state but also nationally is important so you are ready to approach the right candidate for the research work. In addition to specific expertise in a research area, you may want to choose an academic for your particular project because they are well respected by your relevant decision makers. Their work is more likely to be taken credibly, and this can be capitalised on.


Next, we think about how this work can be funded. It may be that the cost of research is negligible, with academics being happy to do work with the opportunity to use your data and also knowing that there is a direct research translation opportunity. It may be that connecting with universities could mean you can host senior students that can do this work under the expert supervision of university academics. It may also be that you jointly apply for funding with the preferred academic partner, which is seen favourably by granting bodies because the research translation pathway is clear. Funding a bespoke PhD project with the research partner can also be an effective way to engage more deeply with a research area over time. This can be a top-up fund above the usual PhD stipend or a fully funded PhD grant. The policy business itself will generally need to include a substantial amount of in-kind time, with the added benefit of increasing the skill of staff and providing a more interesting work environment.


The design of any project should be undertaken jointly, with academics and policy makers working together. There are many aspects of design that influence directly whether the research will be useful or not. For example, if we want to find to what the majority of the population think about an issue in support of statewide or national policy making, we should look to an epidemiologically representative survey design. A poorly representative study may be misleading or unhelpful in supporting decision making. Another example is if we want to explore the nuances of why an issue occurs, then we might think about qualitative research and possibly including people with a lived experience of the issue, if relevant. The researcher skills are different for these different designs, and this should be considered in who is approached for the partnership.


Throughout the research work, including decision makers in the overall process of research is important. This leads to better buy-in from the decision makers and also leads to research outputs that are more likely to be tailored to the specific information needs for translation, making it easier for decision makers to adopt. This inclusion can be designed in through governance arrangements or be more ad hoc. Either way, the inclusion of decision makers should be considered and be supported for the entire policy making journey.


So next time you are approached by a university academic, you can take the opportunity to let them know what your research agenda is and explore how they can help you meet it!


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