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BY DAVID ALLEN
At October’s LARIA and LGA sponsored session on the role of research
in local government, all three breakout
discussion groups spoke about ‘getting the brief right’ as
an enabler for improving the perceived value of
research and therefore of researchers.
But, for my own part, I don’t recall a great deal of time being
spent on just what this meant. It has the feel of a ‘
known solution’: we all know that if we get the brief right at
the outset, chances are we will produce a piece of
good research.
It was only later in the day that I found myself puzzling over just what
it is that constitutes ‘getting the brief
right’. Is it possible, I wondered, that you could get the brief
right and still get the answer wrong?
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS
Experience has taught me that it is possible to work closely with your
client, the person for whom you are either
undertaking or commissioning the research, identify clear objectives,
produce a technically competent piece of
work, on time and on budget, yet still finish with both parties feeling
distinctly under-whelmed. So was the
brief wrong? Not as such, it’s more likely that it set out to address
the wrong question.
It is not a new thought to say that we should never accept any problem
as initially defined by our clients, but it
is worth remembering that they are, as Peter Block says, “giving
their best understanding of what they are up
against.”1 We, however, have the luxury of the outsider
to stand back from the problem and see it in
perspective. It is a crucial part of the researcher’s job to seek
clarification that may well mean we redefine the
problem or reframe the question. Sometimes, it can even lead us to a
wholly different question than the
presenting one. And, subsequently, we may recommend that they pursue
some other course of action rather
than use our particular skill-set. Whether this is the case or not, we
will certainly be on the way to being a real
help to them in their work.
By way of an example, some years ago I was asked to help some librarians
with a project to identify how
libraries could be made to appeal more to both customers and non users.
As well as a survey to measure the
opinions of the service as it stood, we conducted separate focus groups
to ask customers and non-users what
changes they would like to see that would encourage them to use libraries
more. The work was carried out
well, but when the results were presented to management their response
was one of disappointment. “Didn’t
they mention signs above the aisles like in supermarkets?” one
of them said. “How about using them for
young people’s evenings?” asked another. The list of possibilities
went on and on and I quickly realised that if I
had challenged my client more at the outset I would have found that the
presenting problem was not how to
ask the customer/ non customer what they want (I now know this only ever
provides very limited returns
anyway) but rather how to test all our various ideas for innovations
on the public. Nowadays, having fully
explored the situation, I would urge them to forego research and pilot
the ideas in selected community libraries.
There is after all no substitute for studying what actually happens when
you make a change to a product or
service.
A BRIEF GUIDE
With this in mind, I wanted to share with readers some practical questions
to ask yourself before you get too far
along the road to putting the brief together. In so doing, I am indebted
to two excellent articles on this subject,
one by Margaret Morgan and Kelly Allan 2, the other by David
and Sarah Kerridge 3.
Before you put together the brief, consider:-
- What is your
client’s
aim? What are they going to do with the data you generate? A really
good way to
address this is to ask them if they had the information tomorrow,
just like that, without all the tedious effort
of surveys and such like, what would they do differently in their
work?
- Then ask your
client why this particular piece of information would give them the
confidence
to make the
change and not some other? Perhaps get them to complete the statement ‘I
am prepared to implement
change based on the results of this research project because…’
- Consider with your client whether they could get the information they
need from existing records. They may
answer that the internal records are not accurate enough or perhaps
they are relatively inaccessible. Such
problems are seldom insurmountable and if they are likely to throw
light on the problem in question it could
well be better, not to mention less expensive, to follow this path.
It would certainly be to the long-term
benefit of the organisation to improve the records and make them
an on-going source of valuable feedback.
- Ask your client whether they have considered that maybe their front line
employees already know the
answers? This is sometimes more difficult than it should be and
their answer might lead you to conclude
that they perhaps tend to ignore their staff, maybe because they
are worried about the answers they will get.
Or worse, maybe their employees are afraid to tell them the answers.
- Jointly consider
whether a research project will provide reliable enough answers.
Maybe there
is the
opportunity to trial some changes, change the system in
some way and then see what really happens, rather
than ask people what they might do in a given circumstance.
As Peter Scholtes says, “Observable data are
preferable to opinion data.”4
- Finally, if you
are an ‘in-house’ researcher,
you may well know that your client has undertaken similar research
before, which has failed to lead to action. To avoid
this happening
again, explore why this is the case. Did
they doubt its validity? Were the wrong questions asked?
Maybe they did not know how to use the results?
If, after running through these questions, you decide
to proceed, you should be in a position to put together an
excellent brief from a base of a shared understanding
of what is needed and why. The foundations will be in
place to design and execute a piece of research that
will leave your client with the knowledge they need to
make a difference, which surely has to be the best way
to enhance the reputation of research and researchers.
DAVID ALLEN
Independent Consultant. Tel 07814 121342, Email DMAtao@aol.com
- The Flawless Consulting
Fieldbook and Companion: A Guide to Understanding Your Expertise,
Peter Block et
al, Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer (2001), page 393
- Efficient, Effective,
Inexpensive Marketing Research, Part II: Knowing Whether Market Research
is in Your Best
Interest … and When It Isn’t, Margaret Morgan and Kelly
Allan (2000), www.kellyallan.com
- What Do Customers
Want?, David and Sarah Kerridge (1998),
http://deming.ces.clemson.edu/pub/den/surveys.pdf
- The Leader’s
Handbook: A Guide to Inspiring Your People and Managing the Daily
Workflow,
Peter R.
Scholtes, McGraw-Hill (1998), page 237
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