Preparation Exploration Negotiation Implementation
Researcher: Research outputs are highly relevant to practitioner needs.
Practitioner: Research outputs and formats you are accustomed to aren't useful for our audiences. Researchers have limited skills and capacity for research translation.
Convergence: Plan early for research translation- both the products and dissemination plan. Expected outputs should be discussed and agreed to at the time of designing the research as much as possible, understanding that other ideas could come up after analyzing the research findings. Both sides will need to be flexible. Again, it is important to have clear research questions so that research outputs answer the questions and can then be translated into actions more easily.
Questions Researchers Can Ask:
What are the goals of the research outputs?
What are the expected outputs?
Who will disseminate the research outputs?
What kind of experience do you have in adapting scientific evidence into useful formats for practitioners?
Do you have research translation expertise on your team? If not, who else do we need to work with to assist in research translation?
Who are the end users of the research outputs?
What products could be most useful for you and for the end users? How will the products be used?
What is an ideal length, language(s), style, etc.?
What are the political, economic, and social factors that can shape the adoption of research into practice or policy?
Who should be consulted in the design of the final research outputs?Do you have editing/ graphic design expertise on your team?If not, who else do we need to assist in developing the final research outputs?
What events could increase uptake of the research?
What products can I produce for you beyond an academic paper (ex: brief, workshop, facilitation guide, toolkit, webinar, etc.)?
What research/evidence have you used to inform your approach to implementation?
Questions Practitioners Can Ask:
What are your previous experiences in evidence use and dissemination beyond peer reviewed literature and academic conferences?
How do the research questions help us to adopt and/or apply the findings quickly?
How will diverse contextual knowledge be integrated into the development of research translation products?
What time and budget resources are available to support stakeholder engagement during product design and dissemination?
What are the activities and strategies to disseminate the research?
What feedback processes can we establish to ensure the outputs are in a format that is useful for our audience?
What products do you plan to produce at the end of the research project?
Questions Both Can Ask:
Could a third party (editor, or technical consultant) improve the usefulness of research products?