SVF-8067 Designing research with relevance for the practice field - 5 stp

Practice relevance, practice led research and innovation have increasingly become guiding principles for developing high-quality research and for assessing research impact.

Students will be introduced to the main arguments for these principles, and to different approaches to design sound research projects in cooperation with frontline social services, service administrators, policy makers and service end-users.

Challenges for developing practice relevant research will be discussed from the perspectives of both academics and practitioners.

Lectures will discuss how to identify gate keepers to the services, how to identify research topics with relevance to the practice field, and common challenges encountered when building a net of respondents.

Students are encouraged to evaluate critically the contribution that they expect their own research project to make for the practice field.

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student:

• has state-of-the-art knowledge about the demand for practice relevance of research in public service provision in general, and in social services in particular.
• can make an informed choice about the most appropriate among a variety of approaches to ensure and enhance the relevance of high-quality research projects for different stakeholders in the practice field.
• can contribute to the discussion about reconciling academic standards with the call for practice-led, practice-oriented and practice-relevant research.

Skills

The student can:

• design and conduct sound research projects that meet the knowledge needs of different stakeholders in social service provision
• negotiate between the standards for high quality research and the knowledge demands from practitioners, policy makers and end-users.
• communicate research results effectively to different stakeholders in the practice field.

Competence

After the course, the student

• is conscious about the premisses for academic knowledge production and knowledge needs in social service delivery and policy making
• can make informed choices to enhance practice relevance of research.

Teaching methods include lectures by academics and different stakeholders in the practice field. PhD-students are expected to present their ongoing research and to assess the relevance of their work for the practice field and/ or policy making.

The duration of the course is three days (22,5 hours).