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Do we need “more research” or better implementation through knowledge brokering?

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• Published: 10 June 2015
• Volume 11 , pages 363–369, ( 2016 )

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“More research is needed” is an iconic catchphrase used by scientists worldwide. Yet policy and management decisions are continually being made with variable levels of reliance on scientific knowledge. Funding agencies have provided incentives for knowledge exchange at the interfaces between science and policy or practice, yet it remains the exception rather than the rule within academic institutions. An important step forward would be the establishment and professionalization of knowledge brokering (i.e., as a complement to existing technology transfer and communications departments). This would require an explicit commitment of resources by both funding agencies and institutions. Many academic scientists are genuinely interested in the applications of their research. This interest could be stimulated by providing support for the process of knowledge brokering and by integrating the natural, social, and engineering sciences to address broad policy- and practice-relevant questions.

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Introduction

Continuing concern is expressed in government administrations and funding agencies that policy-making and management do not benefit sufficiently from the knowledge generated by publically funded science (Chapman et al. 2010b ; EC 2013 ; Holmes and Scott 2010 ; McNie 2007 ; Pahl-Wostl et al. 2011 ; Van Enst et al. 2014 ). This is particularly important in the environmental field, in which most policies and management relate to public goods (e.g., natural resources). Since externalities and market failures are commonplace in cases of public goods, key roles for government and regulation are recognized. This has led to substantial public funding for science that could (or should) contribute to policy-making and resource management decisions although science is, of course, only one of many inputs into decision-making (Choi et al. 2005 ; Cullen 1990 ). An estimated 450 water-related projects have been supported by European funding, yet it was noted in the 2012 Roadmap for Uptake of EU Water Research in Policy and Industry ( http://www.hydroscan.be/uploads/b117.pdf ) that “Unfortunately, the dissemination and uptake of the results of these projects is limited”. Recognizing the need to improve the uptake of research into regulation (specifically the Water Framework Directive), the water directors of the EU and associated States funded an ad hoc science-policy interface (SPI) activity with the goals of identifying relevant available research as well as research gaps and improving the transfer and usability of research (EC 2013 ).

These concerns and issues are not new and many of the possible remedies identified echo past recommendations (Cullen 1990 ). In the interest of formulating a path toward effective knowledge exchange at the interfaces of science with policy and/or practice (referred to herein collectively as SP 2 I), it is worthwhile to review briefly the key impediments and measures that have been previously been identified. Although this paper focuses mainly on the academic perspective, cooperation with non-academic partners is essential to effective knowledge exchange.

Key impediments to effective knowledge exchange are well known

Three key impediments to effective knowledge exchange relate to the accessibility, relevance, and timeliness of research. In the first case, research outputs, which generally appear in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, are not written in a way that is accessible to managers and/or policy makers. In the second case, research fails to provide usable information that is needed for policy and/or management decisions. And, in the third case, even relevant and accessible research outputs may not be available at the time when they would be needed as input to decision-making for policy and/or management (Choi et al. 2005 ; Kirchhoff et al. 2013 ; Martini et al. 2013 ; Opwanya et al. 2013 ; Sarewitz and Pielke 2007 ). Cultural mismatches between scientists and decision-makers have also been identified, in particular, that scientists seek to draw recommendations from the weight of the evidence while policy makers often seek evidence to support favored policy solutions (Cullen 1990 ). These are exacerbated by the lack of personal contact between members of these groups (Choi et al. 2005 ) as well as by the persistence of linear models of knowledge transfer (Calow 2014 ; Slob et al. 2007 ), the disconnect with academic incentive systems (Hering et al. 2012 ; McNie 2007 ), and time conflicts with other professional obligations (Pennell et al. 2013 ).

Mismatch with the interests of (most) scientists and institutional incentives

These key impediments are easily understandable when they are considered in the context in which academic research is conducted. Publications in the peer-reviewed scientific literature are the “currency” of academia. Despite the recent push-back against the tyranny of journal impact factors (Bladek 2014 ), academic institutions have made scant progress in defining and applying alternative metrics for promotion and tenure. The acquisition of funding for research is also often strongly tied to the applicant’s publication record. The identification of research topics and the initiation of research projects are, in the ideal, driven by curiosity (Zewail 2010 ) though the role of opportunity (e.g., through application of new technology) and pragmatic considerations of funding and career advancement cannot be ignored. Critically for the application of research, science and scientists are fundamentally oriented toward questions and new knowledge (Firestein 2012 ), which implies that meaningful consideration of relevance is likely to receive insufficient attention in the setting of research agendas in the absence of external incentives. Furthermore, the cutting edge of research (characterized by active debate among researchers and, often, of most interest to them) does not usually provide the most useful and usable information for policy and management (Hering et al. 2014 ; Holmes and Scott 2010 ).

Knowledge brokering and boundary organizations as avenues for effective knowledge exchange

First and foremost among the various measures recommended for effective knowledge exchange at the SP 2 I is knowledge brokering (also called translation) either within academic research institutions or in separate boundary organizations (Bielak et al. 2008 ; Cash et al. 2003 ; Chapman et al. 2010a ; Cullen 1990 ; Kiparsky et al. 2012 ; Lemos et al. 2012 ; Martini et al. 2013 ; McNie 2007 ; Pennell et al. 2013 ; Phipps and Morton 2013 ; PSI-connect 2012 ; Shaxson et al. 2012 ; Turnhout et al. 2013 ; Ward et al. 2009 ). As outlined schematically in Fig.  1 , knowledge brokering is an iterative and bidirectional process of translation, tailoring of information for specific contexts, feedback, and integration. In addition to facilitating the uptake of research into policy and practice, knowledge brokering should help to identify the information that could be useful to support policy decisions so that research can be directed toward filling critical knowledge gaps. To promote information flow in both directions, knowledge brokers must have sufficient relevant expertise to engage with both scientific experts and policy makers or managers and must have a wide range of professional skills, most notably in communication (Phipps and Morton 2013 ). Knowledge brokers can sustain long-term partnerships with decision-makers that are needed to establish trust (Kirchhoff 2013 ; Pennell et al. 2013 ). Although knowledge brokers can be highly effective working within academic institutions, this is often embedded within specific projects without a clear professional outlook after the project ends (Kirchhoff 2013 ). Scientific experts within academia can act as knowledge brokers; this can be effective within targeted programs such as Cooperative Extension in the US Land Grant Colleges (Osmond et al. 2010 ) but can also be problematic due to the mismatch with expectations and incentives in academia as well as competing demands on time (McNie 2007 ; Pennell et al. 2013 ; Turnhout et al. 2013 ). Different models for knowledge brokering have been defined (specifically knowledge management, linkage/exchange, and capacity building); these are often combined in practice (Turnhout et al. 2013 ; Ward et al. 2009 ). A wide range of tools and concepts for knowledge brokering have been developed and are available through various (and variably maintained) websites (Table  1 ). Two of these websites, the Knowledge Brokers’ Forum (KBF) and research to action (R2A), provide entry points to on-line communities engaged in knowledge brokering.

Schematic representation of knowledge brokering positioned as an iterative process of translation, tailoring, feedback and integration that allows information to be exchanged (in both directions) between scientific and technical experts and policy- and decision makers

Knowledge brokering is well established within boundary organizations that operate at the interface between the scientific enterprise and politics or administration (Guston 2001 ; Osmond et al. 2010 ). Boundary organizations are hugely diverse, varying in size, scope, source and stability of funding, and legal basis or charter. They range from highly prestigious organizations with long histories such as the US National Research Council (which has an explicit mandate to “improve government decision making and public policy”, http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/ ) to large projects (see Table  1 ) that can function temporarily as boundary organizations but suffer from a lack of continuity. Boundary organizations can also be nested. For example, UN Water ( http://www.unwater.org/ ) is an inter-agency coordination mechanism established by the United Nations in 2003; it counted 31 members and 34 partners at the end of 2013 (UN Water 2014 ). Some boundary organizations maintain a neutral and independent position while others either take on an explicit advocacy role or are perceived as advocates, often based on the source of their funding. Many industries, for example, support boundary organizations (i.e., professional or trade associations) to share information among members and sometimes to set common standards but often for outreach and lobbying. Consulting firms can also fulfill many functions of boundary organizations, though their orientation toward client satisfaction and financial constraints can limit their objectivity.

An important role played by some boundary organizations is the establishment and maintenance of knowledge portals. Interactive web platforms or tool-kits can provide a valuable mechanism for the dissemination of information and the creation of on-line communities (Lemos et al. 2012 ). The accessibility and usability of such platforms may, however, be insufficient for the non-expert user (De Lange et al. 2010 ); “intelligent filtering” is needed to ensure accessibility and usability (Brunner 2014 ). The temporary nature of knowledge portals and lack of updating is a significant problem for portals that are developed under the auspices of projects (Opwanya et al. 2013 ). Clearly, the value of such investments is not optimally captured if products languish on the web in an inactive form or disappear altogether (Blind et al. 2010 ; Kramer and Schneider 2010 ).

The way forward for academic institutions

Research and academic institutions are increasingly called upon to bring their expertise to bear on problems of relevance to policy and practice. These problems often involve complex socio-environmental-technical systems and hence require the solution-oriented integration of the natural, social, and engineering sciences. Knowledge exchange at the SP 2 I is an essential component of increasing the relevance of academic research, which requires the targeted commitment of human and financial resources by research and academic institutions, funding agencies, and government administrations. SP 2 I activities can be explicitly incorporated into relevant projects with a clearly defined scope and dedicated budget (Pennell et al. 2013 ; Slob et al. 2007 ). Targeted support will be required to allow early involvement of policy makers, managers, and stakeholders from industry and other interest groups in project planning. This would promote a need-oriented focus for research as well as a balancing of competing interests that could help to avoid later conflicts. Continuity is particularly important since it would allow scientific and technical knowledge to be quickly marshalled in response to events that create “windows of opportunity”. These activities can benefit from previously-developed tools and concepts (PSI-connect 2012 ; Young et al. 2013 ) as well as the experience gained from past projects (Martini et al. 2013 ; Shaxson et al. 2012 ) if sufficient investments of time and resources are made (Ward et al. 2009 ). The skills and role of knowledge brokers must be respected and supported; if such individuals are to be embedded in research and academic institutions, their positioning needs to be incentivized, clarified, and incorporated into institutional structures (Phipps and Morton 2013 ; Shaxson et al. 2012 ; Turnhout et al. 2013 ).

Nearly all academic and research institutions house support departments for communications and technology transfer; an analogous department for knowledge exchange could provide an institutional home for knowledge brokers and a platform for the uptake and application of SPI tools and/or support and maintenance of SPI web portals. It would be important that such knowledge exchange departments not operate in the “supply-driven” mode that is characteristic of most institutional communications departments but rather fulfill an active and iterative brokering function. This could promote the identification and prioritization of research needed to support policy development and implementation. Academic and research institutions could also formalize agreements with external boundary organizations to ensure stability and continuity for knowledge exchange activities. In either case, cooperation among boundary organizations and knowledge brokers to share effective concepts, strategies, and practices should be actively promoted. Such harvesting of experience should also include real-world examples of both success and failure (Brunner 2014 ). Ideally, SP 2 I activities would no longer be ad hoc but rather sustainable and systematic (EC 2013 ).

Even if knowledge brokering becomes professionalized and established within academic or research institutions, knowledge brokers will need scientific experts as partners. There is dubious value to attempting to force this cooperation. Even within the context of the EU Framework Programs, which have strict requirements for knowledge exchange, surveys have indicated that project participants complied with these requirements reluctantly and often did not follow through (Holmes and Scott 2010 ). At the same time, there are some scientists who are genuinely interested in the application of their research; they should be supported and encouraged within their institutions (Hering et al. 2012 ). It is not necessary, and perhaps not even desirable, for scientific experts to take the full responsibility for knowledge brokering (Pennell et al. 2013 ), but there is a wide variety of ways in which scientific experts can contribute fruitfully to knowledge exchange (Hering et al. 2014 ; Spruijt et al. 2014 ). Appropriate support for these interested individuals (i.e., provided by knowledge brokers with relevant information about effective tools and processes) can help them to avoid wasting their time in rediscovering what does and does not work at the SP 2 I. In this context, the engagement of social scientists could provide a better conceptual basis for effective knowledge exchange, providing insight into the processes of policy implementation and political decision-making. It would also be productive for experts from the natural and social sciences to interact with their colleagues in engineering, who have professional experience collaborating with practitioners and stakeholders. Scientists and engineers exhibit different “habits of mind”, partly from natural inclination and partly developed through their training. The engineering habits of mind—systems thinking, creativity, optimism, collaboration, communication, and ethical considerations (Katehi et al. 2009 )—are badly needed at the SP 2 I.

Knowledge brokers based in academic or research institutions will also need to establish strong and stable relationships with their counterparts in politics, administration, industry, and other target groups. Cooperation with non-academic boundary organizations will be important to complement and extend the contacts of academic knowledge brokers. The distribution of knowledge brokering activities across various types of organizations should promote the effectiveness of knowledge brokering and reflect the contexts in which knowledge is produced and applied.

Much has been written about the potential for science to contribute to decision-making in policy and management. In the environmental sciences, for example, there is an increasing understanding and acceptance of the influence of human activities on our environment at all scales, up to and including the global scale (Steffen et al. 2011 ). With this comes the realization that there are “not one but many ecological futures” and that “we must actually design and choose our future” (Priscoli 2004 ). Since environmental issues are inherently embedded in socio-environmental-technical systems and arise in specific contexts, these aspects cannot be ignored either in the decision-making process or in research that seeks to inform this process. The incorporation of scientific knowledge into decision-making for policy and management cannot guarantee that the best decisions are made and neither is scientific input the only, or even the most important, input to decision-making (Choi et al. 2005 ; Cullen 1990 ). Nonetheless, decisions that are inconsistent with the underlying biophysical reality are fundamentally flawed and publically funded science should help to avoid such outcomes. “Going to scale” with knowledge brokering offers the best chance for decision-making in policy and management to benefit from scientific knowledge.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my colleagues from Eawag (M. Fischer, S. Hoffmann, N. Kunz) as well as R. Kase (Swiss Center for Applied Ecotoxicology/Eawag), K. Ingold (University of Bern/Eawag), R. Brunner (University of Colorado) and B. Hansjürgens (Helmholtz UFZ) for their helpful comments.

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Hering, J.G. Do we need “more research” or better implementation through knowledge brokering?. Sustain Sci 11 , 363–369 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0314-8

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The push for more equitable research is changing the field

Psychologists are challenging traditional thinking about their research, including how it is conducted and who it includes

Vol. 54 No. 1 Print version: page 49

• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
• Conducting Research

[ This article is part of the 2023 Trends Report ]

Psychologists are challenging traditional thinking about research—reevaluating how research terms are defined, how research is conducted, who is doing it, and what kinds of research are rewarded.

This includes making sure one’s research questions consider historically marginalized groups and the entire human experience, along with keeping in mind who is conducting the research and how that impacts study bias.

Psychology journals are also undergoing incremental changes. Specifically, more and more publications are noticing the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion in their scientific content and are taking steps to remedy decades of deeply racist and prejudiced practices that leave out key voices.

The field is also reevaluating how it views qualitative research—long considered to be less rigorous or robust than quantitative research. Historically, quantitative research with its measurable and empirical data has been thought of as more vital to the field than qualitative research. Yet this methodological approach can in fact be myopic and harm marginalized populations.

“I truly believe that qualitative data can provide insight that quantitative simply cannot,” said Lucy Arellano, PhD, an educational psychologist at Texas Tech University. Arellano has written papers about qualitative research and pointed to the fact that quantitative research tends to maintain the status quo, thwart critiquing, and further underscore misconceptions of deficits in marginalized populations ( Education Sciences , Vol. 12, No. 2, 2022) .

“In order to make transformational change, people need to hear the story. They need to connect on a human-emotion type of level that can only be conveyed via qualitative data,” Arellano said.

With regard to all these changes, there are still many challenging conversations to be had, but “when it comes to how we think about psychology research, we’re moving in the right direction,” said Mitch Prinstein, PhD, chief science officer at APA. “We’re starting to make some efforts to diversify our science and think differently about the way to conduct science.”

A push for more inclusive research

Psychology has a long history of being led primarily by White men and including mainly White study participants. A 2010 analysis of articles published in six of the field’s leading journals showed that 95% of all samples came from what the authors called Weird societies—Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic ( Henrich, J., et al., Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Vol. 33, No. 2–3, 2010 ).

This trend has continued throughout the years. An analysis of 26,000 empirical articles on cognitive, developmental, and social psychology published from 1974 to 2018 found that questions of race tend to be largely forgotten and most journal publishers are White. Additionally, the studies that do take race into consideration are usually written by White scientists and employ few participants of color ( Roberts, S. O., et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science , Vol. 15, No. 6, 2020 ).

However, psychologists are starting to embrace the need for change when it comes to how research is planned and conducted, according to Mia Smith-Bynum, PhD, senior director for science equity, diversity, and inclusion at APA. Specifically, psychologists with privileged identities are starting to have more uncomfortable yet necessary conversations about how they can help change these harmful research practices that leave out a diverse range of people.

“I’ve mentored two White men, and they were very forthright on wanting to be better and having honest and thoughtful conversations about race,” Smith-Bynum said. “This gives me hope. I didn’t really see this happening in the first 10 or so years of my career. People are now looking for content, skills, and guidance on how to do better.”

Rebecca Gaines, a PhD candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Denver, has also observed that more psychologists who are entering the field are talking about the need for intersectionality and inclusivity in their research. They are asking harder questions at the beginning of their research projects, Gaines said, including: What groups of people have been historically left out of this type of research? What can we do early on to make sure they are included so that this research is more generalizable and can benefit a larger group of people?

Changing publication guidelines

Like psychologists and their study participants, the realm of publishing of psychology journals has also long been a homogenous and close-minded process.

To help remedy this, APA’s publishing program is implementing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives . This framework, which was developed in 2018, advocates for equitable content that is representative of all people and communities; inclusive science that addresses inequities in psychology research; a diverse community of authors, editors, and readers; and an inclusive publishing industry that promotes a more equitable experience for underrepresented scientists.

The Asian American Journal of Psychology is one of the publications taking charge in this regard. “Research on Asian American populations is so overlooked in many other areas of psychology,” said June Kim, PhD, who edits the journal. “At AAJP , researchers don’t have to justify why it’s important to study the psychological processes of a specific racial or minoritized group. We take it as a matter of course that research about Asian Americans is important.”

This work, however, doesn’t mean publishing studies that simply compare people of color with White people. “We don’t expect researchers to treat the psychological processes of Asian Americans in contrast to other groups,” said Kim. “That is, expecting a comparison of Asian Americans versus White Americans, or something like that, where the psychological processes of Asian Americans exist in contrast to psychological processes of other groups.”

Instead, Kim and her colleagues have dedicated specific issues to focus readers’ attention on Asian American science. “Special issues have been a way to spotlight specific subfields within Asian American psychology to provide additional focus and attention to that specific subfield,” she said. These include the issues “ The Growth of Filipino/x/a American Psychology ” and “ Promoting Health and Well-Being in Forcibly Displaced Asian Populations .”

Additionally, in an effort to track diversity in science publications, more than 50 publishers representing 15,000 journals across the globe plan to ask scientists a list of questions about their race, ethnicity, and gender, according to an article written this year in Nature Magazine . By gathering data on journals’ contributors, the hope is that publications can better grasp where they currently stand in regard to diversity and what vital work still needs to be done.

More qualitative studies

Psychologists are also starting to question the power of quantitative versus qualitative studies. Quantitative research methods have historically been thought of as more objective and “better” science. But in fact, these quantitative methods can be harmful to marginalized communities ( Arellano, L., Education Sciences , Vol. 12, No. 2, 2022 ).

“Systematically rejecting qualitative research limits research questions that can help minoritized populations,” said Prinstein. “Sometimes research requires a different perspective with different methodologies.” Qualitative research can also unearth new psychological experiences and constructs in ways that quantitative methods do not, Smith-Bynum noted.

Luckily, change is afoot. “In the past 10 years, the content in PsycArticles—which includes all the APA published journals and the English language Hogrefe journals—that has the methodology index term “qualitative” has quadrupled,” said Rose Sokol, PhD, a social psychologist and publisher of journals at APA. “More journals are referring specifically to qualitative methodology in their scope statements.”

APA has also created numerous resources to help individuals who wish to engage in qualitative science, Sokol noted. These include the Essentials of Qualitative Methods Series ; an article on reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology; and the peer-reviewed journal Qualitative Psychology , which started in 2014 in order to feature research that employs qualitative and mixed methods designs. The journal was founded in partnership with the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, a section of APA’s Division 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods), which had focused on only quantitative methods in the past.

Arellano has also noticed that teachers and researchers in higher education positions have become more critical of qualitative metrics. Specifically, Quantitative Critical Race Theory, or QuantCrit, articles are on the rise. This is a rapidly developing research approach that aims to both challenge and improve the use of statistical data in social research by applying the insights of Critical Race Theory ( Castillo, W., & Gillborn, D., EdWorkingPapers , No. 22-546, 2022 ).

The work of QuantCrit rests on five key principles:

• racism is at the center of scientific research
• numbers are not neutral
• categories are not natural
• data cannot speak for itself and instead requires voices and insight
• social justice and equity must be considered in research

“It is appearing more in the scholarship. I’m still hoping that those perspectives translate into graduate program curricula in the next decade or so,” said Arellano.

11 emerging trends for 2023

Scientists reach a wider audience

Psychologists take aim at misinformation

Psychological research becomes more inclusive

EDI roles expand

Worker well-being is in demand

Efforts to improve childrens’ mental health increase

Partnerships accelerate progress

Suicide prevention gets a new lifeline

Some faculty exit academia

Venture capitalists shift focus

Psychologists rebrand the field

Further reading

Equity, diversity, and inclusion in APA journals APA, 2021

Race without racism: How higher education researchers minimize racist institutional norms Harper, S. R., The Review of Higher Education , 2012

Research methods for social justice and equity in education Strunk, K. K., & Locke, L. A., Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

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• Published: 02 December 2021

Rebuilding research

• Stefan Howorka   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6527-2846 1  

Nature Reviews Chemistry volume  6 ,  pages 81–82 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the way we do research. Here, I share an approach to rebuild research capacity in a new collaborative fashion termed ‘teamlets’. Teamlets enable a team-based approach to boost morale, increase data integrity, faciliate interdisciplinarity and ensure continuity of expertise.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on scientific research and researchers, wherein many Master’s and PhD students, postdoctoral scientists and principal investigators (PIs) have been blocked from entering the laboratory, their office and writing-up areas. Experiments have not been conducted and personal meetings with colleagues have not taken place. In addition to a drastically lower research output, self-isolation has resulted in personal stress, loneliness, and a lack of perspective — all of which has lowered research productivity even further 1 , 2 . These additional challenges have also added to the already existing mental health crisis in graduate education 3 .

What is the way back to a successful and vibrant research group? What can be done to re-motivate group members, enhance social interaction and human wellbeing, and achieve high research productivity?

Teamlet structure

In this Comment article, I would like to share with you a strategy that helps to achieve these aims; it may also be useful and relevant to research groups post-pandemic to maintain a supportive and positive research environment. This strategy deviates from the traditional concept of students working alone on a chemical research project. Instead, this strategy features students working in small ‘teamlets’ of between two and five members. The teamlets pursue a common research objective, usually to acquire data and write a scientific manuscript, but also to identify and solve a scientific problem. Within this structure, students can work in single or multiple teamlets, depending on how their skillset matches the goal of the project. It is common that each PhD student and researcher works on more than one project to increase scientific throughput and output by minimizing experimental downtime.

Sub-groups are already common in industry and have been the norm in larger academic research groups for some time 4 . However, in many academic cases, the sub-group structure is rather hierarchical, with a senior postdoc managing subordinate researchers. While this has a proven track record, there are downsides 5 . The PI often ends up removed from the more junior group members, and an undesirable system of patronage can develop that is characterized by a pressure to deliver upwards. In the worst cases, more junior or less popular group members are given night and weekend shifts to work alone — a practice with inherent safety concerns — while senior graduate students and postdocs get more desirable weekday access to equipment. In other cases, students are being made to compete for the same objective in a grim parody of evolution where only the fittest survive. This management style can be psychologically damaging for students. In the worst cases, it encourages poor scientific practice through short cuts and data manipulation, leading to erosion of academic integrity.

By contrast, the teamlets redesign the research group into a much more horizontal structure. The day-to-day management of teamlets is delegated to one or more of the members, depending on their preference and personalities. Scheduled, periodic meetings with the PI ensure that the teamlet stays on track; additional meetings are available whenever the project needs extra input and support.

Compatibility with doctoral studies

How does the delegated management of the teamlet relate to the individual nature of a PhD? To maintain the required training for a PhD, each student has to lead at least one teamlet focusing on the student’s core PhD topic. The PhD student also carries out the key body of research for this project. Thereby, the teamlet strategy does not negate the nature of a PhD to produce a piece of independent scientific research. Rather, it helps enable and enrich the PhD by cross-feeding ideas and results. The PhD student will still be required to explain the method and outcome of all research described in their thesis — even if the student did not carry out particular experiments themselves. This may add pressure on the PhD student but will lead to a much broader understanding of the science.

Advantages of teamlets

Having students and other researchers work together in teamlets has several other desired advantages. After the enforced isolation during COVID-19 lockdowns, most students and researchers enjoy working with others, with an accompanying boost to motivation. Furthermore, regular discussions within teamlets help to increase intellectual ownership and critical thinking, as well as both collaborative and communication skills. By contributing to multiple projects, the likelihood of success can be improved and compensate for the unpredictable nature of research. Thereby, collaboration can increase the opportunity for co-author papers and reduce the pressure on an individual project. Greater ownership and the delegated management structure moreover improve the resilience of the teamlet to foreseeable disturbances without any need for the PI’s involvement. For example, a teamlet can quickly reshuffle the workload when a member has to quarantine after contact with a COVID-19-infected person, or when there are other difficult-to-reschedule private commitments.

Regular discussions within teamlets help to increase intellectual ownership and critical thinking

Discussing data and project results among peers within a teamlet can enable more junior members to become more confident to ask questions in front of the PI. The more relaxed setting also enables a more inclusive environment that supports students from under-represented groups 6 . In addition, as there are more eyes on the project, there is more opportunity for greater data scrutiny and, hopefully, better-quality research output 7 . Working in teamlets also helps bring together different expertise required for interdisciplinary projects. Teamlets thereby extend and accompany other peer-to-peer learning strategies to improve interdisciplinarity among students 8 . Creating teamlets across two different research groups with a similar mindset can provide a mechanism for collaboration 9 , which is ideal when working on a project that cuts across multiple methods or scientific disciplines. Sharing the goals and expertise within teamlets also prepares the researchers and students for the team-based approach often adopted in industry 10 . A final advantage of running self-managing teamlets is that the PI’s time and energy can be freed up and invested in student support: to enhance collaborations, to develop new scientific ideas and to write publications and grant applications.

Limitations of teamlets

Teamlets can have shortcomings. For example, disagreements within a teamlet can become more frequent as the number of members increases. Another source of friction could be the tendancy for the most senior researcher to lead the project rather than the designated team member. Several of these social frictions can be managed by the PI’s careful selection of teamlet members, as discussed below. Clearly laying out the ground rules at the start of the project can also help. Teamlets may not appear to be ideal for all group members, such as researchers who have mastered all the techniques required for a project. In this case, they may not see any benefit of working with others because multipoint communication and collaboration usually slow down progress. However, these individuals would be a valuable asset to a teamlet to transfer their skillset and offer broad scientific training.

Realizing the success of teamlets

Realizing the benefits of teamlets strongly depends on the careful selection of teamlet members based on their scientific and personal compatibility to form the functional units. Team selection — based on the science — aims to synergistically pool separate academic strengths of teamlet members to create the spectrum of skills required. By comparison, choosing personalities can capitalize on existing positive relations among several group members. Careful selection also avoids placing a more dominant character next to other members who are developing their academic self-confidence.

Key to realizing the success of teamlets is to link the increased freedom of teamlet members with their greater responsibility and accountability to achieve the agreed aims. Working together can, perhaps counter-intuitively, improve the independence of each individual researcher, while the close collaboration can also strengthen their emotional resilience 2 .

Teamlets post-pandemic

Collaboration of independent researchers is also more representative of modern science

In summary, I propose to redesign research groups in a horizontal structure based on mutual collaboration, learning and support, with an accountable focus on achieving the agreed output. This redesign could help foster independent yet team-active scientists for pandemic-free times and addresses demand from future employers in industry, start-ups, consultancy, technology transfer and government, as working in teams is widely used in these workplaces. Finally, collaboration of independent researchers is also more representative of modern science and key for tackling the major global challenges we face.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks J. Burns, D. Caruana, A. Dorey, S. Jones and A. Sella for their valuable input.

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Improving Research Use in the World We Actually Live In

How to maximize research use in education policy and practice..

Posted September 20, 2021 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

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Researchers often believe, or at least have the hope, that rigorous peer-reviewed work will find its way into practice. However, as Carrie Conaway , who is one of the rare people who has worked for years in an education policy or practice setting who understands what rigorous research is, explains :

"Research influences policy more often than much of the academic community thinks, and more frequently every day as we learn how to do this work better. But its influence is less linear than researchers expect, and it is driven as much by relationships and organizational capacity as by the actual information studies produce. Research use operates through conversations, not code; structures in organizations, not standard errors; relationships, not randomized controlled trials."

Carrie kindly replied to my questions about her work on maximizing research in the real world, how “research-practice partnerships” might be one useful way of linking practice and rigorous research, and how her book Common-Sense Evidence can be used by education leaders and scholars more broadly to improve the use of research in practice.

How can we maximize research use in the world we actually live in?

First, by recognizing that research use doesn’t always look how we expect it to. People often envision research use as a linear, one-directional process: An educator or policymaker is sitting at their desk, waiting to make a decision, when some research comes across their desk. They read it and then decide to implement whatever that research says. But the reality is a lot more complex.

The research on research use shows that it’s a process that extends over time, not an event or a single moment. It’s embedded in organizations, and it’s inherently social. And the most important way research matters for practice is probably its influence on how people frame problems, rather than how it informs any specific decision or choice.

If you think of research use that way, then it becomes obvious that the way to maximize research use isn’t just to get more research in front of practitioners. We need to create opportunities for practitioners to integrate research use into their daily work and make meaning together from data and evidence. Without attention to these social mechanisms, any effort to increase research use will fall flat.

What are research-practice partnerships and how do you think these are helpful for research to play a more influential role in practice?

A research-practice partnership is “a long-term collaboration aimed at educational improvement or equitable transformation through engagement with research” ( Farrell et al, 2021 ). Concretely, RPPs put researchers and practitioners into the same conversation, on equal footing when it comes to defining what research needs to be done and interpreting its meaning for practice. This is a radical shift from traditional research production models, which envision researchers developing and testing interventions and then “translating” them or scaling them up, with little or no interaction with practitioners in the process.

Practitioners benefit from RPPs because they create a structure for the social mechanisms that enable research use: regular interactions with researchers about individual research projects, larger events where findings can be shared and interpreted, and so on. These structures allow research use to flourish. But researchers benefit too, through a deeper understanding of the context and local priorities that influence their work and deeper relationships with the practitioners who can most directly benefit from their findings.

Why did you write the book Common-Sense Evidence ? Do you think this could be a useful book not only for education leaders but also researchers and practitioners from other disciplines?

My co-author Nora Gordon and I wrote the book because using evidence is an essential skill for educators, and because no other book helps educators learn that skill and apply it in a practical way. Few educators receive any training about how to use evidence effectively in practice—what kinds of questions to ask, how to know what type of evidence you need to answer a specific question, what makes for stronger or weaker evidence, how to know if a particular finding is relevant to their own context. Nora and I hope that our book empowers educators to use evidence to improve their own work, by helping them to cull the prior research findings that are most convincing and relevant for their own practice and giving them a structured way to learn from and improve their work over time. While the book is written with education leaders as the intended audience, the skills and techniques we describe are broadly applicable to anyone who wants to learn how to use evidence in a policy or practice setting.

Booker, L., Conaway, C., & Schwartz, N. (2019). Five ways RPPs can fail and how to avoid them: Applying conceptual frameworks to improve RPPs . William T. Grant Foundation .

Conaway, C. (2020). Maximizing research use in the world we actually live in: Relationships, organizations, and interpretation . Education Finance & Policy, 15 (1), 1-10.

Farrell, C. C., Penuel, W. R., Coburn, C. E., Daniel, J., & Steup, L. (2021). Research-practice partnerships in education: The state of the field . William T. Grant Foundation .

Gordon, N., & Conaway, C. (2020). Common sense evidence: The education leader’s guide to using data and research . Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Jonathan Wai, Ph.D. , is Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and the 21st Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas.

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Major study shows the need to improve how scientists approach early-stage cancer research

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Preclinical studies, the kind that scientists perform before testing in humans, don’t get as much attention as their clinical counterparts. But they are the vital first steps to eventual treatments and cures. It’s important to get preclinical findings right. When they are wrong, scientists waste resources pursuing false leads. Worse, false findings can trigger clinical studies with humans .

Last December, the Center for Open Science (COS) released the worrying results of its eight-year $US 1.5 million Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology study. Done in collaboration with research marketplace Science Exchange , independent scientists found that the odds of replicating results of 50 preclinical experiments from 23 high-profile published studies were no better than a coin toss.

Praise and controversy have followed the project from the beginning. The journal Nature applauded the replication studies as “ the practice of science at its best .” But the journal Science noted that reactions from some scientists whose studies were chosen ranged from “ annoyance to anxiety to outrage ,” impeding the replications. Although none of the original experiments was described in enough detail to allow scientists to repeat them, a third of the original authors were unco-operative , and some were even hostile when asked for assistance.

COS executive director Brian Nosek cautioned that the findings pose “ challenges for the credibility of preclinical cancer biology .” In a tacit acknowledgement that biomedical research has not been universally rigorous or transparent, the American National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, has announced that it will raise requirements for both of these qualities .

I have taught classes and written about good scientific practice in psychology and biomedicine for over 30 years. I’ve reviewed more grant applications and journal manuscripts than I can count, and I’m not surprised.

The twin pillars of trustworthy science — transparency and dispassionate rigour — have wobbled under the stress of incentives that enhance careers at the expense of reliable science. Too often, proposed preclinical studies — and surprisingly, published peer-reviewed ones — don’t follow the scientific method . Too often, scientists do not share their government-funded data, even when required by the publishing journal.

Controlling for bias

Many preclinical experiments lack the rudimentary controls against bias that are taught in the social sciences, though rarely in biomedical disciplines such as medicine, cell biology, biochemistry and physiology. Controlling for bias is a key element of the scientific method because it allows scientists to disentangle experimental signal from procedural noise.

Confirmation bias, the tendency to see what we want to see, is one type of bias that good science controls by “blinding.” Think of the “double-blind” procedures in clinical trials in which neither the patient nor the research team knows who is getting the placebo and who is getting the drug. In preclinical research, blinding experimenters to samples’ identities minimizes the chance that they will alter their behaviour, however subtly, in favour of their hypothesis.

Seemingly trivial differences, such as whether a sample is processed in the morning or afternoon or whether an animal is caged in the upper or lower row, can also change results. This is not as unlikely as you might think. Moment-to-moment changes in the micro-environment, such as exposure to light and air ventilation, for example, can change physiological responses .

If all animals who receive a drug are caged in one row and all animals who do not receive the drug are caged in another row, any difference between the two groups of animals may be due to the drug, to their housing location or to an interaction between the two. You can’t honestly choose between the alternative explanations, and neither can the scientists.

Randomizing sample selection and processing order minimizes these procedural biases, makes the interpretation of the results clearer, and makes them more likely to be replicated.

Many of the replication experiments blinded and randomized, but it’s not known if the original experiments did. All that is known is that for the 15 animal experiments, only one of the original studies reported randomization and none reported blinding . But it would not be surprising if many of the studies neither randomized nor blinded.

Study design and statistics

According to one estimate, over half of the one million articles published each year have biased study designs , contributing to 85 per cent of US$100-billion spent each year on (mostly preclinical) research being wasted.

In a widely reported commentary, industry scientist and former academic Glenn Begley reported being able to reproduce the results of only six of 53 academic studies (11 per cent). He listed six practices of reliable research, including blinding. All six of the studies that replicated followed all six practices. The 47 studies that failed to replicate followed few or, sometimes, none of the practices.

Another way to bias findings is by misusing statistics. As with blinding and randomization, it’s not known which, if any, of the original studies in the reproducibility project misused statistics, because of the studies’ lack of transparency. But that, too, is common practice.

A dictionary of terms describes a slew of poor data analysis practices that can manufacture statistically significant (but false) findings, such as HARKing (Hypothesizing After the Results are Known), p-hacking ( repeating statistical tests until a desired result is produced ) and following a series of data-dependent analysis decisions known as a “ garden of forking paths ” to publishable findings.

These practices are common in biomedical research . Decades of pleas from methodologists , and an unprecedented statement from the American Statistical Association to change data analysis practices, however, have gone unheeded .

A better future

Those who are anti-science should not take heart in these findings. Preclinical science’s accomplishments are real and impressive. Decades of preclinical research led to the development of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines , for example. And most scientists are doing the best they can within a system that rewards quick flashy results over slower reliable ones.

But science is done by humans with all the strengths and weaknesses that go with it. The trick is to reward practices that produce trustworthy science and to censor practices that do not, without killing innovation.

Changing incentives and enforcing standards are the most effective ways to improve scientific practice. The goal is to improve efficiency by ensuring scientists who value transparency and rigour over speed and flash are given a chance to thrive. It’s been tried before , with minimal success . This time may be different. The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology study and the NIH policy changes it prompted may be just the push needed to make it happen.

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Improving healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and costs with evidence-based practice

Setting the stage.

Tina Magers (nursing professional development and research coordinator at Mississippi Baptist Health Systems) and her team wondered why catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) affect as many as 25% of all hospitalized patients and questioned what evidence exists that could inform a practice change to reduce these infections in their hospital. (This is Step #0 in the seven-step evidence-based practice [EBP] process, which we describe in detail later in this chapter.) As a result, the team formed the following question in a format called PICOT (Patient population, Intervention or Interest area, Comparison intervention or group, Outcome, and Time; Step #1 in EBP) that facilitated them to conduct an expedited effective search for the best evidence (Magers, 2015):

In adult patients hospitalized in a long-term acute care hospital (P), how does the use of a nurse-driven protocol for evaluating the appropriateness of short-term urinary catheter continuation or removal (I) compared to no protocol (C) affect the number of catheter days and CAUTI rates (O) over a six-month post-intervention period (T)?

The team conducted an evidence search to answer this clinical question using the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Ovid Clinical Queries, and PubMed (Step #2 in EBP), followed by rapid critical appraisal of 15 studies found in the search (Step #3 in EBP). A synthesis of the 15 studies led the team to conclude that early removal of urinary catheters would likely reduce catheter days and CAUTIs (the identified outcomes). Therefore, the team wrote a protocol based on the evidence, listing eight criteria for the continuation of a short-term urinary catheter (Step #4 in EBP).

After the protocol was presented to the medical executive committee at their hospital for approval, a process for the change was put into practice, including an education plan with an algorithm that was implemented in small group inservices for the nurses, posters, and written handouts for physicians. An outcomes evaluation (Step #5 in the EBP process) revealed a significant reduction in catheter days and a clinically significant reduction of 33% in CAUTIs. The team disseminated the outcomes of the project to internal audiences (e.g., their Nursing Quality Council, the EBP and Research Council, Nursing Leadership Council, Organization Infection Control Committee) and external venues (presentations at regional conferences and a publication in the American Journal of Nursing) (Magers, 2013). (Step #6 in the EBP process.)

This is a stellar exemplar of how a team with a spirit of inquiry and a commitment to improving healthcare quality can use the seven-step EBP process discussed in this chapter to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital costs.

Evidence-based practice and the quadruple aim in healthcare

Findings from an extensive body of research support that EBP improves the quality and safety of healthcare, enhances health outcomes, decreases geographic variation in care, and reduces costs (McGinty & Anderson, 2008; Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015; Melnyk, Fineout-Overholt, Gallagher-Ford, & Kaplan, 2012a). In the United States, EBP has been recognized as a key factor in meeting the Triple Aim in healthcare, defined as (Berwick, Nolan, & Whittington, 2008):

• Improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction)
• Improving the health of populations
• Reducing the per capita cost of healthcare

The Triple Aim has now been expanded to the Quadruple Aim: the fourth goal being to improve work life and decrease burnout in clinicians (Bodenheimer & Sinsky, 2014).

Because EBP has been found to empower clinicians and result in higher levels of job satisfaction (Strout, 2005), it also can assist healthcare systems in achieving the Quadruple Aim. However, regardless of its tremendous positive outcomes, EBP is not standard of care in healthcare systems throughout the United States or the rest of the world due to multiple barriers that have continued to persist over the past decades. Some of these barriers include (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015; Melnyk et al., 2012a; Melnyk et al., 2012b; Melnyk et al., 2016; Pravikoff, Pierce, & Tanner, 2005; Titler, 2009):

• Inadequate knowledge and skills in EBP by nurses and other healthcare professionals
• Lack of cultures and environments that support EBP
• Misperceptions that EBP takes too much time
• Outdated organizational politics and policies
• Limited resources and tools available for point-of-care providers, including budgetary investment in EBP by chief nurse executives
• Resistance from colleagues, nurse managers, and leaders
• Inadequate numbers of EBP mentors in healthcare systems
• Academic programs that continue to teach baccalaureat, master’s, and doctor of nursing practice students the rigorous process of how to conduct research instead of taking an evidence-based approach to care

Urgent action is needed to rapidly accelerate EBP in order to reduce the tremendously long lag between the generation of research findings and their implementation in clinical settings. Many interventions or treatments that have been found to improve outcomes through research are not standard of care throughout healthcare systems or have never been used in clinical settings. It took more than 20 years for neonatal and pediatric intensive care units to adopt the Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment (COPE) Program for parents of preterm infants and critically ill children even though multiple intervention studies supported that COPE reduced parent depression and anxiety, enhanced parental-infant interaction, and improved child outcomes (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015). It was not until findings from a National Institute of Nursing Research funded randomized controlled trial supported that COPE reduced neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) length of stay in premature infants by 4 days (8 days in preterms less than 32 weeks) and its associated substantial decreased costs that NICUs across the country began to implement the intervention as standard of care (Melnyk & Feinstein, 2009; Melnyk et al., 2006).

If not for an improvement in “so-what” outcomes (outcomes of importance to the healthcare system, such as decreased length of stay and costs), COPE would not have been translated into NICU settings to improve outcomes in vulnerable children and their families. On the other hand, many interventions or practices that do not have a solid body of evidence to support them continue to be implemented in healthcare, including double-checking pediatric medications, assessing nasogastric tube placement with air, and taking vital signs every 2 or 4 hours for hospitalized patients. These practices that are steeped in tradition instead of based upon the best evidence result in less than optimum care, poor outcomes, and wasteful healthcare spending.

Definition of evidence-based practice

As EBP evolved, it was defined as the conscientious use of current best evidence to make decisions about patient care (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000). Since this earlier definition, EBP has been broadened to include a lifelong problem-solving approach to how healthcare is delivered that integrates the best evidence from high-quality studies with a clinician’s expertise and also a patient’s preferences and values (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015; see Figure 1.1).

Incorporated within a clinician’s expertise are:

• Clinical judgment
• Internal evidence from the patient’s history and physical exam, as well as data gathered from EBP, quality improvement, or outcomes management projects
• An evaluation of available resources required to deliver the best practices

Some barriers inhibit the uptake of EBP across all venues and disciplines within healthcare. Although the strongest level of evidence that guides clinical practice interventions (i.e., Level I evidence) are systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials followed by well-designed randomized controlled trials (i.e., Level II evidence), there is a limited number of systematic reviews and intervention studies in the nursing profession. Single descriptive quantitative and qualitative studies, which are considered lower-level evidence, continue to dominate the field; see Table 1.1 for levels of evidence that are used to guide clinical interventions.

However, all studies that are relevant to the clinical question should be included in the body of evidence that guides clinical practice. In addition, clinicians often lack critical appraisal skills needed to determine the quality of evidence that is produced by research. Critical appraisal of evidence is an essential step in EBP given that strength or level of evidence plus quality of that evidence gives clinicians the confidence to act and change practice. If Level I evidence is published but is found to lack rigor and be of poor quality through critical appraisal, a clinician would not want to make a practice change based on that evidence.

TABLE 1.1 RATING SYSTEM FOR THE HIERARCHY OF EVIDENCE TO GUIDE CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS

Source: Modified from Elwyn et al. (2015) and Harris et al. (2001) .

The seven steps of evidence-based practice

Evidence-based practice was originally described as a five-step process including (Sackett et al., 2000):

• Ask the clinical question in PICOT format.
• Search for the best evidence.
• Critically appraise the evidence.
• Integrate the evidence with a clinician’s expertise and a patient’s preferences and values.
• Evaluate the outcome of the practice change.

In 2011, Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt added two additional steps to the process, resulting in the following seven-step EBP process (see Table 1.2).

TABLE 1.2   THE SEVEN STEPS OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

Step #0: Cultivate a spirit of inquiry within an EBP culture and environment The first step in EBP is to cultivate a spirit of inquiry, which is a continual questioning of clinical practices. When delivering care to patients, it is important to consistently question current practices: For example, is Prozac or Zoloft more effective in treating adolescents with depression? Does use of bronchodilators with metered dose inhalers (MDIs) and spacers versus nebulizers in the emergency department (ED) with asthmatic children lead to better oxygenation levels? Does double-checking pediatric medications lead to fewer medication errors?

Cultures and environments that support a spirit of inquiry are more likely to facilitate and sustain a questioning spirit in clinicians. Some key components of an EBP culture and environment include (Melnyk, 2014; Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015; Melnyk et al., 2012a, 2016):

• An organizational vision, mission, and goals that include EBP
• An infrastructure with EBP tools and resources
• Orientation sessions for new clinicians that communicate an expectation of delivering evidence-based care and meeting the EBP competencies for practicing registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs)
• Leaders and managers who “walk the talk” and support their clinicians to deliver evidence-based care
• A critical mass of EBP mentors to work with point-of-care clinicians in facilitating evidence-based care
• Evidence-based policies and procedures
• Orientations and ongoing professional development seminars that provide EBP knowledge and skills-building along with an expectation for EBP
• Integration of the EBP competencies in performance evaluations and clinical ladders
• Recognition programs that reward evidence-based care

Step #1: Ask the burning clinical question in PICOT format After a clinician asks a clinical question, it is important to place that question in PICOT format to facilitate an evidence search that is effective in getting to the best evidence in an efficient manner. PICOT represents:

• Sometimes, there is not a time element; therefore you see PICO rather than PICOT. P: Patient population
• I: Intervention or Interest area
• C: Comparison intervention or group
• T: Time (if relevant)

For example, the clinical questions asked in Step #0 that all involve interventions or treatments should be rephrased in the following PICOT format to result in the most efficient and effective database searches:

• In depressed adolescents (P), how does Prozac (I) compared to Zoloft (C) affect depressive symptoms (O) 3 months after starting treatment (T)?
• In asthmatic children seen in the ED (P), how do bronchodilators delivered with MDIs with spacers (I) compared to nebulizers (C) affect oxygenation levels (O) 1 hour after treatment (T)?
• In hospitalized children (P), how does double-checking pediatric medications with a second nurse (I) compared to not double-checking (C) affect medication errors (O) during a 30-day time period (T)?

In addition to intervention or treatment questions, other types of PICOT questions include meaning questions, diagnosis questions, etiology questions, and prognosis questions that are addressed in Chapter 3.

Step #2: Search for and collect the most relevant best evidence After the clinical question is placed in PICOT format with the proper template, each keyword in the PICOT question should be used to systematically search for the best evidence; this strategy is referred to as keyword searching . For example, to gather the evidence to answer the intervention PICOT questions in Step #1, you would first search databases for systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials given that they are the strongest levels of evidence to guide practice decisions.

However, the search should extend to include all evidence that answers the clinical question. Each keyword or phrase from the PICOT question (e.g., depressed adolescents, Prozac, Zoloft, depressive symptoms) should be entered individually and searched. Searching controlled vocabulary that matches the keywords is the next step in a systematic approach to searching.

In the final step, combine each keyword and controlled vocabulary previously searched, which typically yields a small number of studies that should answer the PICOT question. This systematic approach to searching for evidence typically yields a small number of studies to answer the clinical question versus a less systematic approach, which usually produces a large number of irrelevant studies. More specific information about searching is covered in Chapter 4.

Step #3: Critically appraise the evidence After relevant evidence has been found, critical appraisal begins. First, it is important to conduct a rapid critical appraisal (RCA) of each study from the data search to determine whether they are keeper studies : that is, they indeed answer the clinical question. This process includes answering the following questions:

• Are the results of the study valid? Did the researchers use the best methods to conduct the study (study validity)? For example, assessment of a study’s validity determines whether the methods used to conduct the study were rigorous.
• What are the results? Do the results matter, and can I get similar results in my practice (study reliability)?
• Will the results help me in caring for my patients? Is the treatment feasible to use with my patients (study applicability)?

Rapid critical appraisal checklists can assist clinicians in evaluating validity, reliability, and applicability of a study in a time-efficient way. See Chapter 5 for one example of an RCA checklist for randomized controlled trials and Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt (2015) for a variety of RCA checklists. After an RCA is completed on each study and found to be a keeper, it is included in the evaluation and synthesis of the body evidence to determine whether a practice change should be made. Chapter 5 contains more information on critically appraising, evaluating, and synthesizing evidence.

Step #4: Integrate the best evidence with one’s clinical expertise and patient preferences and values in making a practice decision or change After the body of evidence from the search is critically appraised, evaluated, and synthesized, it should be integrated with a clinician’s expertise and also a patient’s preferences and values to determine whether the practice change should be conducted. Providing the patient with evidence-based information and involving him or her in the decision regarding whether he or she should receive a certain intervention is an important step in EBP. To facilitate greater involvement of patients in making decisions about their care in collaboration with healthcare providers, there has been an accelerated movement in creating and testing patient-decision support tools, which provide evidence-based information in a relatable understandable format (Elwyn et al., 2015).

Step #5: Evaluate outcomes of the practice decision or change based on evidence After making a practice change based on the best evidence, it is critical to evaluate outcomes—the consequences of an intervention or treatment. For example, an outcome of providing a baby with a pacifier might be a decrease in crying. Outcomes evaluation is essential to determine the impact of the practice changes on healthcare quality and health outcomes. It is important to target “so-what” outcomes that the current healthcare system considers important, such as complication rates, length of stay, rehospitalization rates, and costs given that hospitals are currently being reimbursed based on their performance on these outcomes (Melnyk & Morrison-Beedy, 2012). A more thorough discussion of approaches to outcomes evaluation is included in Chapter 7.

Step #6: Disseminate the outcomes of the EBP decision or change Silos often exist, even within the same healthcare organization. So that others can benefit from the positive changes resulting from EBP, it is important to disseminate the findings. Various avenues for dissemination include institutional EBP rounds; poster and podium presentations at local, regional, and national conferences; and publications. More detailed information about disseminating outcomes of EBP is included in Chapter 9.

Rationale for the new EBP competencies

This chapter discussed how evidence-based practice (EBP) improves healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and cost reductions, yet multiple barriers persist in healthcare settings that need to be rapidly overcome. Ensuring that clinicians meet the newly established EBP competencies along with creating cultures and environments that support EBP are key strategies to transform the current state of nursing practice and healthcare delivery to its highest level. This chapter discussed how evidence-based practice (EBP) improves healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and cost reductions, yet multiple barriers persist in healthcare settings that need to be rapidly overcome. Ensuring that clinicians meet the newly established EBP competencies along with creating cultures and environments that support EBP are key strategies to transform the current state of nursing practice and healthcare delivery to its highest level.

Information on purchasing Implementing the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Competencies in Healthcare.

References American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd edition). Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

Berwick, D. M., Nolan, T. W., & Whittington, J. (2008). The Triple Aim: Care, health, and cost. Health Affairs, 27 (3), 759–769.

Bodenheimer, T., & Sinsky, C. (2014). From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the patient requires care of the provider. Annals of Family Medicine, 12 , 573–576.

Elwyn, G., Quinlan, C., Mulley, A., Agoritsas, T., Vandik, P. O., & Guyatt, G. (2015). Trustworthy guidelines—excellent; customized care tools—even better. BioMed Central Medicine, 13 (1), 199. Modified from Guyatt, G., & Rennie, D. (2002), Users’ guides to the medical literature . Chicago, IL: American Medical Association.

Harris, R. P., Hefland, M., Woolf, S. H., Lohr, K. N., Mulrow, C. D., Teutsch, S. M., & Atkins, D. (2001). Current methods of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: A review of the process. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 20 , 21–35.

Magers, T. (2013). Using evidence-based practice to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections. American Journal of Nursing, 113 (6), 34–42.

Magers, T. L. (2015). Using evidence-based practice to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections in a long-term acute care facility. In B. M. Melnyk & E. Fineout-Overholt (Eds.), Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare. A guide to best practice (3rd ed.) (pp. 70–73). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

McGinty, J., & Anderson, G. (2008). Predictors of physician compliance with American Heart Association guidelines for acute myocardial infarction. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 31 (2), 161–172.

Melnyk, B. M. (2014). Building cultures and environments that facilitate clinician behavior change to evidence-based practice: What works? Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11 (2), 79–80.

Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare. A guide to best practice (pp. 1–24). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2015). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare. A guide to best practice (3rd ed.) (pp. 3–23). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

Melnyk, B. M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Gallagher-Ford, L., & Kaplan, L. (2012a). The state of evidence-based practice in US nurses: Critical implications for nurse leaders and educators. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42 (9), 410–417.

Melnyk, B. M., Grossman, D., Chou, R., Mabry-Hernandez, I., Nicholson, W., Dewitt, T.G. . . . & Flores, G. (2012b). USPSTF perspective on evidence-based preventive recommendations for children. Pediatrics, 130 (2), e399–e407.

Melnyk, B. M., & Feinstein, N. (2009). Reducing hospital expenditures with the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment) program for parents and premature infants: An analysis of direct healthcare neonatal intensive care unit costs and savings. Nursing Administrative Quarterly, 33 (1), 32–37.

Melnyk, B. M., Feinstein, N. F., Alpert-Gillis, L., Fairbanks, E., Crean, H. F., Sinkin, R., & Gross, S. J. (2006). Reducing premature infants’ length of stay and improving parents’ mental health outcomes with the COPE NICU program: A randomized clinical trial. Pediatrics, 118 (5), e1414–e1427.

Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Thomas, B. K., Troseth, M., Wyngarden, K., & Szalacha, L. (2016). A study of chief nurse executives indicates low prioritization of evidence-based practice and shortcomings in hospital performance metrics across the United States. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13 (1), 6–14.

Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Long, L., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2014). The establishment of evidence-based practice competencies for practicing nurses and advanced practice nurses in real-world clinical settings: Proficiencies to improve healthcare quality, reliability, patient outcomes, and costs. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11 (1), 5–15.

Melnyk, B. M., & Morrison-Beedy, D. (2012). Setting the stage for intervention research: The “so what,” “what exists” and “what’s next” factors. In B. M. Melnyk & D. Morrison-Beedy (Eds.), Designing, conducting, analyzing and funding intervention research. A practical guide for success (pp. 1–9). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Pravikoff, D. S., Pierce, S. T., & Tanner A. (2005). Evidence-based practice readiness study supported by academy nursing informatics expert panel. Nursing Outlook, 53 (1), 49–50.

Sackett, D. L., Straus, S. E., Richardson, W. S., Rosenberg, W., & Haynes, R. B. (2000). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach EBM . London, UK: Churchill Livingstone.

Strout, T. D. (2005). Curiosity and reflective thinking: Renewal of the spirit. In Clinical scholars at the bedside: An EBP mentorship model for today [electronic version]. Excellence in Nursing Knowledge . Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.

Titler, M. G. (2009). Developing an evidence-based practice. In G. LoBiondo-Wood & J. Haber (Eds.), Nursing research: Methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice (7th ed.) (pp. 385–437). St Louis, MO: Mosby.

Book authors:  Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk,   PhD, RN, CPNP/PMHNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN   , is associate vice president for health promotion, university chief wellness officer, and professor and dean of the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University. She also is professor of pediatrics and professor of psychiatry at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.

Lynn Gallagher-Ford, PhD, RN, DPFNAP, NE-BC,   is director of the Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice (CTEP) and clinical associate professor in the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University.

Ellen Fineout-Overholt, PhD, RN, FNAP, FAAN,   is the Mary Coulter Dowdy Distinguished Nursing Professor in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences at the University of Texas at Tyler.

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How to Improve Your Research Skills: 6 Research Tips

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Aug 18, 2021 • 3 min read

Whether you’re writing a blog post or a short story, you’ll likely reach a point in your first draft where you don’t have enough information to go forward—and that’s where research comes in.

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20 Ways to Improve Your Research Paper

So, you want to improve your research paper? You’ve come to the right place. Many authors are looking for guidance when publishing their work and we understand that writing up research is hard. We want to help where we can. At MDPI, we are committed to delivering ground-breaking scientific insights to the global scientific community. Here, we provide 20 useful tips to improve your research paper before submission.

1. Choose a specific and accurate title (and subtitles)

This is a very important part of your manuscript and can affect readership. People often choose what to read based on first impressions. Make sure your title doesn’t put people off. The title should give an overview of what your paper is about. This should be accurate and specific and reflect the content of the paper. Avoid jargon where possible. Don’t forget about section titles and table and figure captions. They should be accurate and specific. Readers tend to skip to the content they want to read. You can find even more useful advice in our article on choosing the best research paper title .

2. Writing an interesting abstract can improve your research paper

The abstract is the first part of the paper that’ll be read. You need to persuade the reader to continue reading. A clear abstract should outline the workings of your research. This will help you to carve out a very specific space in your field. You should also consider other published work in the field. Mention some notable achievements and explain how your research builds on them. This will help you place your research. Those who know the area well will be able to understand which direction you’re going in. A great way to make your abstract more dynamic is to add a graphical abstract or video. It should describe the methodology within your paper. This additional media quickly summarises your paper. It makes it more visually appealing to readers at first glance.

See the journal’s Instructions for Authors page for more information about graphical abstracts.

3. Be selective with keywords

On our journals’ webpages, we use keywords for indexing. This makes work more searchable. Many researchers search the MDPI site using keywords related to their field. This gives you a chance to get more eyes on your paper. Make sure your choices are precise and are not in the title already. You want to cover as much ground as possible.

Depending on the journal, keywords that are also in the journal’s name are sometimes not allowed. For example, authors cannot use the keyword “soil” when publishing in Soil Biology & Biochemistry . You can check the journal’s webpage for more details. Get in touch with the Editorial Office if you have any questions.

4. Make sure that your research is novel

Have you conducted a thorough search of the latest findings? Knowing about these will improve the originality of your work. Reviewers are asked to rate your manuscript on novelty. Your research should advance the current knowledge in your field. Avoid repeating what may already be out there.

You can cite other works and add them to the content of your paper. This shows that you’re aware of the current knowledge in your research area. You should add your own work and findings that bring something new to the field. Editors like studies that push the boundaries and have new and unexpected outcomes.

5. Ensure that your results are exciting

Your results should not only be novel, but also significant. Attracting readers and citations will be easier if the results are exciting. Interesting and exciting work will encourage others to build on what you have discovered.

6. To improve your research paper, keep it simple

When it comes to research, it’s easy to get lost in your own paper. But, there is value in keeping it simple. This will make your work more accessible to others. It may even improve its success. Keeping your paper simple (English included) also means making it consistent. We have a handy guide that can help with this! Avoid including information that is unnecessary. Review what you have written so far – if you can delete something, then you should.

7. Don’t self-plagiarise!

Perhaps you want to repeat something that you have already mentioned in a previous research paper. Be careful, reusing your own words is self-plagiarism.

Self-plagiarism is a problem because you are just producing a copy of your work from before. This creates the illusion of new ideas when there aren’t any. This can happen without you realising it, so be careful. To avoid this, use short quotes from your past paper. You should place these in quotation marks and cite the original. Be succinct but comprehensive.

MDPI takes plagiarism very seriously and we (and other publishers) do our best to ensure that it is not present in our authors’ research by using a plagiarism detector that reviews online content for similarities. This helps to ensure that our it is ready to be published. As part of MDPI’s anti-plagiarism regulations, image manipulation is also not permitted. The peer review process involves an assessment of images and figures.

8. Use the journal template, even in the early stages

Peer review can be a nerve-wracking process. You are waiting for opinions on whether your paper should be in a journal or not. We understand that this is a stressful time for our authors so we do our best to encourage reviewers to provide their reviews as soon as possible.

You can increase your chances of good reviews by making sure your work is clearly organised and easy to understand. Templates are great for this and can definitely help you to improve your research paper throughout the writing process. This can give your paper a more professional look from the outset. It’s also important to maintain good formatting throughout.

Using the template from the start will save you a lot of time later. You can avoid spending precious time transferring your manuscript into the MDPI format. You won’t be at risk of possible errors caused by a late move-over.

9. Keep the topic relevant to the research field or journal

Some journals or Special Issues have broad scopes, while others are narrower. Research papers need to fit well within the range of the topic. This can sometimes be as simple as adding a paragraph of context to cement your paper’s relevance.

You can find information about the scope on journal webpages. You can also reach out to the Editorial Office if you have any questions.

If your work doesn’t fit into the specific scope, an editor may encourage you to submit to a different journal or Special Issue.

10. Keep in touch with co-authors

To improve the direction of your paper, check in with the other authors often. Obviously, this is only if you have co-authors.

Reviewing other sections of the paper can help to ensure that you don’t repeat yourself. It’s a good opportunity to make sure that the English is standardised as well.

11. Swap and share ideas to improve your research paper

Research can be solitary. It is easy to forget that there are other people – co-authors, colleagues, peers, associates – in the same boat as you. Their feedback can help you spot mistakes that you may have missed. Meeting with a colleague can also give you a break from your paper and allow you to come back to it with a new mindset.

12. Write methods and results first, then abstract, introduction and conclusion later

This is commonly given advice, but is worth noting. The content and tone of your paper may change as you write it. You’ll have a better overview of your findings, and be able to include key points from the paper. The introduction and conclusion will be more refined when left until the end.

13. Check your plots and graphs

Nothing in your paper is as important as your data. Your discoveries are the foundation of your work. They need to be clear and easy to understand. To improve your research paper, make sure graphs and images are in high resolutions and show the information clearly.

14. Customise your graphs using external packages in Python

You can use external packages like MatPlotLib or MATLAB to make the creation and editing of high-quality graphs and plots easy and efficient.

15. Improving the language can improve your research paper

It is important to make sure your English is as good as possible. This may mean proof-reading the paper several times (or having someone else look at it).

We can help you edit your project

Improving your research paper can be challenging and time consuming. Academic editing can also be tricky sometimes, and it always pays off to have a professional look at your work. If you’re still not sure, don’t have time, or want a pro to look at your references, let our skilled English Editors help. Visit MDPI Author Services now for a free estimate for fast, accurate, and professional editing.

16. Follow the instructions to format your paper

Review the house rules for the journal and follow these with care. Each journal has an ‘Instructions for Authors’ webpage. It provides extensive information on how to present your work and improve your research paper. Take these into consideration when coming up with the final product.

17. Be thorough with author contributions and acknowledgments

Make sure to add the names of colleagues and supervisors who helped with your paper. This may seem obvious, but there are often people you forget. This may include thanking your funder or grant provider.

18. Declare any conflicts of interest

All authors need to state whether they have any relationships or interests that could influence the paper or its outcomes. This may include (financial or non-financial) connections to organisations or governments.

19. Don’t forget about the importance of references

It may surprise you that many papers are submitted without evidence for their claims. Editors return these papers, and time is then lost in the publication process. The author then needs to locate the sources and resubmit the work. Make sure to provide citations where necessary. If you want to know more about how to cite your work, we have a handy guide to review on this very subject.

Tools like EndNote and Mendeley can help you with the formatting of references in your paper. These manage your references based on what you enter and then organise them in the References section. You can also use free reference generators. For example, the online tool ‘Cite This for Me’ allows you to format individual references.

20. Read through it again

This is where you need to take a step back from what you have written. Looking over your work with a fresh set of eyes is a great way to improve it. Sleep on it and come back in a few days to check your work. A final scan may help you find minor errors and put your mind at ease. Once that’s all done, you can submit your manuscript. You’ll generally receive a response in 1-5 working days. For more details on our speedy submission process, take a look at our article on MDPI submission statuses .

Going through these tips can help you improve your research paper during the writing process. This can increase your chances of having your work published, read, cited, and shared.

During this time, you may be feeling worried or nervous. And that’s perfectly normal! You’re about to release your findings into the world. If you feel tense about this process, you’re not alone. It takes a lot of courage to put ideas out there, even ideas that you’re happy with.

Once you’ve published your manuscript, make sure to share it wherever you can. Talk about it on social media and put a link on your website.

Is there anything else that you do to improve your manuscripts? Make sure to share it in the comments below!

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53 comments.

I am a senior and currently writing my last research paper. This information was very useful for me. Thanks for putting it out there!

Thank you very much. I need this in my report and in my studies. God bless!

Really helpful. Please share more tips on improving your write-up when writing a research paper.

Hi Sami, thanks for the comment.

You may also be interested in reading about how to choose the best title for your research paper .

Thanks for your nice work. I will apply these points on my paper will edit it…

Thank you, Katherine. Can I transfer it into Chinese and share with the students?

Hi Chenghua, thank you for the comment.

Please feel free to share the article far and wide! Glad it can help your students.

what happens when we discover a new concept during our research? whereas at the beginning we had not predict it? Defining it in the introductory part isn’t very fair, isn’t it? Thanks

Hi Messka, thank you for the comment.

Agreed. That’s why the advice in #12 is so powerful. Things change as you’re trying to get it right, so it’s always best to leave the introduction and conclusion to the end.

This is really helpful article, keep it up

Thanks for reading! We’re glad you found the article useful

Thank you Ms. Katherine. It is very useful and enlight me..

Hi Teguh, you’re welcome. Thanks for reading the MDPI Blog.

Thank you so much Mam.. Really it is very useful information mam..

Hi Sivaranjani, glad this helped! Good luck with your manuscript!

Thank you very much, for this concise and informative piece.

Thanks for reading, Saliu!

Very precise and very informative. It will be by personal giude moving forward

We’re glad you found this article useful, Yao!

Very useful informations.

Thanks for reading, Chetan!

Informative and good guide for Phd researchers.

Thanks Olaniyi!

Thank you MDPI for valuable information

Thanks for reading, Sardar!

Thank you very mutch for your valuable information.

Very outstanding and informative. This will go along way toward improving my manuscript

Thanks for sharing such an informational article which will a great help to the students.

Good guidelines

Nice quotes

Thanks for this great and concise work.

Nice… it’s very useful for new beginner’s

Certainly very helpful tips indeed. Thank you MDPI for this kind exercise.

Valuable and concise 100%

This is helpful. I have leant a lot from the quality research tips you provided.

Interesting write up for research

These 25 ways of improving my research are very helpful because they touch every area of a research scheduling and arrangement. Most exciting is the suggestion to write the introduction and conclusion last. Hearing this for the first time; I will adopt it

Many thanks MDPI

It’s really nice points

Thank you 🙏

very informative and substantive article

Good pieces of advice

Very informative guidance. Thank you for sharing.

Hello very interesting tips.

Its really useful for new researchers.

Nice writing

The information provided is very important to write a good research article

Amazingly helpful article, from a PhD candidate!

Hello, Very interesring

Thank you for your valuable 25 ways to improve the research .would you include examples or case studies . Thank you

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Home › Study Tips › Research Skills: What They Are and How They Benefit You

Research Skills: What They Are and How They Benefit You

• Published May 23, 2024

Research skills give you the ability to gather relevant information from different sources and analyse it critically in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of a subject. Thus, research skills are fundamental to academic success.

Developing these skills will improve your studies, helping you understand subjects better and positioning you for academic success.

That said, how can you develop important research skills? This will explore what research skills are, identify the core ones, and explain how you can develop them.

What Are Research Skills?

Research skills are a set of abilities that allow individuals to find and gather reliable information and then evaluate the information to find answers to questions.

Good research skills are important in academic settings, as finding and critically evaluating relevant information can help you gain a deeper understanding of a subject.

These skills are also important in professional and personal settings. When you graduate and are working in a professional capacity, you’ll often need to analyse sets of data to identify issues and determine how to solve them.

In personal contexts, you’ll always need to assess relevant information to make an informed decision. Whether you’re deciding on a major purchase, choosing a healthcare provider, or planning to make an investment, you’ll need to evaluate options to ensure better decision outcomes.

Different Types of Research Skills

Research skills are categorised into different sub-skills. The most common types are:

Quantitative Skills

Quantitative skills refer to the ability to work with numerical data and perform mathematical and statistical analyses to extract meaningful insights and draw conclusions. 

When you have quantitative skills, you’ll be able to apply mathematical concepts and operations in research design and data analysis. 

You’ll also be proficient in using statistical methods to analyse data and interpreting numerical data to draw meaningful conclusions. 

Analytical Skills

Analytical skills refer to the ability to gather data, evaluate it, and draw sound conclusions. When you have analytical skills, you’ll be able to systematically analyse information to reach a reasonable conclusion. 

Analytical skills are important in problem-solving. They help you to break down complex problems into more manageable components, think critically about the information at hand, analyse root causes, and develop effective solutions.

Qualitative Skills

Qualitative skills refer to the ability to collect, analyse, and interpret non-numerical data. When you have qualitative skills, you’ll be proficient in observation, interviewing, and other methods for collecting qualitative research data. 

You’ll also be able to analyse non-numerical data, such as documents and images, to identify themes, patterns, and meanings.

Research Skills Examples

The core research skills you need for success in academic, professional, and personal contexts include:

Data Collection

Data is at the centre of every research, as data is what you assess to find the answers you seek. Thus, research starts with collecting relevant data.

Depending on the research, there are two broad categories of data you can collect: primary and secondary.

Primary data is generated by the researcher, like data from interviews, observations, or experiments. Secondary data is pre-existing data obtained from different existing databases, like published literature, government reports, etc. 

Thus, data collection is more than gathering information from the Internet. Depending on the research, it can require more advanced skills for conducting experiments to generate your own data.

Source Evaluation

When doing research on any subject (especially when using the Internet), you’ll be amazed at the volume of information you’ll find. And a lot is pure garbage that can compromise your research work.

Thus, an important research skill is being able to dig through the garbage to get to the real facts. This is where source evaluation comes in!

Good research skills call for being able to identify biases, assess the authority of the author, and determine the accuracy of information before using it.

Time Management Skills

Have you ever felt that there is not enough time in a day for all that you need to do? When you already have so much to do, adding research can be overwhelming.

Good time management skills can help you find the time to do all you need to do, including relevant research work, making it an essential research skill.

Time management allows you to plan and manage your research project effectively. It includes breaking down research tasks into more manageable parts, setting priorities, and allocating time to the different stages of the research.

Communication Skills

Communication is an important aspect of every research, as it aids in data collection and sharing research findings. 

Important communication skills needed in research include active listening, active speaking, interviewing, report writing, data visualisation, and presentation, etc.

For example, when research involves collecting primary data via interviews, you must have sound speaking and listening skills. 

When you conclude the research and need to share findings, you’ll need to write a research report and present key findings in easy-to-understand formats like charts. 

Attention to Detail

Attention to detail is the ability to achieve thoroughness and accuracy when doing something. It requires focusing on every aspect of the tasks, even small ones. 

Anything you miss during your research will affect the quality of your research findings. Thus, the ability to pay close attention to details is an important research skill.

You need attention to detail at every stage of the research process. During data collection, it helps you ensure reliable data. 

During analysis, it reduces the risk of error to ensure your results are trustworthy. It also helps you express findings precisely to minimise ambiguity and facilitate understanding.

Note-Taking

Note-taking is exactly what it sounds like—writing down key information during the research process.

Remember that research involves sifting through and taking in a lot of information. It’s impossible to take in all the information and recall it from memory. This is where note-taking comes in!

Note-taking helps you capture key information, making it easier to remember and utilise for the research later. It also involves writing down where to look for important information.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think rationally and synthesise information in a thoughtful way. It is an important skill needed in virtually all stages of the research process.

For example, when collecting data, you need critical thinking to assess the quality and relevance of data. It can help you identify gaps in data to formulate your research question and hypothesis. 

It can also help you to identify patterns and make reasonable connections when interpreting research findings.

Data Analysis

Data may not mean anything until you analyse it qualitatively or quantitatively (using techniques like Excel or SPSS). For this reason, data analysis analysis is an important research skill.

Researchers need to be able to build hypotheses and test these using appropriate research techniques. This helps to draw meaningful conclusions and gain a comprehensive understanding of research data.

Problem-Solving Skills

Research often involves addressing specific questions and solving problems. For this reason, problem-solving skills are important skills when conducting research. 

Problem-solving skills refer to the ability to identify, analyse, and solve problems effectively. 

With problem-solving skills, you’ll be able to assess a situation, consider various solutions, and choose the most appropriate course of action toward finding a solution.

Benefits of Research Skills

Research skills have many benefits, including:

Enhances Critical Thinking

Research skills and critical thinking are intertwined such that developing one enhances the other.

Research requires people to question assumptions, evaluate evidence, analyse information, and draw conclusions. These activities require you to think critically about the information at hand. Hence, engaging in research enhances critical thinking.

Develops Problem-Solving Skills

Research helps you acquire a set of critical skills that are directly transferable to problem-solving. 

For example, research fosters creative thinking, as it often requires synthesising data from different sources and connecting different concepts. After developing creative thinking via research, you can apply the skill to generate innovative solutions in problem-solving situations. 

Helps in Knowledge Acquisition

Engaging in research is a powerful way to acquire knowledge. Research involves exploring new ideas, and this helps you expand your breadth of knowledge.

It also involves applying research methods and methodologies. So, you’ll acquire knowledge about research methods, enhancing your ability to design and conduct studies in your higher education or professional life.

Why Are Research Skills Important?

Strong research skills offer numerous benefits, especially for students’ academic learning and development. 

When you develop good research skills, you’ll reap great academic rewards that include:

In-Depth Understanding

Conducting research allows you to delve deep into specific topics, helping you gain a thorough understanding of the subject matter beyond what is covered in standard coursework.

Critical Thinking Development

Research involves critical evaluation of information and making informed decisions. This builds your ability to think critically.

This skill will not only help you solve academic problems better, but it’s also crucial to your personal and professional growth.

Encouragement of Independent Learning

Research encourages independent learning. When you engage in research, you seek answers independently. You take the initiative to find, retrieve, and evaluate information relevant to your research.

That helps you develop self-directed study habits. You’ll be able to take ownership of your education and actively seek out information for a better understanding of the subject matter.

Intellectual Curiosity Development

Research skills encourage intellectual curiosity and a love of learning, as they’ll make you explore topics you find intriguing or important. Thus, you’ll be more motivated to explore topics beyond the scope of your coursework.

Enhanced Communication Skills

Research helps you build better interpersonal skills as well as report-writing skills.

Research helps you sharpen your communication skills when you interact with research subjects during data collection. Communicating research findings to an audience also helps sharpen your presentation skills or report writing skills.

Assistance in Career Preparation 

Many professions find people with good research skills. Whether you’ll pursue a career in academia, business, healthcare, or IT, being able to conduct research will make you a valuable asset.

So, researching skills for students prepares you for a successful career when you graduate.

Contribution to Personal Growth

Research also contributes to your personal growth. Know that research projects often come with setbacks, unexpected challenges, and moments of uncertainty. Navigating these difficulties helps you build resilience and confidence.

Acquisition of Time Management Skills

Research projects often come with deadlines. Such research projects force you to set goals, prioritise tasks, and manage your time effectively.

That helps you acquire important time management skills that you can use in other areas of academic life and your professional life when you graduate.

Ways to Improve Research Skills

The ways to improve your research skills involve a combination of learning and practice. 

You should consider enrolling in research-related programmes, learning to use data analysis tools, practising summarising and synthesising information from multiple sources, collaborating with more experienced researchers, and more. 

Looking to improve your research skills? Read our 11 ways to improve research skills article.

How Can I Learn Research Skills?

You can learn research skills using these simple three-point framework:

Clarifying the Objective

Start by articulating the purpose of your research. Identify the specific question you are trying to answer or the problem you are aiming to solve.

Then, determine the scope of your research to help you stay focused and avoid going after irrelevant information.

Cross-Referencing Sources

The next step is to search for existing research on the topic. Use academic databases, journals, books, and reputable online sources.

It’s important to compare information from multiple sources, taking note of consensus among studies and any conflicting findings. 

Also, check the credibility of each source by looking at the author’s expertise, information recency, and reputation of the publication’s outlet.

Organise the Research

Develop a note-taking system to document key findings as you search for existing research. Create a research outline, then arrange your ideas logically, ensuring that each section aligns with your research objective.

As you progress, be adaptable. Be open to refining your research plan as new understanding evolves.

Enrolling in online research programmes can also help you build strong research skills. These programmes combine subject study with academic research project development to help you hone the skills you need to succeed in higher education.

Immerse Education is a foremost provider of online research programmes.

Acquire Research Skills with Immerse Education 

Research skills are essential to academic success. They help you gain an in-depth understanding of subjects, enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improve your time management skills, and more. 

In addition to boosting you academically, they contribute to your personal growth and prepare you for a successful professional career.

Thankfully, you can learn research skills and reap these benefits. There are different ways to improve research skills, including enrolling in research-based programmes. This is why you need Immerse Education!

Immerse Education provides participants aged 13-18 with unparalleled educational experience. All our programmes are designed by tutors from top global universities and help prepare participants for future success.

Our online research programme expertly combines subject study with academic research projects to help you gain subject matter knowledge and the important research skills you need to succeed in higher education.  With one-on-one tutoring or group sessions from an expert academic from Oxford or Cambridge University and a flexible delivery mode, the programme is designed for you to succeed. Subsequently, enrolling in our accredited Online Research Programme will award students with 8 UCAS points upon completion.

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Home > Blog > Tips for Online Students > The Best Research Skills For Success

Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students

The Best Research Skills For Success

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: January 5, 2020

Every student is required to conduct research in their academic careers at one point or another. A good research paper not only requires a great deal of time, but it also requires complex skills. Research skills include the ability to organize, evaluate, locate, and extract relevant information.

Let’s learn how to develop great research skills for academic success.

What is Research?

We’ve all surely heard the term “research” endlessly. But do you really know what it means?

Research is a type of study that focuses on a specific problem and aims to solve it using scientific methods. Research is a highly systematic process that involves both describing, explaining, and predicting something.

Photo by  Startup Stock Photos  from  Pexels

What are research skills.

Research skills are what helps us answer our most burning questions, and they are what assist us in our solving process from A to Z, including searching, finding, collecting, breaking down, and evaluating the relevant information to the phenomenon at hand.

Research is the basis of everything we know — and without it, we’re not sure where we would be today! For starters, without the internet and without cars, that’s for sure.

Why are Research Skills Important?

Research skills come in handy in pretty much everything we do, and especially so when it comes to the workforce. Employers will want to hire you and compensate you better if you demonstrate a knowledge of research skills that can benefit their company.

From knowing how to write reports, how to notice competition, develop new products, identify customer needs, constantly learn new technologies, and improve the company’s productivity, there’s no doubt that research skills are of utter importance. Research also can save a company a great deal of money by first assessing whether making an investment is really worthwhile for them.

How to Get Research Skills

Now that you’re fully convinced about the importance of research skills, you’re surely going to want to know how to get them. And you’ll be delighted to hear that it’s really not so complicated! There are plenty of simple methods out there to gain research skills such as the internet as the most obvious tool.

Gaining new research skills however is not limited to just the internet. There are tons of books, such as Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, journals, articles, studies, interviews and much, much more out there that can teach you how to best conduct your research.

Utilizing Research Skills

Now that you’ve got all the tools you need to get started, let’s utilize these research skills to the fullest. These skills can be used in more ways than you know. Your research skills can be shown off either in interviews that you’re conducting or even in front of the company you’re hoping to get hired at .

It’s also useful to add your list of research skills to your resume, especially if it’s a research-based job that requires skills such as collecting data or writing research-based reports. Many jobs require critical thinking as well as planning ahead.

Career Paths that Require Research Skills

If you’re wondering which jobs actually require these research skills, they are actually needed in a variety of industries. Some examples of the types of work that require a great deal of research skills include any position related to marketing, science , history, report writing, and even the food industry.

Photo by  Abby Chung  from  Pexels

How students can improve research skills.

Perhaps you know what you have to do, but sometimes, knowing how to do it can be more of a challenge. So how can you as a student improve your research skills ?

1. Define your research according to the assignment

By defining your research and understanding how it relates to the specific field of study, it can give more context to the situation.

2. Break down the assignment

The most difficult part of the research process is actually just getting started. By breaking down your research into realistic and achievable parts, it can help you achieve your goals and stay systematic.

3. Evaluate your sources

While there are endless sources out there, it’s important to always evaluate your sources and make sure that they are reliable, based on a variety of factors such as their accuracy and if they are biased, especially if used for research purposes.

4. Avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism is a major issue when it comes to research, and is often misunderstood by students. IAs a student, it’s important that you understand what plagiarism really means, and if you are unclear, be sure to ask your teachers.

5. Consult and collaborate with a librarian

A librarian is always a good person to have around, especially when it comes to research. Most students don’t seek help from their school librarian, however, this person tends to be someone with a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to research skills and where to look for reliable sources.

6. Use library databases

There are tons of online library resources that don’t require approaching anyone. These databases are generally loaded with useful information that has something for every student’s specific needs.

7. Practice effective reading

It’s highly beneficial to practice effective reading, and there are no shortage of ways to do it. One effective way to improve your research skills it to ask yourself questions using a variety of perspectives, putting yourself in the mind of someone else and trying to see things from their point of view.

There are many critical reading strategies that can be useful, such as making summaries from annotations, and highlighting important passages.

Thesis definition

A thesis is a specific theory or statement that is to be either proved or maintained. Generally, the intentions of a thesis are stated, and then throughout, the conclusions are proven to the reader through research. A thesis is crucial for research because it is the basis of what we are trying to prove, and what guides us through our writing.

What Skills Do You Need To Be A Researcher?

One of the most important skills needed for research is independence, meaning that you are capable of managing your own work and time without someone looking over you.

Critical thinking, problem solving, taking initiative, and overall knowing how to work professionally in front of your peers are all crucial for effectively conducting research .

1. Fact check your sources

Knowing how to evaluate information in your sources and determine whether or not it’s accurate, valid or appropriate for the specific purpose is a first on the list of research skills.

2. Ask the right questions

Having the ability to ask the right questions will get you better search results and more specific answers to narrow down your research and make it more concise.

3. Dig deeper: Analyzing

Don’t just go for the first source you find that seems reliable. Always dig further to broaden your knowledge and make sure your research is as thorough as possible.

4. Give credit

Respect the rights of others and avoid plagiarizing by always properly citing your research sources.

5. Utilize tools

There are endless tools out there, such as useful websites, books, online videos, and even on-campus professionals such as librarians that can help. Use all the many social media networks out there to both gain and share more information for your research.

6. Summarizing

Summarizing plays a huge role in research, and once the data is collected, relevant information needs to be arranged accordingly. Otherwise it can be incredibly overwhelming.

7. Categorizing

Not only does information need to be summarized, but also arranged into categories that can help us organize our thoughts and break down our materials and sources of information.

Photo by  Noelle Otto  from  Pexels

What are different types of research, 1. qualitative.

This type of research is exploratory research and its aim is to obtain a better understanding of reasons for things. Qualitative research helps form an idea without any specific fixed pattern. Some examples include face-to-face interviews or group discussions.

2. Quantitative

Quantitative research is based on numbers and statistics. This type of research uses data to prove facts, and is generally taken from a large group of people.

3. Analytical

Analytical research has to always be done from a neutral point of view, and the researcher is intended to break down all perspectives. This type of research involves collecting information from a wide variety of sources.

4. Persuasive

Persuasive research describes an issue from two different perspectives, going through both the pros and cons of both, and then aims to prove their preference towards one side by exploring a variety of logical facts.

5. Cause & Effect

In this type of research, the cause and effects are first presented, and then a conclusion is made. Cause and effect research is for those who are new in the field of research and is mostly conducted by high school or college students.

6. Experimental Research

Experimental research involves very specific steps that must be followed, starting by conducting an experiment. It is then followed by sharing an experience and providing data about it. This research is concluded with data in a highly detailed manner.

7. Survey Research

Survey research includes conducting a survey by asking participants specific questions, and then analyzing those findings. From that, researchers can then draw a conclusion.

8. Problem-Solution Research

Both students and scholars alike carry out this type of research, and it involves solving problems by analyzing the situation and finding the perfect solution to it.

What it Takes to Become a Researcher

• Critical thinking

Research is most valuable when something new is put on the table. Critical thinking is needed to bring something unique to our knowledge and conduct research successfully.

• Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking is one of the most important research skills and requires a great deal of practice. Such a skill can assist researchers in taking apart and understanding a large amount of important information in a short amount of time.

• Explanation skills

When it comes to research skills, it’s not just about finding information, but also about how you explain it. It’s more than just writing it out, but rather, knowing how to clearly and concisely explain your new ideas.

• Patience is key

Just like with anything in life, patience will always take you far. It might be difficult to come by, but by not rushing things and investing the time needed to conduct research properly, your work is bound for success.

• Time management

Time is the most important asset that we have, and it can never be returned back to us. By learning time management skills , we can utilize our time in the best way possible and make sure to always be productive in our research.

What You Need to Sharpen Your Research Skills

Research is one of the most important tasks that students are given in college, and in many cases, it’s almost half of the academic grade that one is given.

As we’ve seen, there are plenty of things that you’ll need to sharpen your research skills — which mainly include knowing how to choose reliable and relevant sources, and knowing how to take them and make it your own. It’s important to always ask the right questions and dig deeper to make sure that you understood the full picture.

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HHS Awards $5 Million in Research Grant Funding to Improve Quality, Access, and Equity in The Title X Family Planning and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs

September 15, 2024

The HHS Office of Population Affairs (OPA) is awarding more than $5 million in grant funding for Title X Family Planning Research Grants and Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Research to Practice Center grants as part of its work to protect and expand access to reproductive health care.

Title X Family Planning Research grants aim to conduct research or analyses to generate information that will improve the delivery of family planning services and expand equitable access to quality sexual and reproductive health services offered under Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Five organizations are receiving continuation funds for their third and final year of funding.

OPA's TPP Research to Practice Center grant projects synthesize and translate existing research into practice to improve adolescent health and ultimately help to reduce unintended teen pregnancy. Projects will continue to focus on the delivery of trauma-informed and inclusive practices in adolescent sexual and reproductive health programming and care and bringing adolescent sexual and reproductive health research to youth-serving professionals. Two organizations are receiving continuation funding for their third year of a four-year project period.

For most, the big increases in local property values won’t translate to a bunch more taxes: Zach Schiller

• Updated: Sep. 29, 2024, 5:16 a.m.
• | Published: Sep. 29, 2024, 5:15 a.m.

Aerial view of a Cleveland neighborhood. Most Cuyahoga County property owners won’t be seeing big tax increases result from the double-digit property valuation increases after this year's reappraisals, writes guest columnist Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters Ohio. (John Pana, cleveland.com) John Pana, cleveland.com

• Guest Columnist, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND -- Homeowners across Cuyahoga County have blanched over the big increase in assessed values of their properties, delivered this summer by the county in the regular revaluation of properties. But how much more will we be paying overall in property taxes? The surprising answer is: Not a whole lot.

How is that possible? Because, since the 1970s, Ohio has had stringent limitations on tax rates, known as House Bill 920 . The law, later codified in the Ohio Constitution, requires a decrease in the rate of most property tax levies any time property valuations go up. As a result, existing levies generate close to the same amount of revenue regardless of property valuations.

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Ara: History Untold - How to Increase City Tier

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Ara: History Untold - How to Befriend a Tribe

Ara: history untold - all nation leaders & traits, what kingdom hearts 4's 'beginning of the end' means for the series, quick links, how to increase city tier in ara: history untold, city tiers in ara: history untold.

In Ara: History Untold , gamers will have to manage several cities. At first, they'll start with their Nation's capital, but as they explore their surroundings and send Settlers into the world, they'll claim other locations and have to work on improving several additional cities.

Here is how players can increase their relationship with tribes in Ara: History Untold and the benefits it will bring to their civilization.

A city's starting population is 300, but as it continues to grow, this number will increase and so will the City Tier, making it possible to receive more experts, claims, amenity slots, and much more. This guide will tell players what they need to know to maintain their cities and ensure that they continue to grow in Ara: History Untold .

In Ara: History Untold , cities are ranked by tiers. As a city's population grows, its City Tier goes up, allowing players to claim more territory around it, assign more amenities and experts, increase research and production speed as well as the city's tax multiplier . So, as gamers can see, there are various benefits to increasing City Tier.

To reach the next City Tier in Ara: History Untold , the player's city has to meet the population requirements . In Ara: History Untold , population growth is based on the city's Food and Housing; cities won't be able to grow unless there is extra food and Housing . Players need to make sure that they're producing enough Food with farms and hunting and building Dwellings to increase Housing .

If the player's Food income is negative, the population will start to start and the City Tier will decrease.

Players will settle cities on Tier 1, meaning they start off with 300 citizens. As players harvest more Food and get more Housing, they'll start to increase the City Tier and gain access to more improvements . Here is what they will unlock as they reach the first City Tiers in Ara: History Untold :

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WSL talking points: Man City, Arsenal need more in title race after below-par showings

Manchester City beat Brighton 1-0 thanks to Bunny Shaw's first-half goal but miss a hatful of other chances; Arsenal struggle to Leicester victory despite Frida Maanum's strike; Everton improve to narrow Man Utd defeat after opening-day Brighton debacle

Monday 30 September 2024 07:28, UK

Man City must avoid WSL title mistake again

Manchester City were able to secure their first win of the 2024/25 season - but on another day they are made to pay for their missed chances.

Gareth Taylor's side unloaded a total of 23 attempts on the Brighton and Hove Albion goal, with eight of these efforts being on target.

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That might sound like an onslaught, but the reality of the situation is that City were tame in front of goal.

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Lauren Hemp, Aoba Fujino, Vivianne Miedema and the goal scorer Khadija Shaw, who was uncharacteristically wasteful in the penalty area, all had good opportunities to add to the scoreline but failed to call Brighton goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley into any meaningful form of action.

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If it was not for a moment of instinctive finishing from Shaw, City likely would have been limited to just a point once again.

Having a cutting edge in the final third ultimately decided the WSL title race last season, with Chelsea finishing first thanks to their superior goal difference. City must take their chances if they want to avoid the same heartbreak in the future. Patrick Rowe

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A win's a win but more needed from Arsenal

It was hard work for Arsenal at Leicester.

Jonas Eidevall's team struggled to break down the well-organised hosts before Alessia Russo pounced on Catherine Bott's error to produce a moment of quality to tee up Norway international Frida Maanum 10 minutes after the break for the winner.

The Gunners were lucky to come away with all three points against the Foxes. The visitors were indebted to their debutant Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar, who produced a good save in the closing stages to deny Foxes captain Janice Cayman as their midweek Champions League exploits showed.

"We had to manage our expectations today," said boss Jonas Eidevall. "If you want to win the league you do that mostly with dominant performances. But sometimes you have to find other ways to win in a season."

Arsenal certainly did that. The Gunners will know they will have to improve if they want to wrestle the WSL title away Chelsea this season, but winning can become a habit and getting over the line at Leicester keeps Arsenal moving forward. Oliver Yew

Everton show signs of life after Brighton hammering

Man Utd emerged with an unsurprising three points from Walton Hall Park on Sunday, but that itself did not tell the full story of a resurgent Everton performance against Marc Skinner's side.

Masters of their own downfall after gifting Grace Clinton an opener inside four minutes, the Toffees looked ripe for another pasting after a 4-0 battering at Brighton on the opening weekend.

But instead they regrouped, kept their heads up and should have equalised soon after when Inma Gabarro was denied on the line from a corner kick.

She was forced off soon after which hampered their rhythm, but they kept their shape and concentration to frustrate at Man Utd side who have put nine past them over their last two WSL meetings.

A 1-0 defeat that leaves them second-bottom of the division, without a point, is no-one's dream scenario but it was a measure of response from Everton, whose fate will not be decided by these sorts of games - nor next Sunday's trip to Arsenal.

But if they can keep this resolve up against the likes of West Ham, who visit the North West a week later, things will begin to look rosier soon enough. Ron Walker

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Money blog: World-renowned chef reveals fried chicken recipe from menu - and you can make it for cost of KFC

Two-Michelin star Alex Dilling shares his Cheap Eats as we kick off a week of London chefs. Read this plus all today's consumer and personal finance news and tips below - and leave your thoughts in the comments box.

Monday 30 September 2024 09:40, UK

Essential reads

• Cheap Eats : Top chef reveals cheap fried chicken recipe
• Why are so many companies withdrawing vegan products?
• Veganism in decline? No, but we're turning away from meat alternatives | Readers have their say
• Best of Money - an archive

Tips and advice

• Money Problem : 'I've £15k invested with Royal Mint - how do I know if I'll owe capital gains tax?'
• Your takeaway order is wrong - what can you do?
• All benefits and entitlements available to pensioners

Ask a question or make a comment

By James Sillars , business reporter

Oil costs are on the rise again this morning given events in the Middle East.

Israeli operations against Hezbollah over the weekend have left a barrel of Brent crude 1% higher on Monday, at $72.

The price remains relatively depressed despite the fears of an escalating conflict.

That is being explained by plans among major oil-producing nations for increased production and continued evidence of weak demand.

Activity data out of China underlined that, though the report was compiled before the authorities in Beijing implemented stimulus measures last week designed to wake the sleeping giant.

The aid, including cuts to mortgage curbs and costs - coupled with promises of more to come - has helped Chinese stock markets to their best monthly performance since December 2014.

Not so bright across Europe today. The FTSE 100 is 0.4% down at 8,286, erasing Friday's gains.

While miners are faring well, Rightmove shares are down 3% after its board rejected a third takeover offer by Rupert Murdoch-linked REA Group.

The bid valued the UK property site at $6.1bn.

Its statement said: "The board has concluded that the latest proposal remains unattractive and continues to materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects and that the board cannot recommend the latest proposal to Rightmove shareholders".

Cath Kidston is set to return to the high street after falling into administration in 2020.

The British retailer was bought by Next in an £8.5m deal in 2023 and now appears to be re-opening its doors on 18 October in Westfield White City in London.

Posting on Instagram, the brand said: "Why yes. Yes, you guessed right."

"We have a new home opening soon," it added. "Can anyone tell where in London we'll be opening our doors?"

Designer Cath Kidston opened her first shop in London's Holland Park in 1994, selling hand-embroidered tea towels. But, by the early 2000s, it had become a high street fixture with scores of standalone shops.

But, like many retailers, its fortunes were hit by the pandemic, forcing it into insolvency three years ago with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

Every week we ask one of the best chefs in the country to pick their Cheap Eats where they live and at home.

We've talked to chefs across the UK, from Northern Ireland to Norfolk - and this week our focus is on London.

The capital is home to 80 Michelin-starred restaurants, almost half the UK total, so instead of the usual Wednesday feature, we're stretching it across the week, with nine of the city's most celebrated chefs giving their recommendations before we round up all our London chefs from the year on Saturday.

Today we speak to two Michelin-starred Alex Dilling, of Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal on Regent Street.

Hi Alex, can you tell us your favourite places around London where you can get a meal for two for less than £40?

I love Bancone or Notto for great value and well-cooked pasta. Main courses are all under £20. Michelin-star chef Phil Howard is behind Notto and his cooking technique comes through even in these casual dishes. 

There's a falafel truck near Soho House on Portobello Road, it doesn't have a website. They do one with great tahini and fresh salad for £5. Very filling and a quick meal on the go for busy chefs.

Bao  in Soho, I love the specials, the fried chicken bao is my go-to. Such a well-defined concept. A great spot for a quick but satisfying lunch.

What is your go-to cheap eat to cook at home when you have a night in?

Speaking of fried chicken... that's my go-to cheap eat at home. Being half American I love the occasional indulgence in fast food. Some good seasoning makes all the difference. A tasty snack for under £5. 

Ingredients:

• Two boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 350g gluten-free flour
• 300g buttermilk
• 12g garlic powder
• 12g onion powder
• 10g smoked paprika
• Black pepper
• Oil for frying
• Cut the chicken breast lengthways to achieve three flat pieces per breast of even thickness.
• Add the flour in one bowl and buttermilk in another. Divide the seasonings evenly between the two bowls and mix well.
• Add the chicken to the buttermilk and leave to marinate for three hours.
• Take a few spoons of the buttermilk and add to the flour and whisk. This will help create the little crunchy bits.
• One by one, add a piece of chicken to the flour coating evenly and all over. 
• Once all has been coated fry in batches at 175C until deep golden and cooked through. Around three min. Drain on absorbent paper.

How did you get into cheffing?

I got into cheffing because of my huge passion for food, growing up in a family who loves food. I love eating too, which for me is an important part of chef life. Even on my days off, food being part of that is something I look forward to - whether cooking for my family or going out for a meal I've been looking forward to. The toughest part of being a chef is of course the hours, followed by the fact you're never truly done. There's always a thought to tomorrow's service, events, ordering or service. Luckily for the new generation of chefs the hours are now more forgiving and employers care about work-life balance. 

That said, I'm in a slightly different position now as I own and run (with my partner) the restaurant too, so there's no escape. It's an incredibly rewarding career which takes me and my team all over the world as well as creating dishes we are so proud of here in London.

We've spoken to lots of top chefs  - check out their cheap eats from around the country here...

Every Monday we get an expert to answer your money problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

I have £15,000 invested with Royal Mint in gold, silver and platinum bullion. I have accumulated this over years, adding £200 or so to my holding from time to time, but no records of my payments retained. How do I calculate if any increase in value attracts capital gains tax? Maid Marion

Sarah Paton , private client solicitor at Irwin Mitchell , says the first step is to identify the bullion type.

"Royal Mint coins (whether gold, silver or platinum) are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) because they are considered to be legal tender within the UK. Other bullion such as gold bars are subject to CGT," she says.

"If your investment is in other bullion which is subject to CGT, and you want to calculate whether there is a gain on the investment currently, then you need to start by determining the gross sale price of your bullion now. You then need to estimate the base cost. Where you have an asset that you have added to over time, as in this case, this can be slightly more difficult to work out.

"I would start by asking the Royal Mint whether they have a statement of account or an investment schedule which shows the history of your account. If they do, you should be able to track back and work out when further investments were made and for how much."

If no such records exist, a copy of bank statements covering the last seven years can be requested, Sarah says. This is about as long as banks keep records, but if the investments have been held for longer, the statements can be used to inform a "best guess estimate" on earlier investments, she adds.

Sarah says: "The price of bullion fluctuates much like shares on the stock market, so you will have different base costs for each addition to the account. You will need to look back at the historic price of bullion on each day you made a purchase and that will be your base cost for that addition.

"To calculate your gain, you deduct the purchase price from the sale price and deduct any available allowances such as your annual CGT allowance (£3,000 for the tax year 2024-25). If your gain exceeds the available allowance then you will need to pay CGT on the excess. Depending on your individual tax rate and other income you receive, you will pay CGT at either 10% or 18%."

We explain more about CGT and when you'll need to pay it in our Basically  series...

Gains are typically reported via self-assessment tax return. 

You will need to set out your calculation to HM Revenue and Customers and potentially provide corroborating evidence, Sarah says, proving why "careful record keeping is absolutely essential". 

"Moving forward, I recommend that you track all your future investments into this account to make it easier in the future," she adds.

"CGT is only payable if you dispose of the asset, though, whether through a sale or by a gift. If you do not dispose of your bullion, whether or not there is a gain, there will not be any CGT to pay until such time as you choose to do so. As the law currently stands, if you hold onto the bullion until your death, any gains will be washed out and the assets will be rebased as at the date of your death meaning that your beneficiaries are able to inherit them free of gains. This could, of course, all change following the budget."

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.  Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• WhatsApp us  here
• The form above - you need to leave a phone number or email address so we can contact you for further details
• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog"

By Jimmy Rice , Money blog editor

Welcome back to Money, your place for personal finance and consumer news, tips and analysis.

Here are five reasons to pop back today and over the coming days...

Every week we ask one of the best chefs in the country to pick their Cheap Eats where they live and at home. We've talked to chefs across the UK, from Northern Ireland to Norfolk - and this week our focus is on London.

The capital is home to 80 Michelin-starred restaurants, almost half of the UK total, so instead of the usual Wednesday feature, we're stretching it across the week, with nine of the city's most celebrated chefs giving their recommendations before we round up all our London chefs from the year in one place on Saturday.

The rise of 'forever games'

A "reckoning" is coming for the gaming industry, says Deejay Knight, a US Air Force veteran who swapped the rifle on his back for a virtual one.

The Texan Twitch streamer, who makes his living gaming, is among several experts paying close attention to the rise of "forever games" - an increasingly popular business model leading developers and publishers to abandon the traditional £60 price tag. But what's the true cost?

We'll be hearing from Deejay and others in our Saturday deep dive.

No fault evictions

Every Tuesday in our Basically... feature we explain everything you need to know about a different financial topic. This week we're looking at something that's popped up in the news these last few days: maternity pay.

Money Problem

Our Money Problem feature is published every Monday morning. This week, an expert answers a reader's capital gains tax query.

Savings and mortgages advice

Every Thursday, Savings Champion founder Anna Bowes offers advice for making the most of your spare cash and reveals the best rates on the market right now. On Fridays we do similarly with mortgages, hearing from industry experts on what anyone seeking to borrow needs to know at the minute before rounding up the best rates with the help of the guys from Moneyfacts.

We've got lots of others tips and features planned for this week, so bookmark  news.sky.com/money  and check back from 7am each weekday - or 8am on Saturday for our weekend feature.

The award-winning Money blog is produced by the Sky News live team, with contributions from  Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young, Ollie Cooper and Mark Wyatt, with additional reporting from cost of living specialist Megan Baynes and sub-editing by Isobel Souster. It is edited by Jimmy Rice.

The Money blog will return on Monday - meantime, why not scroll through some of our best and most popular features below...

Our in-depth look at why so many vegan products are being withdrawn (see previous post) has prompted hundreds of comments - and one theme has dominated our inbox.

Many vegan readers wrote in to suggest that rather than signifying a decline in interest in veganism, the withdrawals are instead a symptom of people becoming more aware of ultra-processed food - which, as the nutritionist in the article pointed out, are prevalent in meat alternatives.

As the article made clear, there's no simple narrative here - with the data contradicting itself: the number of vegans is seemingly up, but search interest in veganism has fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years.

Here are some of your comments...

Vegans don't want to eat the ultra processed 'lookalikes' that the mass producers think we want to eat. Supermarkets try to lead the trend with alternative copies, when actually eating a vegan diet is about embracing real food. James

The reason why people no longer buy vegan food products is due to them being high in fat and salt. Everyone is more savvy now and cook their own healthier vegan dishes - that's much cheaper. Riversong

To be vegan you really need to use whole foods and not packaged ultra processed food - which will often include sugars and chemicals that take away all the benefit. It's a myth that you cannot get all nutrients including proteins from veg and fruit. CaptainFog

The article erroneously claims that a vegan diet is expensive, which may be true if you eat an exclusively unhealthy ultra processed diet of fake meats etc, but as the nutritionist points out, a diet of legumes, veg, fruit, nuts, seeds, whole grains etc is very healthy, and cheaper. Karlos (part one)

The focus on meat alternatives being withdrawn is flawed, since these processed products are only a stepping stone to a vegan diet, and most vegans like myself (9+years) rarely or never eat them after the transition finished. Companies overestimated the market initially. Karlos (part two)

With the rise of awareness of ultra processed foods, the surprise discovery that most plant based vegan foods fall into that highly undesirable category is, I suggest, a major reason why there has been a decline in buying these products. It was mine. Jancandy

Attributing a decline in vegan search down to price or reduction in veganism is too simplistic. We want to be healthier vegans. Many of us previously excited about the latest product have evolved and make our own without harmful preservatives. We are avoiding ultra processed food S123

I went vegan 8 months ago and it's been a great success. I don't know anyone who goes vegan because it's cheaper. Primarily we do it for health and to object to the use and slaughter of animals. If you batch cook, buy in bulk and learn some new cooking techniques, you'll be fine. Aidan

Vegans are growing in numbers and always will be. It's just that many of us are switching to more whole foods. I'm vegan 7 years and used vegan meat to help me transition to real foods like nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables. Veganism is humanity's last hope for sustainability. Trevor

People not giving up on veganism. Just the fake meat is not great, and unhealthy. Why do you want to eat a packed with chemicals burger if there are so many good recipes with plants only. Bea

By Katie Williams , Money team

The rise of the vegan diet seems to have been unstoppable in recent years, with more and more people making the lifestyle switch due to animal welfare, environmental and health concerns.

The "Veganuary" campaign – which started in 2014 and sees participants commit to being vegan for the entire month of January - has helped raise awareness of a plant-based diet and is credited with prompting many people to make a permanent switch. 

Around 707,000 people signed up to the challenge last year, while research by comparison site Finder suggests there were an estimated 2.5 million vegans in the UK in 2024 (4.7% of the population), with the number increasing by roughly 1.1 million since 2023.

Products withdrawn - and search interest in decline

Despite this apparent increase in people adopting a vegan diet, other data poses significant questions for the market.

Figures from consumer intelligence company NIQ show that in the year to June, sales of chilled and frozen meat alternatives dropped by around 21% compared with the same period two years earlier. There was a slight rebound in dairy-free milk sales, which increased by 0.8% on average compared with 2022.

Heinz disappointed some customers this year by revealing it had discontinued its vegan salad cream to meet "changing culinary trends and tastes". Greggs axed its vegan steak bake in May, Quorn removed its chilled bacon slices from shelves, while other brands such as Heck, Oatly and Nestle have all reduced their vegan product offerings in the past couple of years. 

Innocent scrapped its dairy-free milk range in March 2023, joking that only five people had bought the products.

The evidence of a decline doesn't stop with product withdrawals. Google data shows searches for "veganism", "vegan diet" and "vegan recipes" appeared to peak in late 2019 and early 2020 before dropping away gradually in the years after.

'I couldn't believe how much cheaper the non-vegan food was'

Two former vegans told us about their reasons for going exclusively vegan initially – and their reasons for stopping.

Megan d'Ardenne, 26, from London, said she was vegetarian on and off throughout her teenage and younger adult years, before deciding to try Veganuary in her final year of university.

After enjoying spending the month finding new recipes and testing out a new diet, Megan decided to carry on being vegan and started a food blog ( @comedinewithmegs ) showcasing her creations during the first lockdown.

But after restrictions were lifted, and restaurants opened up again, finding places with a good selection of vegan options became challenging, Megan said.

"At the time, a lot of places were offering limited menus post-COVID which made it more difficult. I remember being at a wine bar with my friends in central London and they didn't have any vegan options available so I shared a cheese board with them," she said.

"It was delicious and reminded me of my love for cheese. After that, I went back to a vegetarian diet which I followed for around six months before I started to reintroduce meat again."

Megan noticed she was able to save some money after she stopped being vegan.

"I couldn't believe how much cheaper the non-vegan food was, especially dairy. My milk, yoghurts and cheese were under half what I was spending before," she said.

Though she's returned to a diet that includes meat, Megan says she still chooses to eat vegetarian some of the time and points out that one of her favourite dishes is a Caesar salad using tofu – which she'll stock up on when it's on offer.

'I didn't want to spend my holiday hunting for vegan alternatives'

Sophie Jones, 30, from Bristol, went vegan in 2017 due to "health and ethical reasons" having already been on a vegetarian diet for three years.

But she decided to stop being exclusively vegan on a trip to Paris in 2022. She said she didn't want to spend her holiday hunting for vegan pastries and cheese "in a city that's already expensive".

Sophie said she'd also found meat substitutes were more expensive than the real thing for less product.

There was a lack of originality in the vegan options being offered by restaurants, she added: "Unless you're going somewhere where the entire menu was vegan, it was usually a burger or pasta dish."

Convenience was Sophie's main reason for introducing more fish and meat back into her diet.

Meat-free alternatives are more expensive - but it's not that simple

We looked at the price of meat/animal products versus their animal-free alternatives at the UK's biggest three supermarkets to see how much more shoppers could be paying at the tills for similar items.

We compared supermarket own-brand items with their own-brand meat-free alternatives. Offers and loyalty scheme discounts were excluded.

A quick look at three different products - sausages, burgers and milk - revealed that the equivalent vegan/vegetarian alternatives were around a third more expensive on average, when quantity was taken into account.

The above could explain why some brands have withdrawn meat-alternative options - the price point is putting people off, Megan being one.

But author and nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert says a vegan diet can be made affordable.

"Meat alternatives can be expensive," she said. "[But] canned vegetables, such as legumes and pulses, are an excellent example of cost-effective vegan choices. They are both full of fibre and a great source of protein."

She added: "When it comes to dairy milk alternatives, unsweetened soya milk is a cheaper choice and also has similar protein and fat content to semi-skimmed cow's milk."

Ultra-processed concerns

While cost and convenience are clearly putting some people off, the data is contradictory: products are being withdrawn and search interest has fallen off a cliff, but the number of vegans appears to still be rising.

Rhiannon's comments for this article hint at another reason meat-alternatives are being withdrawn.

"Meat alternatives can be processed and so are not always the best choice of protein for those following vegan diets," she said.

As awareness of UPFs has risen, perhaps it is that vegans are just being more concerned about the products they buy.

What are the benefits of a vegan diet v meat?

Rhiannon said research shows a vegan diet can bring "numerous health benefits" including a decreased risk of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

"Vegan diets also have a lower environmental footprint compared with diets which are rich in animal products as they require fewer natural resources and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to sustainability and conservation," she said.

"This being said, it's easy for a vegan diet to lack essential nutrients resulting in vitamin deficiencies, and therefore it requires meticulous planning and it is often best to seek advice from a registered nutritionist or dietician on how best to follow this diet," Rhiannon added.

"Animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs are rich sources of essential nutrients like high-quality protein, vitamin B12, heme-iron, and calcium which are vital for overall health."

Those wanting to make more environmentally conscious choices can eat less red meat, plan meals ahead to avoid waste and shop locally and seasonally, she added.

We're signing out for the week as far as live updates are concerned - though do check out our long read on whether the vegan bubble has burst tomorrow morning.

Until then, here are the four major takeaways from Money this week...

The good news for holidaymakers continued with the pound showing strength against both the euro and dollar.

Political stability here in the UK, as well as better than expected economic growth, have boosted the pound in recent weeks.

The dollar, meanwhile, has suffered due to forecasts of faster US interest rate cuts, with the Fed wanting to loosen monetary policy to stimulate a floundering jobs market.

In Europe, the currency has been spooked by fears Germany is also facing a recession.

All this means Britons can get more holiday money for a pound: around $1.34 and €1.20.

Notably, Goldman Sachs thinks the pound could reach $1.40 within a year.

The value of the pound also makes importing fuel cheaper - which, combined with lower oil prices, is being reflected at the pumps.

Earlier this week, petrol and diesel prices sank to a three-year low - with the RAC putting the average price of a litre of petrol at 135.7p, almost 60p cheaper than the record high hit two years ago.

Young people were urged this week to check whether they have unclaimed cash sitting in Child Trust Funds (CTFs).

HMRC says more than 670,000 18-22 year olds are yet to cash in on their stash from the government savings pots.

It says each account is worth £2,212 on average.

Child Trust Funds are long-term tax-free savings accounts set up under the previous Labour government for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. 

Youngsters can take control of their account at 16 and withdraw funds when they turn 18 and the account matures.

Investment platform AJ Bell says more than a quarter of CTF accounts were set up by the government, rather than parents, meaning many people may be unaware they have one.

It's crucial people look into it if they think they may have a CTF - before fees eat up all their money.

Finally, rail workers voted to accept pay offers from train companies and Network Rail - putting an end to strikes that have impacted passengers for years.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) backed a one-year rise of 4.5% at Network Rail (NR) and increases at train operators of 4.75% for the last year and 4.5% for 2024-25.

Here are a few other Money posts you may wish to check out from the week...

We'll be back with live updates on Monday morning - and don't forget our Saturday long read from 8am tomorrow.

If Married At First Sight has taught us anything, it's that there is no such thing as a free wedding.

As eight more couples head down the aisle in the Channel 4 show, casino site Bonusetu looked at the venues where they tied the knot on their first meeting.

The Elvetham Hotel

The Elvetham Hotel in Hook, Hampshire, hosted the weddings of Kristina and Kieran, Eve and Charlie, Sacha and Ross, and Richelle and Orson.

Their wedding packages range from £3,000 to £8,000, the venue can accommodate up to 160 guests for receptions and 120 for dining. The stately home counts King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I as former guests.

The hotel has a 4.5 star rating on Google, from more than a thousand reviews.

Venue hire includes access to elegant rooms, a wedding breakfast, an evening reception, formal gardens, and a dramatic red-carpet arrival. 

Farnham Castle

Farnham Castle, a historic Surrey venue, was the backdrop for Emma and Caspar, Lacey and Nathan, Polly and Adam, and Holly and Alex's wedding days.

With prices starting at £4,000, the price of packages at the castle can reach as much as £25,000. 

This Grade I and Grade II-listed castle accommodates up to 350 guests for receptions and 238 for seated dinners. The venue offers a grand ballroom and the services of an in-house wedding coordinator. It also averages a 4.5 star rating on Google, from more than 600 reviews.

A spokesperson at Bonusetu.com said: "While we cringe, laugh, and hope for successful couples, those planning a wedding can find incredible inspiration for their own big day. You may be watching for love but end up falling for a venue instead."

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