loughborough university research conference 2012 - lois kerr

The importance of user engagement within research and its implementation within the Working Late project

Introduction

User engagement has become a necessary component of contemporary research, references to user engagement are now frequently seen

in research funding requirements, e.g. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) currently expects applications to specify plans for

involving users in the research process (Rickinson, Sebba & Edwards 2011). The Working Late project has a strong focus on user

engagement, and by implementing user input at key stages of the research, the benefits of user engagement have been easily identifiable.

Implementing User Engagement

To ensure a range of user input each user group is involved in

the project in the following different ways:

Panel meetings where the project is presented and

feedback gained using discussions, focus groups and

workshops

Bi-annual newsletter to keep them up to date with progress

Website, where newsletters and project information is

available

Some individual user’s have been involved on a more practical

level as contacts to aid in participant recruitment and in

dissemination of our research.

Ms Lois Kerr

L.A.Kerr@lboro.ac.uk

www.workinglate.org

Identifying Users

The Working Late project has identified three user groups who

contribute to the research via discussion panels:

Older Worker Panel – includes workers over 50, recently

retired and members of an older persons reference group

Organisational Expert Panel – includes occupational health

experts, organisational representatives and trade union

representatives

Expert Advisory Panel – includes employment experts and

representatives from relevant agencies

Workinglate Project Background

Working Late is a four year collaborative research project

addressing practice and policy issues associated with later life

working, the project is funded by the New Dynamics of Ageing

(NDA) Programme. Working Late project aims to develop and

evaluate interventions and design solutions to promote health

and quality of working life.

The project comprises four interconnected work packages, which

are underpinned by a high level of user involvement and utilise a

model of continuous (iterative) active engagement with a range of

user groups to ensure that all stages of the research are informed

by the views, experience and expertise of stakeholders.

Importance of User Input

User Engagement has been found to be beneficial to research in

several areas including; quality, impact and user satisfaction

(Hwang & Thorn 1999).

The Working Late project has received many benefits from

involving users within the research process:

The added perspective and expertise of our user groups

New contacts, groups and organisational links to be used in

future projects

Help with recruitment and dissemination

Increased impact of research findings

References

Hwang, M, I., & Thorn, R, G. (1999) The effect of user engagement on system success: A meta-analytical

integration of research findings. Information and Management, 35, 4, pp 229-236.

Rickinson, M., Sabba, J. & Edwards, A. (2011) Improving Research through User Engagement. Routledge,

Oxon.