A report by a committee of MPs urged the Economic and Social Research Council to ensure that its work programme did not become overly focused on meeting government priorities, at the expense of giving researchers with strong proposals the freedom to pursue issues that they believed were important.
Source: The Work of the Economic and Social Research Council, First Report (Session 2004-05), HC 13, House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2004-Dec
Major polling companies formed an organization - the British Polling Council - aimed at raising professional standards and helping the public judge the reliability and validity of survey results.
Source: Press release 15 November 2004, British Polling Council, c/o ICM Research (nick.sparrow@icmresearch.co.uk)
Links: BPC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
A guide was published on ethical practice for research from the perspective of mental health service users and survivors.
Source: Alison Faulkner, The Ethics of Survivor Research: Guidelines for the ethical conduct of research carried out by mental health service users and survivors, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the research assessment exercise.
Source: Research Assessment Exercise: A re-assessment - Government response to the Committee's Eleventh Report of Session 2003-04, First Special Report (Session 2004-05), HC 34, House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Nov
A new book highlighted the practical and ethical complexities involved in the conduct of empirically based research, focusing upon the real-life experiences of social science researchers.
Source: Susan Gregory, Julia Lawton and Nina Hallowell (eds.), Reflections on Research: The realities of doing research in the social sciences, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Oct
A new book examined the role of participants in social research, and how research ethics could be put into practice. It discussed the ethical regulations and guidance governing researchers in different disciplines; analysed case studies of innovative research projects where ethics had been central to the researcher-subject relationship; assessed the impact of ethics on research methods and approaches; provided comparisons of research conducted by professionals and service users; and offered insights into research participants' perspectives.
Source: Marie Smyth and Emma Williamson (eds.), Researchers and Their 'Subjects': Ethics, power, knowledge and consent, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Oct
A working paper introduced realist synthesis - an approach to reviewing research evidence on complex social interventions, which provided an explanatory analysis of how and why they worked (or did not work) in particular contexts or settings.
Source: Ray Pawson, Trisha Greenhalgh, Gill Harvey and Kieran Walshe, Realist Synthesis: An introduction, Centre for Census and Survey Research/University of Manchester (0161 2754891)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Oct
A report examined how universities provided ethical scrutiny of non-medical research involving human participants. It was found that, while there had been many constructive developments, there was still some way to go to ensure appropriate scrutiny.
Source: Anthea Tinker and Vera Coomber, University Research Ethics Committees: Their role, remit and conduct, King's College London (020 7848 3033)
Links: Report (pdf) | Nuffield Foundation press release
Date: 2004-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that many of the revisions to the research assessment exercise (following the Roberts review) were positive. The introduction of a quality profile for each academic department, to replace the 7-point scale, would help to reduce, although not eliminate, 'game-playing' by universities. The new panel and sub-panel structure should improve consistency between panels and the assessment of interdisciplinary research. But it said that the Funding Councils were wrong to have shied away from more radical changes.
Source: Research Assessment Exercise: A re-assessment, Eleventh Report (Session 2003-04), HC 586, House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HEFCE press release
Date: 2004-Sep
The government began consultation on an ethics review of social care research, designed to ensure that the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of participants were the primary consideration in any research study. Four main options (or models) for a national social care ethics review system were set out; views were invited on the relative strength and weaknesses of each model, or ideas on possible alternatives.
Source: Jan Pahl, Ethics Review of Social Care Research: Options appraisal and guidelines, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2004-Sep
A new book provided a comprehensive guide to research for social policy and practice.
Source: Saul Becker and Alan Bryman (eds.), Understanding Research for Social Policy and Practice: Themes, methods and approaches, Policy Press for Social Policy Association, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Sep
A knowledge review focused on the use of research by social care staff, and how it could be promoted in social care practice. It explored models of research use that included staff at different levels and settings in social care, and looked at what organizational structures were needed to realize the aim of using research to improve practice.
Source: Isabel Walter, Sandra Nutley, Janie Percy-Smith, Di McNeish and Sarah Frost, Improving the Use of Research in Social Care Practice, Social Care Institute for Excellence (020 7089 6840)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2004-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that an 'author-pays' publishing model would ensure a fairer global distribution of the costs of publishing scientific research findings.
Source: Scientific Publications: Free for all?, Tenth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 399-I, House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
A paper used data from the British Household Panel Survey from 1994 to 2002 to assess the long-term effectiveness of refusal conversion procedures in terms of sample sizes, sample composition and data quality. (Refusal conversion procedures attempt to 'convert' sample members who refuse to take part in a survey.)
Source: Jonathan Burton, Heather Laurie and Peter Lynn, The Long-Term Effectiveness of Refusal Conversion Procedures on Longitudinal Surveys, Working Paper 2004-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jul
A new book examined the ethical questions raised by research projects involving consultation with children and young people.
Source: Priscilla Alderson and Virginia Morrow, Ethics, Social Research and Consulting with Children and Young People, Institute of Education/University of London (020 7612 6050) and Barnardo's
Links: No link
Date: 2004-Jul
A new national initiative the Research Libraries Network was announced, aimed at transforming the way research information was collected, organised, preserved and accessed. The RLN would bring together the United Kingdom's four higher education funding bodies, the British Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, and the eight members of Research Councils UK, to develop the UK's first national framework aimed at addressing the information needs of researchers.
Source: Press release 29 July 2004, Higher Education Funding Council for England (0117 931 7317)
Links: HEFCE press release | British Library press release
Date: 2004-Jul
A report said that male academics were almost twice as likely as female academics to be designated as 'research-active' - one of the prime criteria for promotion in universities.
Source: Academic Staff 2002-03: Gender and research activity in the 2001 research assessment exercise, Association of University Teachers (020 7670 9700)
Links: Report (pdf) | AUT press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The government announced the creation of a new network to improve the quality and co-ordination of research into mental ill-health.
Source: Press release 7 June 2004, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jun
A voluntary code of practice was published covering the conduct of socio-economic research in Europe.
Source: RESPECT Code of Practice Covering the Conduct of Socio-economic Research, RESPECT, c/o Institute for Employment Studies/University of Sussex (mailto:enquiries@employment-studies.co.uk)
Links: Code (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
Three new chapters (4-6) of the 'Magenta Book' were published. (The Magenta Book is a series of official guidance notes on policy evaluation and analysis, intended to help determine what constitutes high quality work in the field of policy evaluation and analysis.)
Source: The Magenta Book: Guidance notes on policy evaluation, Government Chief Social Researcher's Office (020 7276 1316)
Links: Magenta Book (links)
Date: 2004-May
The government published guidance aimed at raising standards in research on social care, and clarifying the responsibilities of all parties in the research process - researchers, health and social care agencies and research funders.
Source: The Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care: Implementation plan for social care, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Guidance (pdf)
Date: 2004-May
A study found that older black and ethnic minority people felt they had been 'researched to death' over the previous 15 years. It highlighted the need to move beyond traditional research issues, and to explore ways of bringing change in practice.
Source: Jabeer Butt and Alex O'Neil, 'Let's Move On': Black and minority ethnic older people's views on research findings, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report (pdf) | JRF Findings 564
Date: 2004-May
A paper examined the large expansion in the availability of spatially referenced socio-demographic data in recent decades, and the parallel increases in computer power, sophistication of analysis packages, and programmer and user skills.
Source: Paul Norman, Constructing a Sociodemographic Data Time-series: Computational issues and solutions, Centre for Census and Survey Research/University of Manchester (0161 2754891)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-May
A paper examined the future of the dual support system for university funding (core and research). It said that the fundamental problem with the system was that the purposes and rationale of the two funding legs were not clear, and nor was it clear who was responsible for what aspects of research expenditure.
Source: Jonathan Adams and Bahram Bekhradnia, What Future for Dual Support?, Higher Education Policy Institute (01865 284450)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Mar
The four higher education funding bodies for the United Kingdom agreed the framework and timing of the next research assessment exercise, following a major review and consultation. The exercise planned for 2008 would use 'quality profiles' to provide a 'fuller and fairer' assessment of research carried out in universities and colleges. Lecturers described the outcome of the review as 'a missed opportunity for radical reform'.
Source: RAE 2008: Initial decisions by the UK funding bodies, Higher Education Funding Council for England (0117 931 7317), Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland | Press release 11 February 2004, National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (020 7837 3636)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | HEFCE press release | NATFHE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Feb