Researchers’ perspective of real-world impact from UK public health research: A qualitative study
Researchers’ perspective of real-world impact from UK public health research: A qualitative study
Research funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme is being undertaken in a complex system which brings opportunities and challenges for researchers to maximise the impact of their research. This study seeks to better understand the facilitators, challenges and barriers to research impact and knowledge mobilisation from the perspective of UK public health researchers. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, informed by the Payback Framework, with public health researchers who held a research award with the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme up to March 2017 was conducted. Following a thematic analysis, three strongly interlinked themes were extracted from the data and three key factors were highlighted as important for facilitating knowledge mobilisation and impact in UK public health research: (1) Public health researcher's perception of the purpose of the research (2) Approaches to undertaking Knowledge mobilisation activities (3) The complex nature of public health research in the wider research context. These have been reflected onto the Payback framework. Public health researchers can maximise the likelihood for impact by being aware of the context in which they are undertaking research, using different methods, and employing several strategies to take advantage of opportunities. There is a need to support researchers with knowledge mobilisation activities and for funders to identify their expectations of the impact resulting from research. Our findings have relevance to public health researchers and funders interested in increasing the benefit that research brings to society.
Lakin, Kay
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Meadmore, Katie
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Recio Saucedo, Alejandra
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Baker, Genevieve
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Worswick, Louise
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Thomas, Sarah
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27 June 2022
Lakin, Kay
2b7385b3-6147-4d47-becb-109c8737cbaa
Meadmore, Katie
4b63707b-4c44-486c-958e-e84645e7ed33
Recio Saucedo, Alejandra
d05c4e43-3399-466d-99e0-01403a04b467
Baker, Genevieve
f4e89e79-931f-4ad3-b87e-38dbd9e62cee
Worswick, Louise
c776b523-c340-4c7c-bf27-1c8a6f97c2c1
Thomas, Sarah
07d750be-9d5c-4aba-88c9-d888c6c7cb72
Lakin, Kay, Meadmore, Katie, Recio Saucedo, Alejandra, Baker, Genevieve, Worswick, Louise and Thomas, Sarah
(2022)
Researchers’ perspective of real-world impact from UK public health research: A qualitative study.
PLoS ONE, 17 (6 June), [e0268675].
(doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0268675).
Abstract
Research funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme is being undertaken in a complex system which brings opportunities and challenges for researchers to maximise the impact of their research. This study seeks to better understand the facilitators, challenges and barriers to research impact and knowledge mobilisation from the perspective of UK public health researchers. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, informed by the Payback Framework, with public health researchers who held a research award with the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme up to March 2017 was conducted. Following a thematic analysis, three strongly interlinked themes were extracted from the data and three key factors were highlighted as important for facilitating knowledge mobilisation and impact in UK public health research: (1) Public health researcher's perception of the purpose of the research (2) Approaches to undertaking Knowledge mobilisation activities (3) The complex nature of public health research in the wider research context. These have been reflected onto the Payback framework. Public health researchers can maximise the likelihood for impact by being aware of the context in which they are undertaking research, using different methods, and employing several strategies to take advantage of opportunities. There is a need to support researchers with knowledge mobilisation activities and for funders to identify their expectations of the impact resulting from research. Our findings have relevance to public health researchers and funders interested in increasing the benefit that research brings to society.
Text
journal.pone.0268675
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Accepted/In Press date: 4 May 2022
Published date: 27 June 2022
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© 2022 Lakin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Local EPrints ID: 468726
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468726
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: 3bfc5542-777a-41f8-82ff-e0cea0625091
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Date deposited: 24 Aug 2022 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:40
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Author:
Kay Lakin
Author:
Genevieve Baker
Author:
Sarah Thomas
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