Research Design
Key Principles
The process of research design will examine all the potential risks, ethical issues, peer review requirements and hurdles researchers will need to overcome to get the research project from the planning stage to the implementation stage and beyond. Good project management is the key to success and the process should map out deadlines for completion of key stages.
When designing research projects, researchers should ensure that:
- The proposed research addresses pertinent question(s) and is designed either to add to existing knowledge about the subject in question or to develop methods for research into it; context dependent concepts like repeatability, reproducibility, replicability, reliability, trustworthiness, credibility, authenticity and meta-research are of equal importance to establish quality;
- The design of the study is appropriate for the question(s) being asked and addresses the most important potential sources of bias;
- The design and conduct of the study, including how the research outputs will be made, gathered, analysed, stored, and managed, are set out in detail in a prespecified research plan or where possible a protocol submitted to a registry; open research practices are encouraged;
- All necessary skills and experience will be available to carry out the proposed research, in the proposed research team or through collaboration with specialists in relevant fields;
- Sufficient resources will be available to carry out the proposed research and that these resources will meet the relevant standards;
- Agreements are in place to give appropriate acknowledgement for the intellectual and/or technical contributions to the research output;
- Any issues relating to the above are resolved as far as possible prior to the start of the research.
Risk Assessments
It is also necessary to undertake a risk assessment of the planned study to determine:
- Whether there are any ethical issues and whether ethics review is required (if human participants, their data or tissue is involved);
- The potential for risks to the University, the research or the health, safety or well-being of researcher or research participants, the public, the environment, or national security;
- What legal requirements govern the research;
- Whether the research poses any Trusted Research or research security risks;
- If there are any Health & Safety concerns and that fieldwork and travel risk assessments are completed if appropriate.
Risk assessments should be a continuous process throughout the lifecycle of the research project.
Where the design has been approved by ethics, regulatory or peer review, researchers should ensure that any subsequent alterations to the design are subject to appropriate review to determine that they will not compromise the integrity of the research or any terms of consent previously given.
Researchers should aim to identify risks that the proposed research might produce results that could be misused for purposes that are illegal or harmful (including dual use research of concern) and should comply with Trusted Research guidelines.