RESEARCH IN SOCIAL CARE: GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCHERS

4   WRITE YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

A proposal will be essential, not just to obtain funding or approval for the study, but to inform all those who will be involved about what is planned.  Your proposal will have to be discussed in draft with:

• Your research adviser or supervisor
• Managers and other staff in the service where the study will take place
• Service users and their carers

Headings to include in your proposal

No two proposals are the same, but here are some sub-headings which you might use in your proposal:

• Title
• Abstract or summary
• Background or rationale for the project
• Aims/objectives
• Methods and data analysis
• Expected contribution of the study
• Ethical issues
• Staffing
• Timetable for the study
• Resources and costs (see section 5)
• Dissemination and publication

Getting advice about your proposal

There are a number of sources of advice and help for those preparing a research proposal.  These include:

• A guide on how to write a research proposal from the University of Central England
• Some of the bodies which fund research give advice on their web sites about how they expect the proposal to be prepared.  For example, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) expects applicants to fill in an on-line form

Research governance issues

Since the development of the DH Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care, proposals for research in health and social care have to fulfil certain requirements before the work can begin.  Depending on the scope and scale of the proposed study, and its likely level of risk, these requirements are likely to include:

• Obtaining ethical approval for the study (see section 6)
• Ensuring that the proposal has been subject to peer review
• Identifying a sponsor for the study

There are a number of sources of guidance. 

• Guidance on the RGF for social care researchers is set out in the DH Implementation Plan for Social Care
• A Risk Assessment Tool for assessing the level of risk in a particular study has been developed jointly by the SSRG, DH and ADSS
• Guidance for those managing research in councils with social services responsibilities is set out in the SSRG Resource Pack
• Guidance for those carrying out research which involves NHS patients or staff is available from the National Research Ethics Service
• Research in universities is likely to be approved under the ESRC Research Ethics Framework

Peer review

Under the Research Governance Framework every social care research proposal should be subjected to independent peer review by experts in the relevant fields who are able to offer advice on its quality and suitability.  Arrangements for peer review must be commensurate with the scale of the research.

• When research is funded by a grant awarding body it will have been subjected to peer review as part of the process of approving the project
• For student research projects the university supervisor will normally provide an adequate level of peer review
• Research taking place within local authorities without external funding could go for peer review to the research officer or research lead

Identifying a sponsor

The Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care makes it clear that no research can begin until a sponsor accepts responsibility for the project.  The word ‘sponsor’ describes a set of functions for which an organisation agrees to take responsibility.  The functions are set out in the Implementation Plan for Social Care.  In the case of social care the sponsor is likely to be one of the following:

• The local authority or other organisation where the research is taking place
• The organisation which employs the researchers
• The funding body, in the case of the Department of Health