Working together to make decisions on research
The Insight Collective is all about how we support people working in social care to use evidence to make a positive difference to care and support.
Traditionally, research gets done because a funder or a researcher decides it’s important. But we think it’s important to ask people accessing and delivering care and support what research they’d like to see.
We think this makes it more likely that research has an impact on practice. That’s why we take an inclusive and democratic approach to setting research priorities in social care.
How do we do it?
We’ve previously worked with Health and Care Research Wales in association with the James Lind Alliance (JLA) to deliver two priority-setting exercises – one on care and support for older adults and one on family support services.
The JLA approach originated in healthcare research. It’s about filling in the gaps around what we don’t know about certain practices or interventions. The approach brings patients, carers and clinicians together to agree on which gaps are most important and where more research is needed. We adapted this approach to create a version that works for setting research priorities in social care.
The two exercises we did with the JLA helped us identify 10 research priorities for each of our topics. The process involved speaking to a huge range of people accessing and delivering care and support, as well as researchers and policy makers. We asked them what their most important issues and questions on these topics were to understand the priorities for practice. Then we checked to see what had already been covered by existing research, to find out where more research is needed.
What do we do with these priorities?
These previous exercises have helped us decide on the topics for the evidence summaries that our research team is producing and the content for our research roadshows held earlier this year. They’ve also inspired research on topics such as data sharing in health and social care and digital inclusion in services for older adults.
We use the priorities when we speak to funders and researchers about what research matters to people working in social care.
What next?
We’re developing a bespoke approach to research priority setting that builds on the JLA principles. We’re now running two new exercises – one on linked data research in adult social care, as part of our ADR Wales work, and one on transitions from children's to adults’ social care services. Our first working group meetings for these exercises brought together practitioners and researchers to help us shape the topic.
How can you get involved?
We want to hear from you and welcome your views on the research priorities for these topics.
Keep an eye on our website for updates and opportunities to feed into these exercises in the coming months.
Find out more
For more information on this work take a look at our research priority setting page.