Course Summary

This is an innovative one day course focused on developing the participants’ skills and understanding of good practice and practical experience of commissioning and managing social research. It is composed of a combination of lecture sessions, practical work and question and answer sessions with experts from a commercial research organisation and an experienced commissioner of consultants from a public sector body. The course also draws on work by the Social Research Association and the LGA in relation to commissioning consultants.

 

Course Objectives

By the end of the course participants will have developed and applied their knowledge of commissioning and managing qualitative and quantitative research. Following the course participants will have learned how:

 

Build good practice into their research programmes

Link a specified research question to research design

Critique an invitation to tender

Develop skills in contracting researchers

Develop skills in resolving problems with commercial contractors

Develop an understanding of contractors perspectives

 

Target Audience

The course is likely to be popular with public and voluntary sector researchers, commissioners and managers of research including staff from local authorities and regeneration agencies. It is also likely to be of interest to PhD students who may be planning research of their own. The course provides an excellent basis for developing the participant’s expertise in commissioning and managing social research.

 

Preliminary Reading

Commission Social Research (2002) A Good Practice Guide, SRA

 

Commissioning Tool Kit (2007) Wilkes, V. and New Start (has example forms, letters, scoring etc)

 

Commissioning Consultancy (2003) Kara, H. and Muir, P.

 

Managing Research in Local Government (2005) Hall, B.

 

Babbie, E. (2006) The Practice of Social Research, Wadsworth.