PUTTING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE …AND PRACTICE INTO RESEARCH

1. PUTTING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE …AND PRACTICE INTO RESEARCH Professor Bob Hudson, Centre for Health Services Management, University of Birmingham

2. RESEARCH is a BROAD CHURCH • Don’t get hung up on randomised control trials • Impact can range from a small change in service delivery to a new paradigm • Publication could be in refereed journals or simply be an internal document • Research is not the sole prerogative of academics

3. LEVELS of THINKING about PARTNERSHIP and INTEGRATION [1] • ‘Grand Theory’: systematic theories involving an abstract view of the components of coordination on a high level of generality • EG: market, network and hierarchy as different – but not mutually exclusive – modes of coordination • Danger of being too general to be of value to practitioners

4. LEVELS of THINKING [2] • Empirical Studies: fact-finding with a view to seeing if joint working is effective • Countless examples across all user groups, both academic and ‘in-house’ • Danger of piling up details with insufficient attention to wider understanding • ‘social research is advanced by ideas; it is only disciplined by fact’ (C Wright Mills)

5. LEVELS of THINKING [3] • Middle-Range Theory: concepts and propositions devised to meet the needs of a particular inquiry but with a wider relevance and application • EG: understanding ‘wicked issues’ and whole systems responses; types and levels of coordination; measuring shared working; trust • The shared task is to make connections: the capacity to shuttle between levels of abstraction

6. The WHOLE SYSTEMS DISCUSSION PAPER • An example of the application of a ‘middle range’ theory: Benson’s model of an ‘inter-organisational network’ • Adaptation of eight dimensions of what constitutes a ‘whole system’ • A dynamic model that can capture change: more than a mere checklist of ingredients • Available for over 25 years awaiting ‘connection’

7. The EIGHT DIMENSIONS • Domain Consensus: extent of agreement regarding the role and scope of each partner’s contribution • Ideological Consensus: extent of agreement on the nature of the tasks facing the partnership • Positive Evaluation: the extent to which those in one part of the partnership have a positive view of the contribution of those in another part • Work Coordination: the extent to which autonomous partners are prepared to align working patterns

8. The EIGHT DIMENSIONS [2] • Fulfilment of Programme Requirements: degree of compatibility between the goals of the partnership and the goals of the individual stakeholders • Domain of High Importance: extent of support for objectives of the partnership from constituencies • Maintenance of Resource Flows: adequacy of funding for the objectives of the partnership • Defence of Organisational Paradigm: extent to which stakeholders identify with the partnership

9. MAKING CONNECTIONS: MESSAGES for RESEARCHERS • Anchor yourself in the real world: understand the everyday dilemmas of managers and practitioners • Make the intellectual connections that you are well placed to develop • Connect across academic disciplines: get out of your own silos • ‘philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways. The point, however, is to change it’ (Karl Marx)

10. MAKING CONNECTIONS: MESSAGES for PRACTITIONERS • Your problem is almost certainly being faced by someone else: it is a general not a unique problem • The issues underpinning practical dilemmas are theoretical: ‘there is nothing quite so practical as a good theory’ (Albert Einstein) • All practice is based upon some theoretical assumption • What are the alternatives to an evidence-based approach?