There is a recurring theme in the posts on this blog that relates to planning, timing and impact activity. One of the six lessons highlighted from the SCEIP project was to plan, another was to consider your audience, yet another key message is around incorporating creative knowledge exchange methods into research proposals

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12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 1/6Consider impact earlyThere is a recurring theme in the posts on this blog that relates to planning,timing and impact activity. One of the six lessons highlighted from the SCEIPproject (http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/the-sceip-project-and-six-lessons-to-date/) was to plan, another was to consider your audience, yet anotherkey message is around incorporating creative knowledge exchange methods(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/myth-busting-knowledge-exchange-methods/) into research proposals.The common learning is that you can never consider impact too early in theresearch process.A couple of weeks ago the NIHR School for Social Care Research(http://sscr.nihr.ac.uk/index.php) issued a Call for Proposals(http://sscr.nihr.ac.uk/SSCR_Mar15Call/SSCR2Research_brief_March_2015.pdf).Charged with growing the evidence base for adult social care practice in England,there is much to be done to make a positive impact.12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 2/6(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SSCRCall.jpg)12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 3/6This post will highlight how this website, and the tools and ideas within it, mightsupport a research proposal.1) Consider what impact means to youIt may be that the type of impact your research in social care could have is farbroader than you’d initially considered. Visit the ‘What is impact(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/what-is-impact/)‘ section to explore thisfurther. The temptation can be to consider ‘impact’ to be academic impact, asdeﬁned by REF, or perhaps also to consider social impact in terms of health andwell-being, but there are far more areas in which social care impact can happenincluding economic, political and legal domains.2) Identify who your stakeholders areThis may seem obvious, but often this stage appears to be skipped. We think weknow who are our stakeholders are, sure they include funders, researchparticipants, colleagues, but if we really want our research to have impact then it’sgood to consider who else we might inform or involve. No research happens in avacuum, so take some time out to consider who could support your research tohave impact, map your stakeholders(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-management/stakeholder-mapping/) and always consider this before you start, not just at the end when youwant to distribute ﬁndings!3) Develop your research ideasTry to keep your thinking open in the early stages of developing ideas, you cannarrow them at the next stage, but initially when developing ideas(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/research-stage/developing-research-ideas-phase/) try to think big. Consider what you already know from previousresearch work, you’d be hard pressed to ﬁnd a research report that doesn’t endwith the statement that ‘more research is required’, but perhaps moreimportantly talk and listen to people who use social care to identify theirpriorities. If we truly want our research to have an impact on social care then weneed to understand how it will be used by those accessing or providing social care.There are a number of ways in which you can gather this input (check them here(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/research-stage/developing-research-ideas-phase/)), you could hold an unconference(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-tools/unconference/) or have abrainstorm (http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 4/6management/brainstorming/) over coffee and cake. However you form your ideaswe believe that the investment early on will pay dividends to the quality of yourproposal and potential impact of your work.4) Reﬁne your ideasOnce you have a pool of research ideas, and a map of your key stakeholders(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-management/stakeholder-mapping/), make some time to consider the two together and reﬁne your ideas(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/research-stage/reﬁning-ideas-phase/).You can do this alone, as a project team, or publicly with some of the stakeholdersyou’ve identiﬁed. You could also reﬁne your ideas in public, offering your thinkingaloud via social media e.g. you could write a blog(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-tools/blogging/) or tweet(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-tools/twitter/) your ideas andask readers to identify their priorities. Consider using the RATWOE(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-management/ratwoe/) approachto streamlining your options.5) Be ambitious!When it comes to writing your research proposal(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/research-stage/research-proposal-phase/), the key thing is to be ambitious! Consider the input stakeholders haveprovided throughout, reﬂect on what has worked well, what has created impact inthe process so far and write those methods into your research proposal. Fundersrepeatedly told us during the SCEIP project that creative methods for knowledgeexchange and impact activity would be funded if costed at proposal stage(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/myth-busting-knowledge-exchange-methods/); reluctance sets in when researchers return for more money later in theresearch process due to initial poor planning.When submitting a proposal researchers have a golden opportunity to considerwhat methods they can use early on, to understand the resource implications,consider the barriers and enablers to the methods and what you can do tomitigate or support them. We hope that the descriptions of the toolsand methods (http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/tools-and-methods/)detailed on this site will help you in this process; you can focus on impactmethods (http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/tools-for-impact/) alone,consider the tools for managing impact(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/tools-for-managing-impact/), or view12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 5/6CommentPost CommentYour email address will not be published. Required ﬁelds are marked *Name * Email * Website the stages your research is likely to take(http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/integrating-impact-and-research/) andsee what methods work at what points.We must move past the days of impact being considered at the end of a researchproject, if we wish to truly improve social care practice then we need to considerimpact and research together (http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/a-balancing-act-academic-impact-versus-practice-impact-really/), at every stage ofthe research process.Leave a Reply12/07/2017 Consider impact early |http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/2015/04/10/consider-impact-early/ 6/6(http://www.pssru.ac.uk/index-kent-lse.php)(http://reiﬁed.co)This website arose out of activities from the Social Care Evidence in Practice projectfunded by the London School of Economics and Political Science's Higher EducationInnovation Fund 5. The website itself was created with funding from, and issupported by, the Personal Social Services Research Unit and the NIHR School forSocial Care Research.

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