Introduction/Overview

‘Public involvement’ refers to research and evaluation with and by people with ‘lived experience’, for example co-production and other participative approaches to research. Involving those who are the focus of research in in the research process has a positive impact on what is researched, how research is conducted and the impact of findings, leading to policies and services that better reflect the priorities and concerns of those most directly affected by them, and is increasingly expected by research commissioners.

Drawing on the tutors’ extensive experience and expertise in this field, this popular SRA course has been developed into an online course which, over two half days, combines theory with practical information and examples of how non-researchers can be involved in the design and delivery of research, as opposed to being participants/sources of data. The course provides an opportunity to develop an understanding of the benefits, challenges, choices and processes involved and time to consider how these could be applied to their own work.

Course objectives

By the end of the course participants will have a better understanding of:

• What is meant by ‘public involvement’ in research and evaluation and the common language and terms used;
• The theories and principles underpinning involvement;
• Practical considerations, such as when and how to involve people and helpful models and approaches;
• How to apply the principles & practice ideas to your own work, ensure quality and assess impact.

Topics

• Benefits, rationale and the theoretical background for public involvement in the design and delivery of research and evaluation
• Different models and approaches to face-to-face and online/remote involvement, co-production and user-led research
• The main methodological and ethical considerations involved, including online ad other alternatives to face-to-face involvement developed during Covid-19
• Challenges to meaningful public involvement including issues of diversity and representativeness, as well as when and how best to involve who

Who will benefit?

This course is suitable for people with practical experience of research and/or evaluation (qualitative or quantitative), who want to learn more about why and how they might involve the public in the design and delivery of their own research and evaluation projects.

Course tutors

Both tutors are senior researchers with extensive experience of applied social research and evaluation, supporting public involvement in research and considerable expertise in supporting the involvement of less frequestly heard groups, including children and young people.

Dr Louca-Mai Brady is a Senior Research Fellow in Public Involvement at UCL and independent researcher, trainer and facilitator with particular expertise in qualitative and participative methods and public involvement in health and social care research, which was also the topic of her PhD. She has supported and written about young people’s involvement in research and evaluation for many years and is editor of Embedding Young People's Participation in Health Services: New Approaches (2020). From 2007-2019 Louca-Mai was also an advisory member of INVOLVE, the National Institute for Health Research advisory group supporting public involvement in health, public health and social care research. In 2020 she was involved in running an online young people’s research advisory group and co-hosting a series of online meetings on ‘coproduction and involvement in COVID and beyond’ (#CoProCOVID).

Twitter: @Dr_Louca-Mai

Berni Graham is a senior researcher with experience of designing, managing and conducting research and evaluation in areas including health, education, social care, early years, welfare, disability, parenting, community development and the environment. She has evaluated several public engagement projects and collaborated with public groups to jointly develop evalutaion methods and questions. As well as designing and delivering training to professionals on conducting their own evaluations and research projects, Berni regularly trains and supports adults and young people as peer and community researchers.

www. grahamresearch.co.uk

  This course contributes 6 hours to the MRS CPD programme

n.b. This course runs over two consecutive days:

Part 1 - 9 December - 9.30 am to 1.30 pm

Part 2 - 10 December - 9.30 am to 1.30 pm