How often have you wished a high level operator/manager had asked a few more questions of the people who implement  - before a new work practice or product was introduced?

Research is essential if we wish to implement new ways of doing things or to innovate in any way.  Innovation is a risky business - any project can fail to deliver our dreams but the uncertainty around innovation can be reduced by good up-front research so we know clearly the different factors or variables we are contending with.   So if we take away our stuffy conceptions of men in white coats, we can see research as a dynamic process in which we acquire new knowledge through systematic inquiry to discover and interpret facts, theories, events, behaviours or social systems - or to make practical applications using such new knowledge.

There are 2 main kinds of research: basic and applied. 

Basic research:  The primary objective is to increase our knowledge base and it does so for its own sake.  There is often no immediate or short-term practical outcome (think of the research in medicine) and often it is about development of theory. However, within basic research there is a somewhat heated debate between quantitative and qualitative researchers as to what is valid research.

Quantitative research is statistical and explores the relationships between variables (controlled as much as possible) to prove or disprove a hypothesis.  It is often what you encounter in science and experimental models.  A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon.  This proposed explanation is to be confirmed or disproved by a researcher, usually by observation.  The aim of other researchers is to test the findings of research by attempting to falsify it. 

Qualitative research is not scientific in the pure experimental sense as its questions are about why in the humanistic sense.  Its findings are not primarily by means of statistical manipulation and though such research may obtain some quantitative data, it is usually of nominal variables (gender, age, race, educational background, Internet access etc) rather than ordinal or interval variables.  It includes such instruments such as case studies, questionnaires, observation of behaviours (eg. human/social as in ethnographic research), structured and semi-structured interviews, and observations of participants.

Applied research is essential as it informs decision makers at every level.  This research explores problems in real contexts with the goal of providing practical solutions. Often it builds on basic research.  In this way new knowledge about genetic coding of people susceptible to diabetes will be basic, quantitative research but if we want to implement any of this we might just have to do some applied research that looks at both applying the knowledge to a new product and to understanding how to implement this in a range of different populations/cultural groups.  It is the groundwork necessary to set up and maintain quality and effectiveness in our systems both technological and relational. 

Applied research is as rigorous as other forms of research, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.  When we look at education, its field of investigation is the social systems of humans.  We can hardly set up research with the tight controls of experimental research as you would find in science.  Not only would there be ethical problems, we would end up trivial results because an experimental methodology and its instruments could not capture meaningful data.

So what can applied research capture?  Some examples below:

• The reasons why people don't implement policy and what to do about it.  So 'Keys to Access: Accessibility Conformance in VET' investigated why VET has a low level of conformance to accessibility policy at state level and to accessibility guidelines even though the Framework earlier funded an Access & Equity project to address this.
  
  
• What learners, including those who have dropped out, want in their learning experience and how their workplaces can implement this.  The Pharmacy Guild in 2003 asked this of trainees and pharmacists across all states and territories.  The Guild Training Division is developing an e-learning strategy in 2004. 
  
  
• The factors that hinder or progress change in a work culture.  The applied research conducted by Correctional Services actually became a vehicle for initiating change through focus groups and action research... as well as identifying obstacles.
  
  
• The burning issues within human resource management, unpacking the complexities and how a failure to address these will impede the integration of flexible learning in organisations and fail to fully benefit from their human capacity.   Two research projects: one a case study of 4 TAFE institutes; the other surveying senior and middle managers of 15 TAFE institutes, found the same issues of workforce planning, job design and performance management and made recommendations for change.
  
  
• Visions for the future grounded in our analysis of multiple influences that are often convergent.  This is difficult investigation but essential for planning future programs.   The Professional Development Program in the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (the Framework) defined 8 enablers for those working in the knowledge era.

If we look at the methodologies and measurement instruments of these applied research projects, we can see a range that you may already be familiar with:

• Questionnaires
  
• Case studies
  
• Focus Groups
  
• Action Research (including participant observation)
  
• Product tests/evaluations
  
• Literature review (what is already happening out there?)
  
• Interviews

To find out more about the above research projects you can access their reports from flexiblelearning.net.au/projects/research.htm

Getting your research out there
Now when the research is finished, there is the task of reporting it to your target audience/s.  Research has little meaning if in the end somebody does not read it and do further research to test its validity or extend it... or as in the case of applied research findings, does not actually use it to solve a problem in their particular context.   Knowledge has to get out there into other people¡¦s heads, it has to open up new possibilities, new solutions.

BUT at this point, I could also ask how many people read research reports?  How effective is it to produce hard copy or even electronic file versions and still hope the ideas will get out there in VET and be applied to problems?

Probably not all that effective, which brings us to the importance of VET practitioners valuing how the questions and findings of applied research can inform their practice, saving them time as well as possible frustration when the wrong solutions have been implemented. Do we need research champions... ideas champions... just as we have Toolbox champions?

The reality of time pressures amidst the daily overload of information means that research projects need to be disseminated in different ways, at different levels of density to suit a range of readers.  It is really a matter of "just enough at the right time and digestible". 

Just Enough at the Right Time - and Digestible

This means chunking and regrouping the key information of research in different formats, making it accessible, digestible and hence more readily applied to the real contexts the research investigated. 

The Applied Research CD produced by the Policy and Research Program of the Framework has taken on this challenge by mixing video, html and flash.  The html script at the bottom of the screen addressed some accessibility issues as did having video.  The language was non-academic with the researchers/presenters speaking in a conversational tone as if speaking directly with the user.

As you can see in the graphic above, the research was chunked into 4 areas:

• Context
  
• Questions
  
• Findings
  
• Futures (possible directions or recommendations)

The user can choose what to listen to, can read the script of what is said at the same time (not shown in this graphic but under the play controller) and is aided while listening with the appearance of key ideas on the right.  In this way the user can get a quick overview of a research project and decide whether to pursue greater detail by accessing the reports in full and summary forms. The user clicks the Research Documents link to access these documents and can easily find their way back to the exact video screen they left earlier.  Clear, intuitive navigation in an uncluttered, clean learning environment is also imperative.

So how do you get a hold of this CD?

Contact:
Kate Fannon
Project Manager
Policy & Research
Australian Flexible Learning Framework
Torrens Valley TAFE
Blacks Road, Gilles Plains, SA, 5086
Phone: (08) 82071282