How can you increase the impact of your research?

Talk about your research. Use town hall meetings, the intranet, the screens in the canteen and what have you to inspire your colleagues in departments such as marketing, sales, development... R&D is just so exciting! Ask them for feedback, and I bet it will help you to make your research efforts even more effective... Just do it.

Having a clear research goal is like setting a roadmap for your journey into knowledge acquisition. It not only guides your methodology and data selection but also ensures that your findings are purposeful and aligned with broader objectives. It's the compass that keeps your research on track, helping you navigate towards meaningful outcomes that can inform decisions and positively impact stakeholders.

By sharing it! For instance, when you are a UX researcher, I am sure your findings are not only relevant to the design team, but also to your colleagues in R&D, development, marketing, product ownership, communications & PR... Everyone can benefit from your research, so please share it across the company. Present it at the townhall meeting, and invite your colleagues to reach out to you. They will love you!

In my experience, research that is well-aligned with a felt need from its conception, throughout its implementation, and the framing and communication of its results has the greatest and most permanent impacts. This alignment comes from knowing the intended audience for these results even before the research design is formulated. Starting with a clear question whose answer will have relevance or a clear, testable hypothesis whose support or rejection will be meaningful to your company, nonprofit, or institution is essential. If no one cares about the question or whether a hypothetical relationship exists between the variables you will be studying, the research is doomed from the start. Consider its probable impact sooner than later.

Most topic of research have direct implications and relevance to solving current national and global issues, from climate change to biomedical engineering. To clearly define and design a goal (objective), to address one specific question. From the current understanding and known literature in the field, and with the available current technology and cross disciplines, what is the next most logical step forward to design and produce a therapeutic that is able to be easily scaled-up in manufacturing and lower cost of that therapeutic. Such that from the beginning of the study, the end point is making the therapy accessible and easily utilised for treatment.

Choosing the right research methods is akin to selecting the tools for building a foundation – each method serves a unique purpose, and the key lies in matching them to your research goal. It's a strategic decision, considering factors like time, budget, and scope, while being mindful of the method's strengths, limitations, and ethical implications. Like a craftsman combining various tools for a masterpiece, researchers may need to blend methods to achieve a more holistic and refined understanding of their chosen topic, enriching the depth and reliability of their findings.

Effectively communicating research findings is the bridge between insights and impact. Choosing the right format and channel is akin to speaking the language of your audience, ensuring that your message is not just heard but understood and embraced. Whether it's reports, dashboards, presentations, or creative mediums like infographics and podcasts, the goal is to distill complex information into actionable insights. Transparency about data sources, methods, and limitations is the hallmark of credibility, building trust in your work and fostering a more informed and engaged audience.

Maximizing the impact of your research involves active stakeholder engagement at every stage. Stakeholders—be they customers, partners, investors, or colleagues—offer diverse perspectives that can enrich your research. Involve them in formulating research questions, giving feedback on methods, contributing to data collection, or reviewing findings. Their participation not only fosters trust and collaboration but also ensures that the research aligns with real-world needs and expectations, enhancing its relevance and applicability.

Involving stakeholders in the research process is akin to turning a solo performance into a collaborative symphony. Stakeholders, with their diverse perspectives and interests, are integral to the success and relevance of your research. From co-creating research questions to seeking feedback on methods, involving them in data collection, and seeking their input on results and recommendations, the engagement fosters trust and collaboration. This interactive approach not only ensures the research is aligned with stakeholders' needs but also establishes a sense of shared ownership, making the findings more impactful and actionable within the broader product ecosystem.

Engaging with stakeholders will help in sharing and the general public understanding the objective of the study, the implications and application of the findings. Being transparent about the limitations of the studies and how it can be further improved in the long run. Communicating positive clinical results in a manner that can be easily understood by general public who are not experts in the field may also help create interest in a a more diverse and broader audience. Hence leading to a greater impact of the findings not just to the target audience but a wider community.

After having performed the studies and rigorous laboratory work,lay out in easily understood graphs with statistical analysis, then compare the data and findings in relevance to latest development and findings in the same topic by top experts in the field. From my experience, the (my) data is consistent with past findings and the new findings bring that topic of research forward, and usually opening up more questions, But, those are more specific questions and will lead to further and deeper investigations in that particular direction. All data should be consistent with past publications and the new findings lead the topic of research forward. Reproducibility of data is another crucial determinant to credibility and relevance of data.