"This is the way"

The purpose of applied research for me is to help policymakers and regulators make better decisions. The impact you will have, is more difficult to measure than your publications or citations, but it is extremely rewarding. It is the reason I stayed in academia. To do research this way, there are two realities to accept and three principles to follow.

Reality 1: Research is a struggle

Research is a struggle. I still struggle with every new research project. With experience, you learn to enjoy the struggle. If you are confident that there will be results at the end, you are ready to embrace the process. You will not necessarily find what you were looking for, but there is always something to discover.?

We hire researchers that can work in teams to brainstorm and trial-and-error. It is important to seek feedback from colleagues. Better to fail quickly and try again than to isolate yourself and get stuck or side-tracked. Feedback should be constructive, but also frank. Not saying what you think to be nice, does not get us anywhere.

Reality 2: Half of the job is to be out there

To be relevant in applied research, you need to engage with practitioners. They will give you inspiration for your next research topics and provide a reality check for your approach to the topic. You can return the favour by helping them to use your results. The more you prove yourself with relevant research, the more practitioners will be willing to engage with you, and the more you will be able to have impact. Starting can be difficult and slow, but there are positive feedback loops so do not give up.

To be out there is to meet people, to contribute to industry as well as academic events. It is also to learn how to communicate your results via social media, videos, podcasts, policy briefs, blogs, etc. For many researchers, including me, this means going beyond the comfort zone, but you can do it one step at a time.?

Please accept that not every research project deliverable can lead to an academic journal publication that is worth promoting. If you pursue too many of these publications, it is anyway unrealistic that you will have time left to promote them extensively for impact. Sometimes we might somewhat neglect this reality and publish more to remain relevant in our academic community, and to be promoted by our academic institution.

?Principle 1: Follow the policy agenda

?There are at least three types of contributions that researchers can make. You can help to:

- Raise awareness around new issues that might require the removal, adaptation, or introduction of new policies or regulations

- Develop solutions for these issues. You can help to identify the different options, to analyse the pros and cons of these options, and to propose solutions.?

- Implement the solutions because the devil is really in the details of implementation.?

It is important to know the mandates of policymakers or regulators, and their agenda. Timing is crucial if you want to have impact. During a consultation process, you can come with proposals. In other periods, it can be more productive to work within the boundaries of a certain policy or regulatory decision with research on the best possible implementation.?

Following the agenda does not mean to accept it as it is, academics do have to challenge policymakers and regulators when needed, even if the timing is sometimes inconvenient.?

I did not always strictly follow this principle. For instance, I sometimes also published to try-out new methodologies. I think it is important to continue to invest in research skills.

Principle 2: Master quantitative and qualitative methodologies

Many researchers specialize in quantitative or qualitative methodologies. I think it is useful to try to master both. It is important to learn when to apply which methodology, and to know what you can publish in which academic journal.

For instance, the PhDs I work with learn to apply optimization models. Models can help to anticipate the magnitude of the effects that might be triggered by certain policies or market rules. Models can also help to discover unexpected interactions in complex systems. My focus is not on advancing the state-of-the-art in modelling, but on using these models to help regulators and policy makers make better decisions.?

Towards the end of a PhD or later, I think it is also useful to learn how to publish qualitative research. I like to use simple frameworks that help to identify the main policy options and their pros and cons. A smart synthesis can provide structure to the policy debate and generate new ideas.

Principle 3: Take care of your writing style

Everyone has a list of do’s and don’ts that they feel strong about when reading, reviewing, drafting, or editing research papers.?

First, my three main do’s: 1/ table of content or outline that reads like a storyline (quantitative papers often have a straightforward outline from methodology to a discussion of the results; qualitative papers can be structured following the cases that are discussed or the framework used to discuss them); 2/ explicit or direct writing style (for example, I started this section by writing that there do’s and don’ts, followed by two numbered paragraphs to discuss them, and each paragraph starts by stating the number of points I am going to make and also numbers them); 3/ After drafting your text, shorten it to its essence, cut, cut, cut.

Second, my four main don’ts: 1/ too many ideas in one paper; 2/ lots of figures or math with limited text to interpret or discuss the results; 3/ paper with many unnecessary details that distract you from the main contributions; 4/ inconsistencies between title, abstract, intro, results, and conclusions (you would be surprised of how many papers have inconsistencies, including mine).?

It is very difficult to edit your own text. Family, friends, and colleagues can help by telling us frankly that our drafts are “unreadable”. Conversations or presentations to explain your main findings, can also give you inspiration to improve the text.?

Final message

Let me close by quoting the Mandalorian: “This is the way”

This article first appeared on my personal website blog at www.leonardomeeus.com