Research project
RAMESES II: Realising the potential of realist research for improving the delivery of health services
- Start date: 1 March 2015
- End date: 28 February 2017
- Funding: National Institute for Health and Social Care Research
- Value: £228,963.76
- Primary investigator: Professor Joanne Greenhalgh
- Co-investigators: Prof Ana Manzano
- External co-investigators: Professor Geoff Wong, University of Oxford (External PI), Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, Dr Justin Jagosh
Realist research asks what works for whom in what circumstances and how? . In 2011-13, NIHR funded us to produce standards and guidelines for realist review (i.e. summaries of published research done using realist methods). These proved very popular. We now want to produce similar standards and guidelines for realist evaluation (i.e. primary research that seeks to find out what works for whom in what circumstances and how) increasingly popular in health services research.
OUR AIM
To realise the potential of realist research for improving the delivery of health services.
OUR SPECIFIC GOALS
1. To develop quality standards, publication guidance and training materials for realist evaluation.
2. To build capacity among those who train and support health services researchers for supporting realist research.
3. Acknowledging the unique potential of realist research to address the patient's agenda ( what will work for us in our circumstances?), to produce resources and training materials for lay participants, and those seeking to involve them, in research.
WHAT WE WILL DO
1. Establish a management and governance infrastructure, including a project steering group with lay representation and a patient/service user panel.
2. Recruit an interdisciplinary Delphi (consensus) panel consisting of (among others) researchers, support staff, policymakers, patient advocates and practitioners with various types of experience relevant to realist evaluation.
3. Summarise the literature and expert opinion on best practice in realist evaluation, to serve as a briefing document for the panel.
4. Run three (and more if needed) rounds of the online Delphi panel to generate and refine items for a set of quality standards and publication guidance.
5. In parallel with the Delphi panel: a. Provide advice to up to ten realist evaluations, including any funded by NIHR, thereby capturing the 'real world' problems and challenges of this methodology. b. Host the RAMESES academic email list on realist research, capturing relevant discussions about theoretical, methodological and practical issues. c. Feed problems and insights from 5a and 5b into the deliberations of the Delphi panel.
6. Write up the quality standards and guidance for publication in an open-access journal.
7. Collate examples of learning/training needs for researchers, postgraduate students, reviewers and lay steering group members in relation to realist evaluation.
8. Develop, deliver and evaluate training materials for realist evaluation. Deliver 3 x 2-day 'realist evaluation' workshops AND 3 x 2-day 'training the trainers' workshops for a range of audiences.
9. Develop, deliver and evaluate information and resources for patients and other lay participants in realist evaluation. In particular, draft template information sheets and consent forms that could be adapted for ethics and governance activity.
10. Disseminate training materials and other resources e.g. via open-access websites.
OUR ANTICIPATED OUTPUTS
1. Quality standards, publication guidelines and training materials for realist evaluation.
2. Bespoke methodological support to up to ten realist evaluations (with NIHR studies prioritised).
3. Significant increase in capacity to support and evaluate realist research in healthcare.
4. Accessible, plain-English resources for patients and the public who may be asked to participate in realist research and/or oversee its management and governance.
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/HSDR05280
Publications and outputs
Geoff Wong, Gill Westhorp, Ana Manzano, Joanne Greenhalgh, Justin Jagosh and Trish Greenhalgh. RAMESES II reporting standards for realist evaluations. BMC Medicine (2016) 14:96 DOI 10.1186/s12916-016-0643-1