Research and Consultation in Children and Adult Social Care
If you are thinking about doing some research in Social Care in Bracknell Forest, this section can tell you what you need to think about before you start.
The Council is keen to promote itself as a learning organisation. We encourage research as a valuable learning tool. However, we also have a duty of care to the people who use our services, their families and carers and to our staff who may be participants of any research.
We have a responsibility to ensure that research is carried out to a high standard. We count ‘research’ as including any study or survey designed to gather information, which involves direct or indirect access to anyone in the groups aforementioned by internal or external researchers. This is why we have a research approvals process in place.
FAQ’s
1. I am a student and thinking about doing some research involving people who use the Council’s Social Care Services. How can I go about this?
Before starting your research you should contact the Children’s Social Care Research Co-ordinator or the Adult Social Care Research Co-ordinator, as appropriate, to discuss what you might want to do (see contacts on right).
If your research is in the social care field, and involves collecting information from or about people who use services, their friends/relatives, carers or employees of social care services, then it will need to be approved under the provisions of the Council’s Research Governance Framework.
2. What will I have to do to get approval for my research?
For social care research, you will need to submit a research application to the appropriate research co-ordinator in order to obtain the necessary approval to go ahead. This involves preparing a research proposal and application form (see application pack).
Once you have submitted your research proposal and application form we will give you a decision as soon as we can. If your application has addressed all the areas outlined in the research proposal guide (see application pack) and does not involve issues of high risk to participants, your application should be processed quite quickly. If your application is more complex, it will be referred to the appropriate social care management team and the decision might take a bit longer.
3. What happens once I get research approval?
We will write to you and confirm that you have approval to go ahead with your research and will arrange for you to contact participants as necessary. Your research will be registered on our research database and will be monitored by a named contact within the department.
4. What if I don’t get approval to carry out my research?
If you do not receive approval, you will be given reasons and information about how to appeal the decision. Where possible, you will be given advice on how you might change your proposal to ensure it complies with the Council’s requirements.
5. What if plan to undertake research in the Council that does not include people involved in Social Care?
If you wish to carry out research in other areas of the Council, please contact either of the research co-ordinators for further guidance on this.
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