dissemination plan in research example

Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft. To browse the NIHR site please use a modern, secure browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.

How to disseminate your research

Published: 01 January 2019

Version: Version 1.0 - January 2019

This guide is for researchers who are applying for funding or have research in progress. It is designed to help you to plan your dissemination and give your research every chance of being utilised.

What does NIHR mean by dissemination?

Effective dissemination is simply about getting the findings of your research to the people who can make use of them, to maximise the benefit of the research without delay.

Research is of no use unless it gets to the people who need to use it

Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health

Principles of good dissemination

Stakeholder engagement: Work out who your primary audience is; engage with them early and keep in touch throughout the project, ideally involving them from the planning of the study to the dissemination of findings. This should create ‘pull’ for your research i.e. a waiting audience for your outputs. You may also have secondary audiences and others who emerge during the study, to consider and engage.

Format: Produce targeted outputs that are in an appropriate format for the user. Consider a range of tailored outputs for decision makers, patients, researchers, clinicians, and the public at national, regional, and/or local levels as appropriate. Use plain English which is accessible to all audiences.

Utilise opportunities: Build partnerships with established networks; use existing conferences and events to exchange knowledge and raise awareness of your work.

Context: Understand the service context of your research, and get influential opinion leaders on board to act as champions. Timing: Dissemination should not be limited to the end of a study. Consider whether any findings can be shared earlier

Remember to contact your funding programme for guidance on reporting outputs .

Your dissemination plan: things to consider

What do you want to achieve, for example, raise awareness and understanding, or change practice? How will you know if you are successful and made an impact? Be realistic and pragmatic. 

Identify your audience(s) so that you know who you will need to influence to maximise the uptake of your research e.g. commissioners, patients, clinicians and charities. Think who might benefit from using your findings. Understand how and where your audience looks for/receives information. Gain an insight into what motivates your audience and the barriers they may face.

Remember to feedback study findings to participants, such as patients and clinicians; they may wish to also participate in the dissemination of the research and can provide a powerful voice.

When will dissemination activity occur? Identify and plan critical time points, consider external influences, and utilise existing opportunities, such as upcoming conferences. Build momentum throughout the entire project life-cycle; for example, consider timings for sharing findings.

Think about the expertise you have in your team and whether you need additional help with dissemination. Consider whether your dissemination plan would benefit from liaising with others, for example, NIHR Communications team, your institution’s press office, PPI members. What funds will you need to deliver your planned dissemination activity? Include this in your application (or talk to your funding programme).

Partners / Influencers: think about who you will engage with to amplify your message. Involve stakeholders in research planning from an early stage to ensure that the evidence produced is grounded, relevant, accessible and useful.

Messaging: consider the main message of your research findings. How can you frame this so it will resonate with your target audience? Use the right language and focus on the possible impact of your research on their practice or daily life.

Channels: use the most effective ways to communicate your message to your target audience(s) e.g. social media, websites, conferences, traditional media, journals. Identify and connect with influencers in your audience who can champion your findings.

Coverage and frequency: how many people are you trying to reach? How often do you want to communicate with them to achieve the required impact?

Potential risks and sensitivities: be aware of the relevant current cultural and political climate. Consider how your dissemination might be perceived by different groups.

Think about what the risks are to your dissemination plan e.g. intellectual property issues. Contact your funding programme for advice.

More advice on dissemination

We want to ensure that the research we fund has the maximum benefit for patients, the public and the NHS. Generating meaningful research impact requires engaging with the right people from the very beginning of planning your research idea.

More advice from the NIHR on knowledge mobilisation and dissemination .

• Skip to main content
• Skip to header right navigation
• Skip to site footer

Freelance Research Communications Consultant for Science and Technology | Dan Richards-Doran

Science copywriting, strategic communications and executive coaching for universities, research organisations, and industry.

Develop your research dissemination plan in seven simple steps

Plan early, cost appropriately, communicate regularly

For many scientists and innovators, getting together a research dissemination and engagement plan is a crucial part of any grant application or research project. For those writing their grant application, this section of a grant application can often be seen as a box-ticking exercise. In many cases, the usual 4Ps will dominate by default – posters, presentations, publications and press releases.

Often, it’s not until later on in the research project that the need arises for a slightly more nuanced approach to communicating the project and it’s findings. And don’t forget shiny things like videos, infographics, podcasts and public engagement training.

What is a research dissemination plan?

A research dissemination plan will help you to get the findings and outputs of your research to the citizens, professionals or policymakers who will use the information in their daily lives, to guide professional practice, or to inform policymaking.

Developing a research dissemination plan early on will support you to maximise the value and impact of your research.

Fund your dissemination activities through research income

Communicating research can be a costly endeavour. Cash-strapped University departments don’t tend to have core funds squirrelled away for outreach or research communications. Administrators may tell you that your research budget will need to take a hit, or the activity unfortunately can’t go ahead (and I’m writing from bitter experience here!).

Some researchers choose to go it alone when it comes to dissemination, while others will invest their funds wisely in specialist strategic communications support, so their outputs are delivered professionally.

Engage stakeholders throughout the project

For research with the potential to influence policy or practice, funding panels can look at whether there is scope for the project to engage with particular audiences (like policymakers, lay publics, professionals or other communities of practice) and how the project’s research dissemination plan could support that.

Investing time during the grant application stage to brainstorm a full research dissemination and engagement plan can mean that everything you really want and need to do is:

• sufficiently resourced and costed,
• planned ahead and achievable,
• and most importantly – designed to support the overall goals of the research project.

Additionally, looking for opportunities to carry out dissemination and engagement throughout the research project, rather than at the end, can provide ongoing opportunities for dialogue and feedback. This can yield rich insights about the implications of your research findings on key community groups, potentially informing how they are framed when it comes to the publication stage and the all-important press release.

Consider internal as well as external stakeholders in your plan, and look for opportunities to discuss your ongoing work with others in your department or outside of your faculty.

Seven simple steps to develop your research dissemination plan

Every research dissemination plan is specific to the project, its goals and audiences. It needs to be needs based, so don’t lead with the shiny things and plan around them – press releases, podcasts, infographics etc. Adopting a framework approach, based on the seven steps below, can help to structure discussions about what to include:

1. Objectives: What do you want to achieve?

Set out the purpose of your dissemination efforts as a series of goals or objectives. Consider whether you are trying to simply share knowledge, shift an attitude, change a behaviour, or create a community/network to engage with.

2. Audience: Who do you want to reach?

Brainstorm everyone you need to reach and engage with. This may include your head of department, research funder, policymakers and end users. Prioritise your audiences, identifying those who are key to achieving your goals. Also include anyone you may need to work with or through to reach your key target audience.

3. Situation: What is the broader context for your research?

Consider the broader context for your research, for example, what do your key audiences already think, feel and do about your topic area? Are there any social or political issues at play? This may require some research but it will help to ground your activities in reality and ensure your messaging is relevant.

4. Messaging: What will you say?

Formulate key messages that align with your objectives and communicate your research in an accessible and engaging manner. Ground your messaging in real-world relevance – what does your research mean to people? You might find you have different messages for different audiences.

5. Your overall strategy

Good strategies align directly with goals and audiences. They describe your overall approach. Let’s say you’re looking to share knowledge with a mass audience, then you might decide to opt for an approach that centres around media relations. On the other hand, if you’re looking to shift attitudes or inform policy or decision making, then invest time discussing your work with a niche audience.

6. Tactics: How will you deliver your strategy?

This action plan includes the nuts and bolts of your dissemination plan. Activities will be linked to your research project milestones with details of who will deliver what, when and how much it will cost. Crucially, getting an idea of costs at this stage means you can add this detail into your grant application so your activities are appropriately costed. And bingo, affordable!

7. Evaluate: How will you measure success?

Outline how you will measure success against each objective. Consider both the outputs of your dissemination efforts (such as a press release achieving coverage in a target publication) and the outcomes (such as a follow-up conversation with a key stakeholder about a new research collaboration). Review these throughout your research project, if something isn’t working then adapt your plan. It should be a living and flexible guide.

Planning early gives you the best possible chance of getting your wish list funded, and gives your team a roadmap for communicating and engaging with stakeholders throughout your project.

Get professional research communications support:

As an experienced research communications consultant and a registered expert in science dissemination to the European Parliament, Dan Richards-Doran delivers communications strategies, training and copywriting for researchers:

• Press releases
• Impact case studies
• Lay summaries
• Policy briefings
• Stakeholder newsletters
• Research dissemination strategies

Share this:

Discover more from Freelance Research Communications Consultant for Science and Technology | Dan Richards-Doran

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

What you need to know about research dissemination

Last updated

5 March 2024

Reviewed by

In this article, we'll tell you what you need to know about research dissemination.

• Understanding research dissemination

Research that never gets shared has limited benefits. Research dissemination involves sharing research findings with the relevant audiences so the research’s impact and utility can reach its full potential.

When done effectively, dissemination gets the research into the hands of those it can most positively impact. This may include:

Politicians

Industry professionals

The general public

What it takes to effectively disseminate research will depend greatly on the audience the research is intended for. When planning for research dissemination, it pays to understand some guiding principles and best practices so the right audience can be targeted in the most effective way.

• Core principles of effective dissemination

Effective dissemination of research findings requires careful planning. Before planning can begin, researchers must think about the core principles of research dissemination and how their research and its goals fit into those constructs.

Research dissemination principles can best be described using the 3 Ps of research dissemination.

This pillar of research dissemination is about clarifying the objective. What is the goal of disseminating the information? Is the research meant to:

Persuade policymakers?

Influence public opinion?

Support strategic business decisions?

Contribute to academic discourse? 

Knowing the purpose of sharing the information makes it easy to accurately target it and align the language used with the target audience.

The process includes the methods that will be used and the steps taken when it comes time to disseminate the findings. This includes the channels by which the information will be shared, the format it will be shared in, and the timing of the dissemination.

By planning out the process and taking the time to understand the process, researchers will be better prepared and more flexible should changes arise.

The target audience is whom the research is aimed at. Because different audiences require different approaches and language styles, identifying the correct audience is a huge factor in the successful dissemination of findings.

By tailoring the research dissemination to the needs and preferences of a specific audience, researchers increase the chances of the information being received, understood, and used.

• Types of research dissemination

There are many options for researchers to get their findings out to the world. The type of desired dissemination plays a big role in choosing the medium and the tone to take when sharing the information.

Some common types include:

Academic dissemination: Sharing research findings in academic journals, which typically involves a peer-review process.

Policy-oriented dissemination: Creating documents that summarize research findings in a way that's understandable to policymakers.

Public dissemination: Using television and other media outlets to communicate research findings to the public.

Educational dissemination: Developing curricula for education settings that incorporate research findings.

Digital and online dissemination: Using digital platforms to present research findings to a global audience.

Strategic business presentation: Creating a presentation for a business group to use research insights to shape business strategy

• Major components of information dissemination

While the three Ps provide a convenient overview of what needs to be considered when planning research dissemination, they are not a complete picture.

Here’s a more comprehensive list of what goes into the dissemination of research results:

Audience analysis : Identifying the target audience and researching their needs, preferences, and knowledge level so content can be tailored to them.

Content development: Creating the content in a way that accurately reflects the findings and presents them in a way that is relevant to the target audience.

Channel selection: Choosing the channel or channels through which the research will be disseminated and ensuring they align with the preferences and needs of the target audience.

Timing and scheduling: Evaluating factors such as current events, publication schedules, and project milestones to develop a timeline for the dissemination of the findings.

Resource allocation: With the basics mapped out, financial, human, and technological resources can be set aside for the project to facilitate the dissemination process.

Impact assessment and feedback: During the dissemination, methods should be in place to measure how successful the strategy has been in disseminating the information.

Ethical considerations and compliance: Research findings often include sensitive or confidential information. Any legal and ethical guidelines should be followed.

• Crafting a dissemination blueprint

With the three Ps providing a foundation and the components outlined above giving structure to the dissemination, researchers can then dive deeper into the important steps in crafting an impactful and informative presentation.

Let’s take a look at the core steps.

1. Identify your audience

To identify the right audience for research dissemination, researchers must gather as much detail as possible about the different target audience segments.

By gathering detailed information about the preferences, personalities, and information-consumption habits of the target audience, researchers can craft messages that resonate effectively.

As a simple example, academic findings might be highly detailed for scholarly journals and simplified for the general public. Further refinements can be made based on the cultural, educational, and professional background of the target audience.

2. Create the content

Creating compelling content is at the heart of effective research dissemination. Researchers must distill complex findings into a format that's engaging and easy to understand. In addition to the format of the presentation and the language used, content includes the visual or interactive elements that will make up the supporting materials.

Depending on the target audience, this may include complex technical jargon and charts or a more narrative approach with approachable infographics. For non-specialist audiences, the challenge is to provide the required information in a way that's engaging for the layperson.

3. Take a strategic approach to dissemination

There's no single best solution for all research dissemination needs. What’s more, technology and how target audiences interact with it is constantly changing. Developing a strategic approach to sharing research findings requires exploring the various methods and channels that align with the audience's preferences.

Each channel has a unique reach and impact, and a particular set of best practices to get the most out of it. Researchers looking to have the biggest impact should carefully weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of the channels they've decided upon and craft a strategy that best uses that knowledge.

4. Manage the timeline and resources

Time constraints are an inevitable part of research dissemination. Deadlines for publications can be months apart, conferences may only happen once a year, etc. Any avenue used to disseminate the research must be carefully planned around to avoid missed opportunities.

In addition to properly planning and allocating time, there are other resources to consider. The appropriate number of people must be assigned to work on the project, and they must be given adequate financial and technological resources. To best manage these resources, regular reviews and adjustments should be made.

• Tailoring communication of research findings

We’ve already mentioned the importance of tailoring a message to a specific audience. Here are some examples of how to reach some of the most common target audiences of research dissemination.

Making formal presentations

Content should always be professional, well-structured, and supported by data and visuals when making formal presentations. The depth of information provided should match the expertise of the audience, explaining key findings and implications in a way they'll understand. To be persuasive, a clear narrative and confident delivery are required.

Communication with stakeholders

Stakeholders often don't have the same level of expertise that more direct peers do. The content should strike a balance between providing technical accuracy and being accessible enough for everyone. Time should be taken to understand the interests and concerns of the stakeholders and align the message accordingly.

Engaging with the public

Members of the public will have the lowest level of expertise. Not everyone in the public will have a technical enough background to understand the finer points of your message. Try to minimize confusion by using relatable examples and avoiding any jargon. Visual aids are important, as they can help the audience to better understand a topic.

• 10 commandments for impactful research dissemination

In addition to the details above, there are a few tips that researchers can keep in mind to boost the effectiveness of dissemination:

Master the three Ps to ensure clarity, focus, and coherence in your presentation.

Establish and maintain a public profile for all the researchers involved.

When possible, encourage active participation and feedback from the audience.

Use real-time platforms to enable communication and feedback from viewers.

Leverage open-access platforms to reach as many people as possible.

Make use of visual aids and infographics to share information effectively.

Take into account the cultural diversity of your audience.

Rather than considering only one dissemination medium, consider the best tool for a particular job, given the audience and research to be delivered.

Continually assess and refine your dissemination strategies as you gain more experience.

Should you be using a customer insights hub?

Do you want to discover previous research faster?

Do you share your research findings with others?

Do you analyze research data?

Start for free today, add your research, and get to key insights faster

Editor’s picks

Last updated: 18 April 2023

Last updated: 27 February 2023

Last updated: 6 February 2023

Last updated: 6 October 2023

Last updated: 5 February 2023

Last updated: 16 April 2023

Last updated: 9 March 2023

Last updated: 12 December 2023

Last updated: 11 March 2024

Last updated: 4 July 2024

Last updated: 6 March 2024

Last updated: 5 March 2024

Last updated: 13 May 2024

Latest articles

Related topics, .css-je19u9{-webkit-align-items:flex-end;-webkit-box-align:flex-end;-ms-flex-align:flex-end;align-items:flex-end;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;row-gap:0;text-align:center;max-width:671px;}@media (max-width: 1079px){.css-je19u9{max-width:400px;}.css-je19u9>span{white-space:pre;}}@media (max-width: 799px){.css-je19u9{max-width:400px;}.css-je19u9>span{white-space:pre;}} decide what to .css-1kiodld{max-height:56px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}@media (max-width: 1079px){.css-1kiodld{display:none;}} build next, decide what to build next.

Users report unexpectedly high data usage, especially during streaming sessions.

Users find it hard to navigate from the home page to relevant playlists in the app.

It would be great to have a sleep timer feature, especially for bedtime listening.

I need better filters to find the songs or artists I’m looking for.

Log in or sign up

Get started for free

Designing A Dissemination Strategy: Turning Evidence Into Action

Introduction

At Evidence for Action (E4A), our mission is to support research that contributes to real-world advances in health and racial equity. The essence of action-oriented research is disseminating the findings in meaningful ways to decision-makers, communities, and others who can drive action to advance health and racial equity.

At E4A, we define dissemination as the targeted sharing of relevant information with specific audiences for a specific purpose, with an opportunity for bi-directional knowledge exchange . Dissemination is most effective when there is a clear strategy that lays out the who, what, when, why, and how of sharing the findings. 

Building a Dissemination Strategy

To aid E4A applicants and other researchers in developing a plan for disseminating their findings, we’ve put together a dissemination strategy template ( access the Google doc version ). The template is structured in such a way to guide folks through a step-by-step process from identifying objectives to selecting communications tactics and materials. Each component should flow into the next. The different components of the template and key considerations for completing each one are outlined below.

Dissemination Objectives

Establishing your objectives for disseminating your work sets the stage for the rest of your strategy. Essentially this boils down to, why are you doing the research? What changes are you hoping to see in the world because you did this research? These objectives can be to inform development or implementation of policies or practices or to build the evidence base, for example. The objectives should be realistic, timely, and aligned with stakeholder priorities and needs. There should be concrete ways to determine whether you’re making progress toward achieving them. 

Who needs to know about your findings in order to achieve your objectives? These individuals or groups will be your primary audiences, the individuals who will use the evidence to make decisions and work to advance health and racial equity. In addition to the people who have direct decision-making power, you should also consider who influences their decision-making. For example, if you’re trying to affect local or state policymaking, audiences that have sway with the policymakers might include advocacy organizations, local media outlets that can broadly share the findings and increase public awareness, community based organizations, and specific segments of the general public. People most likely to be impacted by the topic or intervention of interest should always be a priority audience. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that audience groups are not monolithic; they are composed of individuals who may have different priorities, values, perspectives, interests, and other attributes. This may mean that the methods you use to engage with them or the messages you convey to them should be tailored to different segments of the broader audience.

Desired Actions 

What are you asking audience members to do? These actions can range from retweeting a social media post to using the evidence in their policy- or decision-making. Questions to consider when determining the desired actions for members of each audience include, does the action align with their values? Do they have the authority and ability to do what you’re asking? Is what you’re asking them to do reasonable? If you’re not sure about the answers to these questions, you should work to learn more about the audiences you’ve identified. The best way to learn about your audiences is to engage with members of those audiences early and often. In addition to enhancing your dissemination strategy and activity, engaging with the end users of your findings may inform aspects of the research itself, from developing research questions to interpreting the data and disseminating the findings.

Relationship Building Tactics

Building relationships allows you to learn more about your audiences, and the more you know about them, the more effective your outreach and engagement will be. You’ll have a better sense of where they get their information, who they trust, what their values are, and what messages and which messengers are most likely to resonate with them. Additionally, the more your audiences know about you, the more likely they will be to engage with you, trust you, and undertake what you’re asking them to do. 

Communications Tactics

How will you engage with each audience? Some of the questions you’ll need to answer to figure out the best tactics are: where do members of this audience acquire information? What sources do they trust? Example communications tactics include, but are in no way limited to, posts to social media channels, emails, phone calls, text messages, websites, podcasts, and op-eds (these last three can be considered both Communications Tactics and Supplemental Materials, because they can be sent to audiences as part of other communications). This shouldn’t be a one-size-fits all approach for different audiences or even individuals within an audience. For example, if we are trying to reach federal policymakers we might conduct a targeted email campaign that includes key staffers, make appointments for in person meetings, or place a piece in a publication such as The Hill. If we’re trying to reach high school students, a video to YouTube or a story on Instagram might be more effective. 

Supplemental Materials

Supplemental materials are the resources we put together for audiences to convey the key findings of the research in ways that are engaging, easy to understand, and relevant to them. These resources are vital to help individuals understand the findings and implications and to give credence to them. Examples of supplemental materials include data visualizations (e.g., maps, graphs, etc.), policy or research briefs, one-pagers, toolkits or implementation guides, short- or long-form videos, case studies, GIFs, press releases, and academic journal articles. Similar to the tactics, the materials and information you provide each audience or segments of each audience are not likely to be the same. For instance, while emailing an academic journal article to your colleague in a similar discipline may be sufficient, that would not be advisable for almost any other audience. Journal articles are often long and include jargon and too much detail, making it challenging to read and understand the implications for real world decision-making. If you’re reaching out to policymakers and advocacy organizations, a policy brief may be much more effective than if you’re reaching out to practitioners, student groups, or members of the “general public.” The materials used will also depend on the communication tactic you are using. For example, videos and GIFs may be very effective via social media, but may not be very effective for in-person meetings or town hall events.

What’s Next?

Completing the dissemination strategy template is a great starting point, but the real work starts when it comes to implementation. While specific communication tactics and materials may need to wait for research findings or until academic journal publication, there are other things you can get started on in the meantime. It’s never too soon to start learning more about your audiences and building relationships. You can also build the foundations for some of your tactics, such as developing distribution lists, establishing yourself or your organization on the social media channels you plan to use, and building your team’s capacity to implement some aspects of your plan.

One last piece of advice, dissemination strategies are not meant to be set in stone. Try to be flexible. Things may change with your projects, you may identify new or different audiences, things may happen in the world that impact your research or the application of your findings. It’s a good idea to revisit your plan regularly and update it as needed.

If you would like to learn more about developing and implementing a dissemination plan, check out the video guide I put together. Still have questions? Reach out to E4A on Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Tools & Resources

• The E4A Dissemination Strategy Template
• Developing A Dissemination Strategy: A Video Guide by Steph Chernitskiy  ( Access the Full Transcript )
• Request a Workshop

About the author(s)

Steph Chernitskiy  (she/her) is the E4A Communications Manager. She manages the external communications for Evidence for Action, and works closely with grantees on findings dissemination. She is a frequent contributor to the E4A Methods Blog.

Additional Resources

Access a Video Tutorial  ( Full Transcript ) Access the E4A Dissemination Strategy Template

• Request new password
• Create a new account

Doing Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy

Student resources, disseminating the findings of your research study.

It is very important to find appropriate ways to disseminate the findings of your research – projects that sit on office or library shelves and are seldom or never read represent a tragic loss to the profession.

A key dimension of research dissemination is to be actively involved with potential audiences for your work, and help them to understand what it means to them. These dialogues also represent invaluable learning experiences for researchers, in terms of developing new ideas and appreciating the methodological limitations of their work. An inspiring example of how to do this can be found in:

Granek, L., & Nakash, O. (2016). The impact of qualitative research on the “real world” knowledge translation as education, policy, clinical training, and clinical practice.  Journal of Humanistic Psychology , 56(4), 414 – 435. 

A further key dimension of research dissemination lies in the act of writing. There are a number of challenges associated with writing counselling and psychotherapy research papers, such as the need to adhere to journal formats, and the need (sometimes) to weave personal reflective writing into a predominantly third-person standard academic style. The items in the following sections explore these challenges from a variety of perspectives.

Suggestions for becoming a more effective academic writer

Sources of advice on how to ease the pain of writing:

Gioia, D. (2019). Gioia’s rules of the game.  Journal of Management Inquiry , 28(1), 113 – 115. 

Greenhalgh, T. (2019). Twitter women’s tips on academic writing: a female response to Gioia’s rules of the game. Journal of Management Inquiry , 28(4), 484 – 487.

Roulston, K. (2019). Learning how to write successfully from academic writers. The Qualitative Report, 24(7), 1778 – 1781. 

Writing tips from the student centre, University of Berkeley

The transition from being a therapist to being a researcher

Finlay, L. (2020). How to write a journal article: Top tips for the novice writer.  European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy , 10, 28 – 40.

McBeath, A., Bager-Charleson, S., & Abarbanel, A. (2019). Therapists and academic writing: “Once upon a time psychotherapy practitioners and researchers were the same people”.  European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy , 9, 103 – 116. 

McPherson, A. (2020). Dissertation to published article: A journey from shame to sharing.  European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy , 10, 41 – 52.

Journal article style requirements of the American Psychological Association (including a section on writing quantitative papers)

Writing qualitative reports

Jonsen, K., Fendt, J., & Point, S. (2018). Convincing qualitative research: What constitutes persuasive writing?  Organizational Research Methods , 21(1), 30 – 67.

Ponterotto, J.G. & Grieger, I. (2007). Effectively communicating qualitative research.  The Counseling Psychologist , 35, 404 – 430.

Smith, L., Rosenzweig, L. & Schmidt, M. (2010). Best practices in the reporting of participatory action research: embracing both the forest and the trees.  The Counseling Psychologist, 38, 1115 – 1138.

Staller, K.M. & Krumer-Nevo, M. (2013).  Successful qualitative articles: A tentative list of cautionary advice. Qualitative Social Work, 12, 247 – 253. 

Clark, A.M. & Thompson, D.R. (2016). Five tips for writing qualitative research in high-impact journals: moving from #BMJnoQual . International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 15, 1 – 3

Gustafson, D. L., Parsons, J. E., & Gillingham, B. (2019). Writing to transgress: Knowledge production in feminist participatory action research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20 . DOI:  10.17169/fqs-20.2.3164

Caulley, D.N. (2008). Making qualitative reports less boring: the techniques of writing creative nonfiction.  Qualitative Inquiry, 14, 424 – 449.

Program in Health Disparities Research

Medical School

• Mission & Vision
• Advisory Board & Collaborators
• Health Equity Leadership & Mentoring Program
• Cancer Disparities T32 Training Program
• Cancer Disparities Internship
• Pilot Grants
• Trainee Travel Awards
• Community Travel Awards
• Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM)
• Community Dialogue Series
• Community-Centered Dissemination Toolkit
• Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series
• Health Equity Seminar Series
• Power of Partnerships
• Institute for Engineering in Medicine News Search
• Get Involved

What is the CCD Toolkit?

The Community-Centered Dissemination Toolkit is a resource designed to help research teams incorporate community-engagement principles into dissemination. The CCD Toolkit is broken down into 5 steps to help researchers and research partnerships plan their dissemination. Each of the 5 steps is outlined below. An example has been integrated throughout the Toolkit to demonstrate how the Toolkit can be used.

The CCD Toolkit can help you  

• Proactively engage communities to communicate research findings in ways that are meaningful and relevant to communities
• Include communities that are impacted by and best-positioned to make change
• Create a dissemination plan as early as possible with plans to revise throughout the life of the project
• Practice equitable partnerships

Who is the CCD Toolkit for?

• Researchers (university/academic, community)
• Research partnerships/teams
• Community members/organizations

You Can Download the Complete Toolkit Here

Video on Planning for Community-Centered Dissemination

This is an introductory video on the toolkit! In the video, Sarah Gollust, Professor in the School of Public Health, discusses:

• Traditional research dissemination
• Why we want to do it differently
• The impact of community-engaged dissemination
• How to proactively plan community-engaged dissemination
• The steps in making a dissemination plan

The video is intended for staff and faculty who are part of PHDR’s research center, C2DREAM, but can be a helpful introductory resource to dissemination that is community-centered for those outside of C2DREAM.

  Visit C2DREAM  

Watch Video Here

+ Step 1: Gather a Dissemination Team

The team will work together to create an effective dissemination plan and should include both researchers and representatives from the communities that encompass your audience and those who will most benefit from your results.

Gather a Dissemination Team

+ Step 2: Define Dissemination Goals

Dissemination goals define what you hope to achieve by sharing or disseminating your research. There may be multiple goals for sharing research findings including the following four categories:

• Raise awareness or educate patients, communities, and the general public
• Promote change in systems or organizations
• Advocate for and support community action
• Influence local, state, or national policy

 Define Dissemination Goals

+ Step 3: Develop Dissemination Action Plan

Further develop your dissemination goals by answering the following questions:

• Who is your target audience? Who must learn about the research based on the goals the team has identified?
• What key research findings and messages are most important for your audience to know?
• How can target audiences best learn about key findings from your research? What type of dissemination product will you create and how will you share it? What is the most effective product and method of contact?

Develop Dissemination Action Plan Dissemination Action Plan Worksheet

+ Step 4: Identify Resources

Community-engaged dissemination teams should identify resources (monetary, personnel, cultural/community assets) needed to carry out the plan. Teams should budget for and compensate community experts and contractors.

Identify Resources Resource Directory of local and community organizations and consultants/contractors

+ Step 5: Evaluate Impact of Dissemination Plan

Using community-specific measurable objectives, determine how well your dissemination plan achieved the goals your team identified. Did it have the desired impact on your audience?

Evaluate the Impact Evaluation Plan Worksheet

Users should practice equitable partnerships

An equitable partnership and dissemination plan requires that all partners:

• Design, plan, implement, and evaluate through an equity lens
• Be mindful of the social, structural, and institutional barriers to achieving equity  
• Be flexible, humble, and respectful of each partner’s expertise

Users should

• Proactively engage communities to communicate their findings

Community Engagement

Acknowledgements.

This Toolkit was created in collaboration between the University of Minnesota Medical School  Program in Health Disparities Research (PHDR) and  Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s (CTSI) Community Engagement to Advance Research and Community Health (CEARCH)  along with the help of community members, faculty, staff, and students at the University of Minnesota.

Maiyia Kasouaher Michele Allen Angela Merrifield Sarah Gollust Maria Scanlan PHDR Community-Academic Board CEARCH Management Council SoLaHmo Partnership for Health and Wellness Sarah Sekhran Anne Gomez Zedrik Pitts Michelle Hoedeman Meher Khan Chris Pulley

• Reserve a study room
• Library Account
• Undergraduate Students
• Graduate Students
• Faculty & Staff

Create a Research Dissemination Plan

• Research Dissemination
• Dissemination Plan Examples
• Dissemination Plan Template

Guide Background

Questions or suggestions.

This guide was developed by the Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on Dissemination of Research Findings Using Web-Based Platforms. Offered in the 2015-16 academic year, the members explored various web-based dissemination methods, created and implemented their dissemination plans. This guide is a reflection of the lessons learned and resources that were accessed to inform their learning and plans.

The FLC was grounded in a community-engaged approach to research, a valuable framework that enables researchers to produce results that can be directly translated to improved outcomes. Combining this framework with the affordances of web-based technologies allows those who can benefit from research and researchers themselves to engage in critical conversations and to share information in a way that can be meaningful and impact the well-being of our communities.

Instructor, College Behavioral and Emotional Health, College of Humanities and Sciences

Director, ALT Lab, Office of the Provost

Jason Coats

Assistant Professor, Focused Inquiry, University College

Jennifer Early

Strategic Project Manager and Research Associate, Division of Community Engagement

Trish Edinboro

Research Associate, Health Administration, School of Allied Health Professions

Valerie Holton

Director of Community Engaged Research, Division of Community Engagement, Office of the Provost

Faisal Ilyas

Research Assistant, IT Specialist, Social Media Manager, Social Network Analyst, RedCap Manager, Division of Epidemiology, School of Medicine

Hillary Miller

Scholarly Communications Outreach Librarian, VCU Libraries

Kate Schifano

Community Health Educator, Massey Cancer Center

Adai Tefera

Assistant Professor, School of Education

Alex Wagaman

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work

Sponsored by the Division of Community Engagement and VCU AltLab

• << Previous: Dissemination Plan Template
• Last Updated: Nov 20, 2023 11:33 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.vcu.edu/dissemination

Website Navigation for Screen Readers

• Return home
• Go to header navigation
• Go to search form
• Go to content region
• Go to footer region

Research Communications

• Hopkins on the Hill

Team Members

Questions or Feedback?

• Contact Keri Althoff
• [email protected]

Do-It-Yourself Dissemination Tool Kit

Need help disseminating your research findings.

Fulfilling the responsibility of disseminating your research findings does not have to be an overwhelming task. We have developed the “Do-It-Yourself Dissemination Took Kit” to assist you in fulfilling your responsibility to disseminate your findings to relevant stakeholders, including: 1)  those who may not have access publications, including people with the condition(s) of interest, advocacy groups, program and policy decision makers, funders, and elected officials; and 2) those who could help reach your stakeholders or amplify the findings, namely the media.

The responsibility for dissemination lies with you, the researcher.  The “Do It Yourself Dissemination Tool Kit” will help you fulfill your responsibility efficiently and effectively.

Download the Tool Kit:

1) Tool Kit User Guide

• Understand how to use the templates provided below, how to frame your summary, and access a link to contact information for all JHU media teams
• Suggestions for groups of stakeholders who should be included in your stakeholder “rolodex” to allow for quick dissemination of your Executive Summary via email
• Guidance to create a Twitter thread of findings to disseminate your findings more broadly, and a complete example of such a thread

2) Dissemination Executive Summary: Template 3) Dissemination Executive Summary: Example

• A template to create a 1-page Executive Summary of your findings for efficient dissemination, as well as a complete example of such an Executive Summary

4) Dissemination Executive Summary – Elected Officials: Template 5) Dissemination Executive Summary – Elected Officials: Example

• A template to create a 1-page Executive Summary of your findings for efficient dissemination specifically for elected officials , as well as a complete example

We hope this tool kit makes it easier for Johns Hopkins University researchers to efficiently and effectively disseminate research findings and fulfill the responsibility of dissemination while amplifying contributions to knowledge and discovery.

Feedback on the tool kit is welcome. E-mail Dr. Keri Althoff, Johns Hopkins Provost’s Fellow for Research Communication at [email protected] .

Vice Provost for Research

265 Garland Hall 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218

(443) 927-1957

• External link to Twitter
• Research at Johns Hopkins
• Bloomberg Professors
• Awards Programs & Initiatives
• Research Development
• Research Administration
• © 2024 Johns Hopkins University
• University Contacts
• Emergency Contact Information
• University Policies and Statements

Website Footer Navigation

• Jump to content region

Warning: The NCBI web site requires JavaScript to function. more...

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings
• Browse Titles

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Henriksen K, Battles JB, Marks ES, et al., editors. Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products). Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2005 Feb.

Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products).

Dissemination planning tool: exhibit a.

Deborah Carpenter , Veronica Nieva , Tarek Albaghal , and Joann Sorra .

AHRQ is increasingly interested in research that has “real world” impact in the practice of health care. This tool will help you, the Patient Safety Researcher, develop a plan for disseminating your research findings and products to potential users in the health care system. This tool is designed to prompt your thinking about the processes that you would use to disseminate your findings or products, beyond publishing and presenting in peer-reviewed venues.

This tool will ask you to identify the aspects of your research that are ready for dissemination, and to think about who could benefit from your findings or products. It will also encourage you to consider various ways to reach these users—establishing direct links as well as working through intermediary organizations, or tapping into existing networks.

• Components of a Dissemination Plan

Research findings and products —What is going to be disseminated?

End users —Who will apply it in practice?

Dissemination partners —Individuals, organizations or networks through whom you can reach end users?

Communication —How you convey the research outcomes?

Evaluation —How you determine what worked?

Dissemination work plan —Where you start?

Go to Figure 1 for graphic illustration.

• Instructions

Select one research finding or product that you expect to be particularly important in improving patient safety, and that is ready for dissemination. You may want to complete the tool separately if you have several findings or products to disseminate.

For each component of a dissemination plan, you will answer a few key questions about the selected finding or product. At the end, you will integrate your responses into an overall strategy and workplan.

• Don't be discouraged if at first you cannot answer every question in this planning tool; the questions serve as prompts to consider these elements in the future as your dissemination effort evolves.
• Consider this a working document to help you think through the steps you will need to take to get the word out about your research finding or product.
• This may take a few iterations! You may want to work back and forth between questions as your thinking develops. You may do a first pass at the tool, and revisit it after a few days. You may also want to ask for input from others.
• I. Specifying Research Findings and Products: What You Intend to Disseminate

View in own window

Describe the research finding or product you wish to disseminate. You may want to start by listing your major findings and products, then select one major finding or product for dissemination. For example - A decision support device, an educational curriculum, data collection tool, etc.

What problems related to safety in patient care does your research finding or product address?

What makes your research finding or product stand out? For example - Is it an innovative way to tackle an existing problem? Does it identify a new problem? Does it support or contradict current practices?

• II. Identifying End Users

List the end users for your research finding or product. Be as specific as possible. You may want to specify health care settings as well as types of clinicians or administrators. For example - ICU nurses, family physicians, hospital administrators, blood bankers, medical schools, doctors' offices.

Describe how your research finding or product is useful to your end users. Why would they want to use your finding or product? For example—does it increase efficiency? Improve quality of care? Provide legal protection?

What recent or future events might help or hinder end user interest in your finding or product?

Have you involved these end users in your research project? How? How can you involve them at this point? For example—Have nurses evaluate the use of an infusion pump.

What barriers might your end users face in trying to implement your finding or product? What suggestions might you have for overcoming these barriers?

• III. Working with Dissemination Partners

• Think about opinion leaders in your professional community who might be interested in spreading the word about your research.
• Informal networks and colleagues may be useful dissemination partners.
• Organizational dissemination partners could include quality improvement organizations, professional groups of your target audience, accreditation or licensing boards, or health care delivery associations.

List individuals, organizations, and informal networks who might partner with you in translating and communicating your research findings or products to your end users. Note how they are important to reaching particular end users.

How does your research finding or product fit with and advance the mission and goals of these parties? Why would they want to work with you? What recent/future events might help or hinder their willingness to work with you?

What characteristics of your finding or product would appeal to each of these potential dissemination partners?

How can you develop an ongoing relationship with these potential dissemination partners? How would you work with them so that your research finding or product is included in their communication channels, and/or tailored to their health delivery systems?

• IV. Communicating Your Message

Your end users could obtain information about research findings, products, or innovations in health care through various means. Optimally, you will need to use a combination of methods to reach end users.

How do you think your end users obtain information about health care innovations? Which of the methods above would be effective channels to reach them? What combinations of methods could reinforce your message?

Which of these methods could you realistically use to reach your end users?

Which methods do your potential dissemination partners use to communicate with your end users? Which ones could be used as channels for your research finding or product?

What difficulties might end users have with the methods of communication used, and how could you plan to overcome those difficulties?

• V. Evaluating Success

How will you know if you have met your dissemination goals? What are your success criteria? Are there measurable indicators for these criteria? For example—Number of physicians reached, responses to advertisements, number of Web site hits, number of inquiries received.

How will you involve end users in evaluating the dissemination activities? For example—Obtaining feedback on how easy the research product was to use, what was needed to translate research findings into practice in their setting.

How will you involve end users in evaluating the dissemination activities?

• Developing A Summary

After you have considered the components of your dissemination plan, use the last page to write a summary of 100–200 words that outlines your basic plan, based on the structure in this planning tool, by completing the following statements.

• My research finding or product is _________________________________________________. (Description.)
• It can be used to _______________________________________________________________. (Value statement of advantages over current practice.)
• My primary end users are _______________________________________________________. (Who is in a position to use the information?)
• I plan to involve users in my dissemination efforts by __________________________________. (How can I make sure my message is clear?)
• I can use the following individuals, organizations and networks __________________________________________________to help. (Who has influence with target users?)
• The ways that I will communicate the results include__________________________________________. (Communication mechanisms.)
• Potential obstacles that I face in disseminating my research include _____________________________________________________________. (List potential difficulties.)
• I can mitigate these obstacles by ________________________________________________. (Plan to overcome the difficulties.)
• I plan to evaluate the dissemination plan by ___________________________________________________________________. (Indicators to be used; plans for involving end users and partners.)
• I plan to encourage feedback from end users and dissemination partners by

_______________________________________________________ and provide feedback to them by

_______________________________________________________ (Obtaining and providing feedback.)

• VI. Dissemination Work Plan
• Immediate action items, schedule, and persons responsible:

• Longer term action items, schedule, and persons responsible:

Resources needed:

• Cite this Page Carpenter D, Nieva V, Albaghal T, et al. Dissemination Planning Tool: Exhibit A. In: Henriksen K, Battles JB, Marks ES, et al., editors. Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products). Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2005 Feb.
• PDF version of this page (443K)

In this Page

Other titles in this collection.

• Advances in Patient Safety

Similar articles in PubMed

• Review Development of a Planning Tool to Guide Research Dissemination. [Advances in Patient Safety: Fr...] Review Development of a Planning Tool to Guide Research Dissemination. Carpenter D, Nieva V, Albaghal T, Sorra J. Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products). 2005 Feb
• Harnessing complexity: taking advantage of context and relationships in dissemination of school-based interventions. [Health Promot Pract. 2010] Harnessing complexity: taking advantage of context and relationships in dissemination of school-based interventions. Butler H, Bowes G, Drew S, Glover S, Godfrey C, Patton G, Trafford L, Bond L. Health Promot Pract. 2010 Mar; 11(2):259-67. Epub 2008 Mar 19.
• The poster exhibit: guidelines for planning, development, and presentation. [Dermatol Nurs. 1993] The poster exhibit: guidelines for planning, development, and presentation. McCann SA, Sramac RS, Rudy SJ. Dermatol Nurs. 1993 Jun; 5(3):197-9, 201-5.
• [Twenty five years of health reports in Barcelona: a commitment to transparency and a tool for action]. [Rev Esp Salud Publica. 2011] [Twenty five years of health reports in Barcelona: a commitment to transparency and a tool for action]. Borrell C, Bartoll X, García-Altés A, Pasarín MI, Piñeiro M, Villalbí JR, equipo del Informe de Salud de Barcelona 2008. Rev Esp Salud Publica. 2011 Oct; 85(5):449-58.
• Review Developing a checklist for guideline implementation planning: review and synthesis of guideline development and implementation advice. [Implement Sci. 2015] Review Developing a checklist for guideline implementation planning: review and synthesis of guideline development and implementation advice. Gagliardi AR, Marshall C, Huckson S, James R, Moore V. Implement Sci. 2015 Feb 12; 10:19. Epub 2015 Feb 12.

Recent Activity

• Dissemination Planning Tool: Exhibit A - Advances in Patient Safety: From Resear... Dissemination Planning Tool: Exhibit A - Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products)

Your browsing activity is empty.

Activity recording is turned off.

Turn recording back on

Connect with NLM

National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894

Web Policies FOIA HHS Vulnerability Disclosure

Help Accessibility Careers

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

16 21. Qualitative research dissemination

Chapter outline.

• Ethical responsibility and cultural respectfulness (8 minute read time)
• Critical considerations (5 minute read time)
• Informing your dissemination plan (11 minute read time)
• Final product taking shape (10 minute read time)

Content warning: Examples in this chapter contain references to research as a potential tool to stigmatize or oppress vulnerable groups, mistreatment and inequalities experienced by Native American tribes, sibling relationships, caregiving, child welfare, criminal justice and recidivism, first generation college students, Covid-19, school culture and race, health (in)equity, physical and sensory abilities, and transgender youth.

Your sweat and hard work has paid off!  You’ve planned your study, collected your data, and completed your analysis. But alas, no rest for the weary student researcher.  Now you need to share your findings. As researchers, we generally have some ideas where and with whom we desire to share our findings, but these plans may evolve and change during our research process.  Communicating our findings with a broader audience is a critical step in the research process, so make sure not to treat this like an afterthought. Remember, research is about making a contribution to collective knowledge-building in the area of study that you are interested in.  Indeed, research is of no value if there is no audience to receive it. You worked hard…get those findings out there!

In planning for this phase of research, we can consider a variety of methods for sharing our study findings. Among other options, we may choose to write our findings up as an article in a professional journal, provide a report to an organization, give testimony to a legislative group, or create a presentation for a community event. We will explore these options in a bit more detail below in section 21.4 where we talk more about different types of qualitative research products. We also want to think about our intended audience.

For your research, answer these two key questions as you are planning for dissemination:

• Who are you targeting to communicate your findings to?  In other words, who needs to hear the results of your study?
• What do you hope your audience will take away after learning about your study?

21.1 Ethical responsibility and cultural respectfulness

Learning Objectives

Learners will be able to…

• Identify key ethical considerations in developing their qualitative research dissemination plan
• Conceptualize how research dissemination may impact diverse groups, both presently and into the future

Have you ever been misrepresented or portrayed in a negative light? It doesn’t feel good. It especially doesn’t feel good when the person portraying us has power, control and influence.  While you might not feel powerful, research can be a powerful tool, and can be used and abused for many ends. Once research is out in the world, it is largely out of our control, so we need to approach dissemination with care. Be thoughtful about how you represent your work and take time to think through the potential implications it may have, both intended and unintended, for the people it represents.

As alluded to in the paragraph above, research comes with hefty responsibilities. You aren’t off the hook if you are conducting quantitative research.  While quantitative research deals with numbers, these numbers still represent people and their relationships to social problems. However, with qualitative research, we are often dealing with a smaller sample and trying to learn more from them. As such, our job often carries additional weight as we think about how we will represent our findings and the people they reflect. Furthermore, we probably hope that our research has an impact; that in some way, it leads to change around some issue. This is especially true as social work researchers. Our research often deals with oppressed groups, social problems, and inequality. However, it’s hard to predict the implications that our research may have. This suggests that we need to be especially thoughtful about how we present our research to others.

Two of the core values of social work involve respecting the inherent dignity and worth of each person, practicing with integrity, and behaving in a trustworthy manner [1] .  As social work researchers, to uphold these values, we need to consider how we are representing the people we are researching. Our work needs to honestly and accurately reflect our findings, but it also needs to be sensitive and respectful to the people it represents. In Chapter 8 we discussed research ethics and introduced the concept of beneficence or the idea that research needs to support the welfare of participants. Beneficence is particularly important as we think about our findings becoming public and how the public will receive, interpret and use this information. Thus, both as social workers and researchers, we need to be conscientious of how dissemination of our findings takes place.

As you think about the people in your sample and the communities or groups to which they belong, consider some of these questions:

• How are participants being portrayed in my research?
• What characteristics or findings are being shared or highlighted in my research that may directly or indirectly be associated with participants?
• Have the groups that I am researching been stigmatized, stereotyped, and/or misrepresented in the past? If so, how does my research potentially reinforce or challenge these representations?
• How might my research be perceived or interpreted by members of the community or group it represents?
• In what ways does my research honor the dignity and worth of participants?

Qualitative research often has a voyeuristic quality to it, as we are seeking a window into participants’ lives by exploring their experiences, beliefs, and values. As qualitative researchers, we have a role as stewards or caretakers of data. We need to be mindful of how data are gathered, maintained, and most germane to our conversation here, how data are used. We need to craft research products that honor and respect individual participants (micro), our collective sample as a whole (meso), and the communities that our research may represent (macro).

As we prepare to disseminate our findings, our ethical responsibilities as researchers also involve honoring the commitments we have made during the research process. We need to think back to our early phases of the research process, including our initial conversations with research partners and other stakeholders who helped us to coordinate our research activities. If we made any promises along the way about how the findings would be presented or used, we need to uphold them here.  Additionally, we need to abide by what we committed to in our informed consent .  Part of our informed consent involves letting participants know how findings may be used.  We need to present our findings according to these commitments. We of course also have a commitment to represent our research honestly.

As an extension of our ethical responsibilities as researchers, we need to consider the impact that our findings may have, as well as our need to be socially conscientious researchers.  As scouts, we were taught to leave our campsite in a better state than when we arrived. I think it is helpful to think of research in these terms.  Think about the group(s) that may be represented by your research; what impact might your findings have for the lives of members of this group? Will it leave their lives in a better state than before you conducted your research? As a responsible researcher, you need to be thoughtful, aware and realistic about how your research findings might be interpreted and used by others. As social workers, while we hope that findings will be used to improve the lives of our clients, we can’t ignore that findings can also be used to further oppress or stigmatize vulnerable groups; research is not apolitical and we should not be naive about this. It is worth mentioning the concept of sustainable research here.  Sustainable research involves conducting research projects that have a long-term, sustainable impact for the social groups we work with. As researchers, this means that we need to actively plan for how our research will continue to benefit the communities we work with into the future. This can be supported by staying involved with these communities, routinely checking-in and seeking input from community members, and making sure to share our findings in ways that community members can access, understand, and utilize them. Nate Olson provides a very inspiring Ted Talk about the importance of building resilient communities. As you consider your research project, think about it in these terms.

Key Takeaways

• As you think about how best to share your qualitative findings, remember that these findings represent people. As such, we have a responsibility as social work researchers to ensure that our findings are presented in honest, respectful, and culturally sensitive ways.
• Since this phase of research deals with how we are going to share our findings with the public, we need to actively consider the potential implications of our research and how it may be interpreted and used.

Is your work, in some way, helping to contribute to a resilient and sustainable community? It may not be a big tangible project as described in Olson’s Ted Talk , but is it providing a resource for change and growth to a group of people, either directly or indirectly? Does it promote sustainability amongst the social networks that might be impacted by the research you are conducting?

21.2 Critical considerations

• Identify how issues of power and control are present in the dissemination of qualitative research findings
• Begin to examine and account for their own role in the qualitative research process, and address this in their findings

This is the part of our research that is shared with the public and because of this, issues like reciprocity, ownership, and transparency are relevant.  We need to think about who will have access to the tangible products of our research and how that research will get used. As researchers, we likely benefit directly from research products; perhaps it helps us to advance our career, obtain a good grade, or secure funding.  Our research participants often benefit indirectly by advancing knowledge about a topic that may be relevant or important to them, but often don’t experience the same direct tangible benefits that we do. However, a participatory perspective challenges us to involve community members from the outset in discussions about what changes would be most meaningful to their communities and what research products would be most helpful in accomplishing those changes. This is especially important as it relates to the role of research as a tool to support empowerment.

Ownership of research products is also important as an issue of power and control. We will discuss a range of venues for presenting your qualitative research, some of which are more amenable to shared ownership than others.  For instance, if you are publishing your findings in an academic journal, you will need to sign an agreement with that publisher about how the information in that article can be used and who has access to it.  Similarly, if you are presenting findings at a national conference, travel and other conference-related expenses and requirements may make access to these research products prohibitive. In these instances, the researcher and the organization(s) they negotiate with (e.g. the publishing company, the conference organizing body) share control.  However, disseminating qualitative findings in a public space, public record, or community-owned resource means that more equitable ownership might be negotiated. An equitable or reciprocal arrangement might not always be able to be reached, however. Transparency about who owns the products of research is important if you are working with community partners. To support this, establishing a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) or Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) e arly in the research process is important. This document should clearly articulate roles, responsibilities, and a number of other details, such as ownership of research products between the researcher and the partnering group(s).

Resources for learning more about MOUs and MOAs

Center for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (n.d.). Community toolbox: Section 9. Understanding and writing contracts and memoranda of agreement [Webpage]. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/organizational-structure/understanding-writing-contracts-memoranda-agreement/main

Collaborative Center for Health Equity, University of Wisconson Madison. (n.d.). Standard agreement for research with community organizations [Template] https://d1uqjtzsuwlnsf.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2018/08/CCHE-UW-MOU-sample.pdf

Office of Research, UC Davis. (n.d.). Research MOUs [Webpage].  https://research.ucdavis.edu/proposals-grants-contracts/international-agreements/memorandum-understanding/

Office of Research, The University of Texas at Dallas. (n.d.). Types of agreements [Webpage]. https://research.utdallas.edu/researchers/contracts/types-of-agreements

In our discussion about qualitative research, we have also frequently identified the need for the qualitative researcher to account for their role throughout the research process.  Part of this accounting can specifically apply to qualitative research products. This is our opportunity to demonstrate to our audience that we have been reflective throughout the course of the study and how this has influenced the work we did.  Some qualitative research studies include a positionality statement within the final product. This is often toward the beginning of the report or the presentation and includes information about the researcher(s)’s identity and worldview, particularly details relevant to the topic being studied. This can include why you are invested in the study, what experiences have shaped how you have come to think about the topic, and any positions or assumptions you make with respect to the topic.  This is another way to encourage transparency. It can also be a means of relegating or at least acknowledging some of our power in the research process, as it can provide one modest way for us, as the researcher, to be a bit more exposed or vulnerable, although this is a far cry from making the risks of research equitable between the researcher and the researched. However, the positionality statement can be a place to integrate our identities, who we are as an individual, a researcher, and a social work practitioner.  Granted, for some of us that might be volumes, but we need to condense this down to a brief but informative statement – don’t let it eclipse the research! It should just be enough to inform the audience and allow them to draw their own conclusions about who is telling the story of this research and how well they can be trusted. This student provides a helpful discussion of the positionality statement that she developed for her study.  Reviewing your reflexive journal (discussed in chapter  20 as a tool to enhance qualitative rigor) can help in identifying underlying assumptions and positions you might have grounded in your reactions throughout the research process. These insights can be integrated into your positionality statement. Please take a few minutes to watch this informative video of a student further explaining what a positionality statement is and providing a good example of one.

• The products of qualitative research often benefit the researcher disproportionately when compared to research participants or the communities they represent.  Whenever possible, we can seek out ways to disseminate research in ways that addresses this imbalance and supports more tangible and direct benefits to community members.
• Openly positioning ourselves in our dissemination plans can be an important way for qualitative researchers to be transparent and account for our role.

21.3 Informing your dissemination plan

• Appraise important dimensions of planning that will inform their research dissemination plan, including: audience, purpose, context and content
• Apply this appraisal to key decisions they will need to make when designing their qualitative research product(s)

This section will offer you a general overview of points to consider as you form the dissemination plan for your research. We will start with considerations regarding your audience, then turn our attention to the purpose of your research, and finally consider the importance of attending to both content and context as you plan for your final research product(s).

Perhaps the most important consideration you have as you plan how to present your work is your audience. Research is a product that is meant to be consumed, and because of this, we need to be conscious of our consumers. We will speak more extensively about knowing your audience in Chapter 24 , devoted to both sharing and consuming research. Regardless of who your audience is (e.g. community members, classmates, research colleagues, practicing social workers, state legislator), there will be common elements that will be important to convey. While the way you present them will vary greatly according to who is listening, Table 21.1 offers a brief review of the elements that you will want your audience to leave with.

Once we determine who our audience is, we can further tailor our dissemination plan to that specific group.  Of course, we may be presenting our findings in more than one venue, and in that case, we will have multiple plans that will meet the needs of each specific audience.

It’s a good idea to pitch your plan first.  However you plan to present your findings, you will want to have someone preview before you share with a wider audience. Ideally, whoever previews will be a person from your target audience or at least someone who knows them well. Getting feedback can go a long way in helping us with the clarity with which we convey our ideas and the impact they have on our audience. This might involve giving a practice speech, having someone review your article or report, or practice discussing your research one-on-one, as you would with a poster presentation.  Let’s talk about some specific audiences that you may be targeting and their unique needs or expectations.

Below I will go through some brief considerations for each of these different audiences. I have tried to focus this discussion on elements that are relevant specific to qualitative studies since we do revisit this topic in Chapter 24 .

Research community

When presenting your findings to an academic audience or other research-related community, it is probably safe to a make a few assumptions. This audience is likely to have a general understanding of the research process and what it entails.  For this reason, you will have to do less explaining of research-related terms and concepts. However, compared to other audiences, you will probably have to provide a bit more detail about what steps you took in your research process, especially as they relate to qualitative rigor, because this group will want to know about how your research was carried out and how you arrived at your decisions throughout the research process. Additionally, you will want to make a clear connection between which qualitative design you chose and your research question; a methodological justification . Researchers will also want to have a good idea about how your study fits within the wider body of scientific knowledge that it is related to and what future studies you feel are needed based on your findings. You are likely to encounter this audience if you are disseminating through a peer-reviewed journal article, presenting at a research conference, or giving an invited talk in an academic setting.

Professional community

We often find ourselves presenting our research to other professionals, such as social workers in the field. While this group may have some working knowledge of research, they are likely to be much more focused on how your research is related to the work they do and the clients they serve. While you will need to convey your design accurately, this audience is most likely to be invested in what you learned and what it means (especially for practice). You will want to set the stage for the discussion by doing a good job expressing your connection to and passion for the topic (a positionality statemen t might be particularly helpful here), what we know about the issue, and why it is important to their professional lives. You will want to give good contextual information for your qualitative findings so that practitioners can know if these findings might apply to people they work with. Also, as since social work practitioners generally place emphasis on person-centered practice, hearing the direct words of participants (quotes) whenever possible, is likely to be impactful as we present qualitative results.  Where academics and researchers will want to know about implications for future research, professionals will want to know about implications for how this information could help transform services in the future or understand the clients they serve.

Lay community

The lay community are people who don’t necessarily have specialized training or knowledge of the subject, but may be interested or invested for some other reason; perhaps the issue you are studying affects them or a loved one. Since this is the general public, you should expect to spend the most time explaining scientific knowledge and research processes and terminology in accessible terms. Furthermore, you will want to invest some time establishing a personal connection to the topic (like I talked about for the professional community). They will likely want to know why you are interested and why you are a credible source for this information.  While this group may not be experts on research, as potential members of the group(s) that you may be researching, you do want to remember that they are experts in their own community. As such, you will want to be especially mindful of approaching how you present findings with a sense of cultural humility (although hopefully you have this in mind across all audiences). It will be good to discuss what steps you took to ensure that your findings accurately reflect what participants shared with you ( rigor ). You will want to be most clear with this group about what they should take away, without overstating your findings.

Regardless of who your audience is, remember that you are an ambassador.  You may represent a topic, a population, an organization, or the whole institution of research, or any combination of these.  Make sure to present your findings honestly, ethically, and clearly.  Furthermore, I’m assuming that the research you are conducting is important because you have spent a lot of time and energy to arrive at your findings. Make sure that this importance comes through in your dissemination.  Tell a compelling story with your research!  

Who needs to hear the message of your qualitative research?

• Example. If you are presenting your research about caregiver fatigue to a caregiver support group, you won’t need to spend time describing the role of caregivers because your audience will have lived experience.
• Example. If you are presenting your research findings to a group of academics, you wouldn’t have to explain what a sampling frame is, but if you are sharing it with a group of community members from a local housing coalition, you will need to help them understand what this is (or maybe use a phrase that is more meaningful to them).
• Example. If you are speaking to a group of child welfare workers about your study examining trauma-informed communication strategies, they are probably going to want to know how these strategies might impact the work that they do.
• Example. If you are sharing your findings at a meeting with a council member, it may be especially meaningful to share direct quotes from constituents.

Being clear about the purpose of your research from the outset is immeasurably helpful.  What are you hoping to accomplish with your study?  We can certainly look to the overarching purpose of qualitative research, that being to develop/expand/challenge/explore understanding of some topic.  But, what are you specifically attempting to accomplish with your study? Two of the main reasons we conduct research are to raise awareness about a topic and to create change around some issue. Let’s say you are conducting a study to better understand the experience of recidivism in the criminal justice system. This is an example of a study whose main purpose is to better understand and raise awareness around a particular social phenomenon (recidivism). On the other hand, you could also conduct a study that examines the use of strengths-based strategies by probation officers to reduce recidivism. This would fall into the category of research promoting a specific change (the use of strengths-based strategies among probation officers). I would wager that your research topic falls into one of these two very broad categories. If this is the case, how would you answer the corresponding questions below?

Are you seeking to raise awareness of a particular issue with your research? If so,

• Whose awareness needs raising? 
• What will “speak” most effectively to this group? 
• How can you frame your research so that it has the most impact?

Are you seeking to create a specific change with your research? If so,

• What will that change look like? 
• How can your research best support that change occurring? 
• Who has the power to create that change and what will be most compelling in reaching them? 

How you answer these questions will help to inform your dissemination plan.  For instance, your dissemination plan will likely look very different if you are trying to persuade a group of legislators to pass a bill versus trying to share a new model or theory with academic colleagues. Considering your purposes will help you to convey the message of your research most effectively and efficiently. We invest a lot of ourselves in our research, so make sure to keep your sights focused on what you hope to accomplish with it!

Content and context

As a reminder, qualitative research often has a dual responsibility for conveying both content and context. You can think of content as the actual data that is shared with us or that we obtain, while context is the circumstances under which that data sharing occurs. Content conveys the message and context provides us the clues with which we can decode and make sense of that message.

While quantitative research may provide some contextual information, especially in regards to describing its sample, it rarely receives as much attention or detail as it does in qualitative studies. Because of this, you will want to plan for how you will attend to both the content and context of your study in planning for your dissemination.

• Research is an intentional act; you are trying to accomplish something with it. To be successful, you need to approach dissemination planfully.
• Planning the most effective way of sharing our qualitative findings requires looking beyond what is convenient or even conventional, and requires us to consider a number of factors, including our audience, the purpose or intent of our research and the nature of both the content and the context that we are trying to convey.

21.4 Final product taking shape

• Evaluate the various means of disseminating research and consider their applicability for your research project
• Determine appropriate building blocks for designing your qualitative research product

As we have discussed, qualitative research takes many forms. It should then come as no surprise that qualitative research products also come in many different packages. To help guide you as the final products of your research take shape, we will discuss some of the building blocks or elements that you are likely to include as tools in sharing your qualitative findings.  These are the elements that will allow you to flesh out the details of your dissemination plan.

Building blocks

There are many building blocks that are at our disposal as we formulate our qualitative research product(s). Quantitative researchers have charts, graphs, tables, and narrative descriptions of numerical output.  These tools allow the quantitative researcher to tell the story of their research with numbers. As qualitative researchers, we are tasked with telling the story of our research findings as well, but our tools look different.  While this isn’t an exhaustive list of tools that are at our disposal as qualitative researchers, a number of commonly used elements in sharing qualitative findings are discussed here.  Depending on your study design and the type of data you are working with, you may use one or some combination of the building blocks discussed below.

Themes are a very common element when presenting qualitative research findings. They may be called themes, but they may also go by other names: categories, dimensions, main ideas, etc.  Themes offer the qualitative researcher a way to share ideas that emerged from your analysis that were shared by multiple participants or across multiple sources of data.  They help us to distill the large amounts of qualitative data that we might be working with into more concise and manageable pieces of information that are more consumable for our audience. When integrating themes into your qualitative research product, you will want to offer your audience: the title of the theme (try to make this as specific/meaningful as possible), a brief description or definition of the theme, any accompanying dimensions or sub-themes that may be relevant, and examples (when appropriate).

Quotes offer you the opportunity to share participants’ exact words with your audience.  Of course, we can’t only rely on quotes, because we need to knit the information that is shared into one cohesive description of our findings and an endless list of quotes is unlikely to support this. Because of this, you will want to be judicious in selecting your quotes. Choose quotes that can stand on their own, best reflect the sentiment that is being captured by the theme or category of findings that you are discussing, and are likely to speak to and be understood by your audience.  Quotes are a great way to help your findings come alive or to give them greater depth and significance. If you are using quotes, be sure to do so in a balanced manner – don’t only use them in some sections but not others, or use a large number to support one theme and only one or two for another.  Finally, we often provide some brief demographic information in a parenthetical reference following a quote so our reader knows a little bit about the person who shared the information.  This helps to provide some context for the quote.

Kohli and Pizarro (2016) [2] provide a good example of a qualitative study using quotes to exemplify their themes. In their study, they gathered data through short-answer questionnaires and in-depth interviews from racial-justice oriented teachers of Color. Their study explored the experiences and motivations of these teachers and the environments in which they worked. As you might guess, the words of the teacher-participants were especially powerful and the quotes provided in the results section were very informative and important in helping to fulfill the aim of the research study. Take a few minutes to review this article.  Note how the authors provide a good amount of detail as to what each of the themes meant and how they used the quotes to demonstrate and support each theme. The quotes help bring the themes to life and anchor the results in the actual words of the participants (suggesting greater trustworthiness in the findings).   

Figure 21.1 below offers a more extensive example of a theme being reported along with supporting quotes from a study conducted by Karabanow, Gurman, and Naylor (2012) [3] . This study focused on the role of work activities in the lives of “Guatemalan street youth”. One of the important themes had to do with intersection of work and identity for this group.  In this example, brief quotes are used within the body of the description of the theme, and also longer quotes (full sentence(s)) to demonstrate important aspects of the description.

Pictures or videos

If our data collection involves the use of photographs, drawings, videos or other artistic expression of participants or collection of artifacts, we may very well include selections of these in our dissemination of qualitative findings.  In fact, if we failed to include these, it would seem a bit inauthentic.  For the same reason we include quotes as direct representations of participants’ contributions, it is a good idea to provide direct reference to other visual forms of data that support or demonstrate our findings. We might incorporate narrative descriptions of these elements or quotes from participants that help to interpret their meaning. Integrating pictures and quotes is especially common if we are conducting a study using a Photovoice approach, as we discussed in Chapter 17 , where a main goal of the research technique is to bring together participant generated visuals with collaborative interpretation.

Take some time to explore the website linked here. It is the webpage for The Philidelphia Collaborative for Health Equity’s PhotoVoice Exhibit Gallery and offers a good demonstration of research that brings together pictures and text.

Graphic or figure

Qualitative researchers will often create a graphic or figure to visually reflect how the various pieces of your findings come together or relate to each other. Using a visual representation can be especially compelling for people who are visual learners.  When you are using a visual representation, you will want to: label all elements clearly; include all the components or themes that are part of your findings; pay close attention to where you place and how you orient each element (as their spatial arrangement carries meaning); and finally, offer a brief but informative explanation that helps your reader to interpret your representation.   A special subcategory of visual representation is process.  These are especially helpful to lay out a sequential relationship within your findings or a model that has emerged out of your analysis. A process or model will show the ‘flow’ of ideas or knowledge in our findings, the logic of how one concept proceeds to the next and what each step of the model entails.

Noonan and colleagues (2004) [4] conducted a qualitative study that examined the career development of high achieving women with physical and sensory disabilities. Through the analysis of their interviews, they built a model of career development based on these women’s experiences with a figure that helps to conceptually illustrate the model. They place the ‘dyanmic self’ in the center, surrounded by a dotted (permeable) line, with a number of influences outside the line (i.e. family influences, disability impact, career attitudes and behaviors, sociopoltical context, developmental opportunities and social support) and arrows directed inward and outward between each influence and the dynamic self to demonstrate mutual influence/exchange between them.  The image is included in the results section of their study and brings together “core categories” and demonstrates how they work together in the emergent theory or how they relate to each other. Because so many of our findings are dynamic, like Noonan and colleagues, showing interaction and exchange between ideas, figures can be especially helpful in conveying this as we share our results.

Going one step further than the graphic or figure discussed above, qualitative researchers may decide to combine and synthesize findings into one integrated representation. In the case of the graphic or figure, the individual elements still maintain their distinctiveness, but are brought together to reflect how they are related. In a composite however, rather than just showing that they are related (static), the audience actually gets to ‘see’ the elements interacting (dynamic). The integrated and interactive findings of a composite can take many forms.  It might be a written narrative, such as a fictionalized case study that reflects of highlights the many aspects that emerged during analysis. It could be a poem, dance, painting or any other performance or medium. Ultimately, a composite offers an audience a meaningful and comprehensive expression of our findings. If you are choosing to utilize a composite, there is an underlying assumption that is conveyed: you are suggesting that the findings of your study are best understood holistically. By discussing each finding individually, they lose some of their potency or significance, so a composite is required to bring them together.  As an example of a composite, consider that you are conducting research with a number of First Nations Peoples in Canada.  After consulting with a number of Elders and learning about the importance of oral traditions and the significance of storytelling, you collaboratively determine that the best way to disseminate your findings will be to create and share a story as a means of presenting your research findings.  The use of composites also assumes that the ‘truths’ revealed in our data can take many forms. The Transgender Youth Project hosted by the Mandala Center for Change , is an example of legislative theatre combining research, artistic expression, and political advocacy and a good example of action-oriented research.

While you haven’t heard much about numbers in our qualitative chapters, I’m going to break with tradition and speak briefly about them here.  For many qualitative projects we do include some numeric information in our final product(s), mostly in the way of counts. Counts usually show up in the way of frequency of demographic characteristics of our sample or characteristics regarding our artifacts, if they aren’t people.  These may be included as a table or they may be integrated into the narrative we provide, but in either case, our goal in including this information is to offer the reader information so they can better understand who or what our sample is representing.  The other time we sometimes include count information is in respect to the frequency and coverage of the themes or categories that are represented in our data. Frequency information about a theme can help the reader to know how often an idea came up in our analysis, while coverage can help them to know how widely dispersed this idea was (e.g. did nearly everyone mention this, or was it a small group of participants).

• There are a wide variety of means by which you can deliver your qualitative research to the public.  Choose one that takes into account the various considerations that we have discussed above and also honors the ethical commitments that we outlined early in this chapter.
• Presenting qualitative research requires some amount of creativity.  Utilize the building blocks discussed in this chapter to help you consider how to most authentically and effectively convey your message to a wider audience.

What means of delivery will you be choosing for your dissemination plan?

What building blocks will best convey your qualitaitve results to your audience?

• National Association of Social Workers. (2017). NASW code of ethics. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English ↵
• Kohli, R., & Pizarro, M. (2016). Fighting to educate our own: Teachers of Color, relational accountability, and the struggle for racial justice. Equity & Excellence in Education, 49 (1), 72-84. ↵
• Karabanow, J., Gurman, E., & Naylor, T. (2012). Street youth labor as an Expression of survival and self-worth. Critical Social Work, 13 (2). ↵
• Noonan, B. M., Gallor, S. M., Hensler-McGinnis, N. F., Fassinger, R. E., Wang, S., & Goodman, J. (2004). Challenge and success: A Qualitative study of the career development of highly achieving women with physical and sensory disabilities. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51 (1), 68. ↵
• Ede, L., & Starrin, B. (2014). Unresolved conflicts and shaming processes: risk factors for long-term sick leave for mental-health reasons. Nordic Journal of Social Research, 5 , 39-54. ↵

how you plan to share your research findings

One of the three values indicated in the Belmont report. An obligation to protect people from harm by maximizing benefits and minimizing risks.

A written agreement between parties that want to participate in a collaborative project.

A research journal that helps the researcher to reflect on and consider their thoughts and reactions to the research process and how it may be shaping the study

Context is the circumstances surrounding an artifact, event, or experience.

Rigor is the process through which we demonstrate, to the best of our ability, that our research is empirically sound and reflects a scientific approach to knowledge building.

Content is the substance of the artifact (e.g. the words, picture, scene). It is what can actually be observed.

Graduate research methods in social work Copyright © 2020 by Matthew DeCarlo, Cory Cummings, Kate Agnelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book