Abstract
The research-practice divide has long been debated and problems identified regarding the relevance of academic research to everyday clinical issues. The problem of providing evidence directly pertinent and applicable to practice has, in part, been addressed by increasing user involvement in the planning, analysis, application and dissemination of research. So, it has become common in professional groups to explore research priorities with the membership to ensure that current issues are researched with an expectation that the findings will be welcomed and more easily integrated into practice. This paper explores the process whereby these prioritisation exercises have been undertaken and considers the factors which might be driving the choice of topics to be prioritised for research. The aim is to generate a debate about how the identification of relevant research priorities can be better planned to reflect the needs of an informed and involved user group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.