A Guide for Researchers to Negotiate the Research Process.

Research is vital to society in order to advance every sphere of human endeavour. High quality research that produces new knowledge forms the essence of progress in all fields. This paper provides a guideline to the research process, based on personal experience from practice and academia. The authors' roles as practitioners, tutors and researchers have been accessed to produce guidelines for future research. The critical processes are identified and considered, from identifying and defining the research topic; presenting a rationale; defining a contribution; recruiting a research team; reviewing the literature; creating a conceptual framework; selecting an appropriate methodology for the research; carrying out the empirical study; analysing and verifying the results; reporting the findings to an audience; and receiving feedback. The contribution can then be stated in theoretical and practice terms, exploited and further research undertaken as required. Examples from existing literature sources are utilised to illustrate this process. This is principally in the disciplines of Business, Project and Technology Management. The need for a training scheme to inform the researcher, appropriate access to the research subject and support for the process is also detailed. The context of the research is mentioned, in respect of providing a supportive environment for the research, thus enabling the contribution to be made. The critical factors for a successful research project are therefore identified.