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The RESPECT project is not just designed for the research community itself. It also addresses research users: especially the policy-makers who commission research or manage calls for tender, the evaluators and reviewers who are involved in awarding research contracts and other research funders, including charitable foundations, companies and NGOs.
The project has produced a user-friendly guide, which answers such questions as:
- What is socio-economic research?
- What is the range of disciplines and methodologies involved in socio-economic research and which is suited to what purpose?
- What is involved in putting together and managing an interdisciplinary international team?
- What value can socio-economic research add to a technology project?
- How to set about choosing an expert (including an introduction to using professional directories).
- How to judge the expertise and quality of a socio-economic expert (including what sorts of national qualifications to expect).
- What professional and ethical standards to expect (including an introduction to the RESPECT Code of Practice).
- Complaints procedures in the event of a suspicion of unethical or unprofessional conduct.
This guide is aimed primarily at the IST community, but has a broader relevance to other users of technology-related IST research, including amongst industrial users and government funders of research, as well as on training courses in both academic and corporate environments.
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