Education Endowment Foundation:Recruitment and Retention in Educational Research

Recruitment and Retention in Educational Research

ESRC fellowship project

What is this research project about?

The project sets out to explore tangible strategies that researchers and research organisations can implement to become more successful in recruiting and retaining early years settings, schools and post-16 settings for their research projects. 

The project will also explore how different education stakeholders, including local authorities, multi-academy trusts, nursery groups, college groups as well as representatives from early years settings (e.g., nurseries, a childminder), primary schools, secondary schools, and post-16 settings (e.g., colleges) across England, make decisions on whether to participate in educational research projects. In addition, this project will also explore their views on appropriate tokens of appreciation for research participation.

What are the benefits of the project?

Insights developed as part of this project will allow educational research organisations like the EEF to become more successful in recruiting and retaining educational settings for their research projects. Recruiting and retaining settings in our research projects are crucial for generating high-quality evidence to show what works on boosting students’ attainment across the educational phases. Moreover, the perspectives of leaders of educational settings and other relevant stakeholders on appropriate tokens of appreciation for research participation will help us ensure that the settings’ contribution to the projects is fairly acknowledged.

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About the research team and the funder

This project is a collaboration between Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai (Associate Professor of Education, University of Reading) and the EEF, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

What will happen in this project?

To help us elicit the aforementioned perspectives, we will be administering an on-line questionnaire and conducting virtual interviews with leaders of educational settings and other relevant stakeholders from across England.

  • As a small token of appreciation for completing our on-line questionnaire, you can choose to enter a lucky draw. Each of the 10 lucky winners will receive a £30 Amazon e‑voucher.
  • As a small token of appreciation for taking part in our on-line interview, you will be offered £30 Amazon e‑voucher.

Timeline

  • June – July 2024 – Data collection (on-line questionnaire and interviews)

What’s next?

If you represent a local authority, a multi-academy trust, a nursery group, or a college group in England, please help complete our on-line questionnaire here.

If you represent an early years setting (e.g., a nursery, a childminder), a primary school, a secondary school, or a post-16 setting (e.g., a college), please help complete our on-line questionnaire here.

At the end of the questionnaires, you can indicate if you would also like to take part in an interview with us.

We hope that you will support us as part of this project’s data collection effort. If you have any question about this project, please directly contact Dr. Trakulphadetkrai at vincent.​trakulphadetkrai@​eefoundation.​org.​uk.