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I always use research plans
and protocols in my research,

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and really, I think in two ways.

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One is that I'll always
have a research proposal,

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and will try and make
the proposal as detailed

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as possible, as the
plan for the study.

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And the other is the
ethics application.

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So we can't do a
research project

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without having research
ethics approval,

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and the application that
you make for research ethics

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approval, I always think is
a really good opportunity

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to plan in great detail, exactly
what's going to be involved

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in doing the research.

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When you go out to interview 
people, what will you 

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say to them? What will 
you ask them about?

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How will you explain 
what you're doing?

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What will you do with that 
information afterwards?

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So the ethics
application gets really

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into the kind of nitty gritty
of the everyday practice

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of the research, I
suppose you could say.

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I think I put increasing
emphasis on its importance now.

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And that's really, I
think, for two reasons.

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And one is that as I've
moved through my career,

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I'm more and more often involved
in reviewing, and sitting

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on funding panels for
research councils, and so on.

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And again and again, 
you see that proposals

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where there might be a
brilliant idea are competing

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against other proposals,
which have brilliant ideas,

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but which are better
specified in more

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detail of the justification,
more detail of exactly

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what's going to happen when.

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And when you're making
funding decisions,

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if you're looking at those
two proposals side by side,

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bearing in mind that
you're making decisions

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about giving away public
money, if you're reviewing

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for a research
council, for example,

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you're always going to fund the
one that's better specified, out

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of the two, if all else is
equal, because you feel more

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confident about the
use of public money,

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you feel more confident
that that researcher

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is going to deliver what they've
promised in their research

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plan.

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And I guess the
other reason for me

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that I feel it's increasingly
important or where I recognise

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the importance more and more,
is that my research life has

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changed a lot, from being
a lone researcher doing

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a PhD with your supervisors,
through to running

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big projects with research
teams across disciplines,

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across countries, across
different organisations.

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And having a really
clear plan, which

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is a shared basis for
working, gives you

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a much stronger foundation
for developing that kind

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of collaborative work.

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Throughout my fieldwork, I
had a research plan or plan

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for my fieldwork, and I
was interviewing people

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in the post-war area,
ordinary people,

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and I was hearing a lot
of interesting stories,

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that I felt passionate
about, and it was very,

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I felt also responsible
about hearing those stories.

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But at one point, it
became overwhelming,

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and I had to go back
to my research plan

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and to remind myself, what's
the point of my research?

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What are the questions I
really should be asking?

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And that helped me a lot to
get back on track with it.

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Otherwise, I would
have many interviews.

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I would have to transcribe
much longer than I need,

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because you need to be
aware of the consequences

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of your behaviour.

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So research planning
in that sense

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really helps you
to stay focused.