Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

Qualitative research in practice
given in the research literature on how to do this. Patton, an expert
in qualitative program evaluation, commented that:
Recommendations have long troubled me because they have seemed
the weakest part of evaluation. We have made enormous progress in
ways of studying programs, methodological diversity, and a variety
of data-collection techniques and designs. The pay off from these
advances comes in the recommendations we make. But we have made
very little progress in how to construct useful recommendations
(Patton, 1988, p. 90).
Perhaps there needs to be a research project on how best to write
research recommendations! Below is a summary of the suggestions
which Hendricks and Papagiannis (1990, pp. 122–5) have proposed
for making recommendations in relation to program evaluation.
They are applicable also to other types of research.
• Consider all issues in your evaluation to be ‘fair game’ for
recommendations, not just those the research was designed to
investigate.
• Don’t wait until the end of your evaluation to begin thinking
about recommendations—record possible recommendations
from the commencement of data collection.
• Draw possible recommendations from a wide variety of sources,
including earlier studies of similar programs and program staff
of different levels in the organisation.
• Work closely with agency personnel throughout the process to
minimise the threat which unexpected recommendations can
pose, and engage stakeholders who have the power to implement
them.
• Consider the contexts into which the recommendations must fit
and make realistic recommendations, thinking carefully before
recommending fundamental changes.
• Decide how specific you want your recommendations to be and
consider the possibility of providing options for decision-makers.
• Show the future implications of your recommendations in as
much detail as possible and consider planning an implementation
strategy and, if invited, consider becoming involved in the
implementation itself.
• Make your recommendations easy for decision-makers to understand,
categorising them in meaningful ways (for example,
short-term and long-term) and adapt the way recommendations
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