How do you evaluate your team's research skills?

Research skills are essential for any team that wants to produce high-quality, reliable, and impactful results. However, not all researchers have the same level of competence, experience, or motivation. How do you evaluate your team's research skills and identify areas for improvement? Here are some tips to help you assess your team's research performance and provide constructive feedback.

1 Define clear goals and criteria

Before you start evaluating your team's research skills, you need to have a clear idea of what you expect from them and how you will measure their success. Define the goals and objectives of your research project, the research questions and hypotheses, the methods and tools, the timeline and budget, and the expected outcomes and deliverables. Communicate these criteria to your team and make sure they understand and agree with them. You can also use a rubric or a checklist to guide your evaluation and provide consistent feedback.

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2 Observe and document the process

One of the best ways to evaluate your team's research skills is to observe and document how they conduct their research activities. You can use various methods to monitor and record your team's progress, such as regular meetings, reports, surveys, journals, portfolios, or dashboards. These methods can help you track your team's performance, identify challenges and issues, and provide timely support and guidance. You can also use these documents as evidence of your team's achievements and areas for improvement.

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3 Review and critique the output

Another important aspect of evaluating your team's research skills is to review and critique the output of their research, such as papers, presentations, posters, or products. You can use different techniques to evaluate the quality, validity, and relevance of your team's output, such as peer review, expert review, self-evaluation, or user feedback. You can also compare your team's output with the original goals and criteria, and with the standards and expectations of your field or industry. You can use these techniques to highlight your team's strengths and weaknesses, and to suggest ways to improve their output.

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Madalina Hanc, PhD

Senior Researcher | Mom | 🌀Data-Driven Advocate for an Equitable Future of Work
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Review and critique the output by recognising the unique perspectives that each team member brings to the project. A social researcher and someone with a STEM background will look at the same problem in a very different way, and exploring these differences will help minimise bias and advance the quality of the work. Similarly, sometimes a seasoned researcher can get stuck in their ways and will have a lot to learn from a curious novice who asks a lot of questions. There are many ways to do research and understand data, so embracing the different skill set of the people who make up the team may be the best option to stay ahead of the game.

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4 Provide constructive feedback

The final step in evaluating your team's research skills is to provide constructive feedback that helps them learn and grow. You can use different formats and channels to deliver your feedback, such as face-to-face, online, written, or oral. You can also use different strategies to make your feedback more effective, such as being specific, timely, balanced, actionable, and respectful. You can use feedback as an opportunity to praise your team's achievements, to acknowledge their efforts, to address their concerns, and to motivate them to improve their skills.

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Damola Akinola MSc PMP

Snr. Manager | Projects. Marine. Infrastructure. Rail.
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With constructive feedback, try to give it face-to-face as much as possible. There should be no hiding on either side when it comes to this issue. Secondly, it is important to be a leader who not only gives constructive feedback but one that also acknowledges good work. The trust needed to give effective constructive feedback is won or lost long before this point. That said, here are my key tips: - keep it specific (do not generalise). - keep it simple (avoid long, winded speeches). - explain how the output does not meet set objectives - suggest high level ideas on improvement (shows you care while not taking over their work). - explain the metrics by which you will measure improvement in output at the next review (gives clarity).

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5 Encourage reflection and development

The ultimate goal of evaluating your team's research skills is to encourage reflection and development. You can help your team reflect on their research experience, their achievements and challenges, their strengths and areas for improvement, and their goals and aspirations. You can also help your team develop their research skills by providing them with resources, training, mentoring, coaching, or opportunities to apply their skills in new contexts. You can also create a culture of continuous learning and improvement in your team, where research skills are valued, recognized, and rewarded.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Tim Bower

Leadership Outfitter | Empowering Leadership Coaches and People Professionals with Transformational Leadership Tools, Resources, and Support | Organizational Sociologist | B Optimal
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Evaluating a team's research skills. Did they choose and use the appropriate sampling techniques, data collection methods, and analytics for credible and relevant research. Proficiency in sampling establishes a solid foundation, while experience using diverse data collection methods allows for the adaptation to various contexts. Analytics expertise ensures meaningful insights. And, the literature reviewed and utilized is also very telling. Do they have a comprehensive understanding of theories, conceptual frameworks, methods, and findings from peer reviewed research? Or, are they simply offering the ever-present oversimplifications found in many of the popular industry publications? Are they simply putting old wine in a new bottle?

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How do you evaluate your team's research skills?

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1 Define clear goals and criteria

2 Observe and document the process

3 Review and critique the output

4 Provide constructive feedback

5 Encourage reflection and development

6 Here’s what else to consider

Research Management

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