Wada Mineko, Sixsmith Judith, Harwood Gail, Cosco Theodore D, Fang Mei Lan, Sixsmith Andrew
1Science and Technology for Aging Research (STAR) Institute, Simon Fraser University, #2800 - 515 West Hastings St., Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3 Canada.
2School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee, 11 Airlie Place, Dundee, Scotland DD1 4HJ UK.
Res Involv Engagem. 2020 May 8;6:22. doi: 10.1186/s40900-020-00197-3. eCollection 2020.
Funding bodies increasingly require researchers to write lay summaries to communicate projects' real-world relevance to the public in an accessible way. However, research proposals and findings are generally not easily readable or understandable by non-specialist readers. Many researchers find writing lay summaries difficult because they typically write for fellow subject specialists or academics rather than the general public or a non-specialist audience. The primary objective of our project is to develop guidelines for researchers in Canada's AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence, and ultimately various other disciplines, sectors, and institutions, to co-create lay summaries of research projects with stakeholders. To begin, we produced a protocol for co-creating a lay summary based on workshops we organized and facilitated for an AGE-WELL researcher. This paper presents the lay summary co-creation protocol that AGE-WELL researchers will be invited to use.
Eligible participants in this project will be 24 AgeTech project researchers who are funded by the AGE-WELL network in its Core Research Program 2020. If they agree to participate in this project, we will invite them to use our protocol to co-produce a lay summary of their respective projects with stakeholders. The protocol comprises six steps: Investigate principles of writing a good lay summary, identify the target readership, identify stakeholders to collaborate with, recruit the identified stakeholders to work on a lay summary, prepare for workshop sessions, and execute the sessions. To help participants through the process, we will provide them with a guide to developing an accessible, readable research lay summary, help them make decisions, and host, and facilitate if needed, their lay summary co-creation workshops.
Public-facing research outputs, including lay summaries, are increasingly important knowledge translation strategies to promote the impact of research on real-world issues. To produce lay summaries that include information that will interest a non-specialist readership and that are written in accessible language, stakeholder engagement is key. Furthermore, both researchers and stakeholders benefit by participating in the co-creation process. We hope the protocol helps researchers collaborate with stakeholders effectively to co-produce lay summaries that meet the needs of both the public and project funders.
资助机构越来越要求研究人员撰写通俗易懂的总结，以便以一种易于理解的方式向公众传达项目与现实世界的相关性。然而，非专业读者通常很难读懂研究提案和研究结果。许多研究人员发现撰写通俗易懂的总结很困难，因为他们通常是为同行专家或学者写作，而非面向普通公众或非专业受众。我们项目的主要目标是为加拿大卓越老龄化网络中心的研究人员制定指南，并最终为其他各个学科、部门和机构制定指南，以便与利益相关者共同创作研究项目的通俗易懂的总结。首先，我们根据为一位卓越老龄化网络的研究人员组织和主持的研讨会，制定了一份共同创作通俗易懂的总结的方案。本文介绍了将邀请卓越老龄化网络的研究人员使用的通俗易懂的总结共同创作方案。
本项目的合格参与者将是24名由卓越老龄化网络在其2020年核心研究计划中资助的老年科技项目研究人员。如果他们同意参与本项目，我们将邀请他们使用我们的方案与利益相关者共同制作各自项目的通俗易懂的总结。该方案包括六个步骤：研究撰写优秀通俗易懂的总结的原则、确定目标读者群、确定要合作的利益相关者、招募选定的利益相关者共同撰写通俗易懂的总结、为研讨会做准备以及开展研讨会。为了帮助参与者完成整个过程，我们将为他们提供一份编写通俗易懂、易于阅读的研究总结的指南，帮助他们做出决策，并主持（如有需要还将协助）他们的通俗易懂的总结共同创作研讨会。
包括通俗易懂的总结在内的面向公众的研究成果，是促进研究对现实世界问题产生影响的越来越重要的知识转化策略。要创作包含能吸引非专业读者的信息且语言通俗易懂的总结，利益相关者的参与是关键。此外，研究人员和利益相关者都能从参与共同创作过程中受益。我们希望该方案能帮助研究人员与利益相关者有效合作，共同制作出既满足公众需求又符合项目资助者要求的通俗易懂的总结。
