Frequently Asked Questions
These common questions and their short answers are taken from Kate Towsey’s book Research That Scales: The Research Operations Handbook (2024). You can find longer answers to each in your copy of the book, either printed or digital version.
- Isn’t ResearchOps just about procuring the right tools and having someone take care of participant recruitment for me? Is an entire book necessary?
There’s no doubt that procuring tools and full-service participant recruitment are key research operations themes, but it’s a mistake to think that these tasks constitute ResearchOps. Operations is often confused with administration or assistance, but administering systems or assisting researchers is just one part of the job. As you will learn in Chapter 1, “Research Does Not Scale—Systems Do,” to help an organization operate in ways that add value, you’ll need to deliver the right systems first and then administer them well. If you deliver administrative support before designing systems, you’re putting the cart before the horse. - ResearchOps sounds like just another buzzword, like DevOps and DesignOps. What does “Ops” even mean, and where does it come from?
Operations, or simply Ops, is a buzzword that’s been at the forefront of software development and experience design for years. DevOps emerged sometime around 2007. DesignOps in 2015. And, in 2018, ResearchOps leapt into the awareness of researchers globally. Relative to their operational forebears, DevOps, DesignOps, and ResearchOps are young specialisms that owe much to a long line of pioneers: the industrialists, analysts, organizers, and strategists who began trailblazing the world of operations during the first half of the twentieth century. Operations has a long and diverse history, but, whatever the field of interest, the goal has always been the same: to enable “the power to act.” To foster excellence in execution. To maximize efficiency, profit, and value where it’s needed most. And to support the ability to scale. - AI has taken the world by storm, and it’s a hot topic in research. Why haven’t you written a chapter about it?
It goes without saying that artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted every part of society, and research is no exception. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard (now called Gemini) are powerful tools with the potential to super-charge a research practice if used well, but LLMs are also just tools. As covered in Chapter 8, “Tactical Tooling,” every tool that you onboard should serve a particular purpose and jibe with your systems and people, and AI is no different. Note: ChatGPT agrees with this statement—I checked! - I can see the value of building a dedicated ResearchOps team, but I need to get others onside. Will this book help me shape a business case?
Yes, yes, and yes. One of the biggest mistakes that folks make when they’re pitching ResearchOps for the first time, is not defining a strategy for what they want to achieve and how they will achieve it. Chapters 1–4 will help you understand how to define a research strategy and how to plan operations that deliver measurable value to the business—things that purse-string holders care about. When it comes to delivering something specific, like a research library or a participant recruitment panel, Chapters 5–12, i.e., the “elemental” chapters, will help you make your business case specific. For example, Chapter 5, “People to Take Part in Research,” covers the nitty gritty of scaling participant recruitment. Chapter 6, “Long Live Research Knowledge,” is a deep dive on research knowledge management, like libraries and repositories. And Chapter 10, “Money and Metrics,” will help you understand how to use metrics to bolster your case. - Will investing in ResearchOps help future-proof my research team?
When the going gets tough, even highly valued people and partners are sometimes let go. Even so, the more a research practice can deliver reliable and tangible value to the business, the more resilient it will be. Crucial to delivering value is devising a research strategy that addresses the things executives care about and that builds core strength—like Pilates for research—within the team. All the content in this book will help you to future-proof your team because building resilience (not just size) is what scaling research is all about.
