Why research should be from the 'bottom up'

Historically, research has been ‘top-down’ meaning researchers have chosen the topics they would like to study, either based on personal interest or influenced by strategies set by local research organisations.

Sometimes this is useful as data may show a high number of cases of a certain disease or illness, so we need to find treatment for this. Additionally, certain treatments to may not be working and so we need to undertake research to find out why and develop new treatments instead.  

Although this research is important, often it does not match with what research communities are interested and would like to participate in because it is driven by data rather than patient and public ideas and opinions. Therefore, one reason communities are less likely to participate in research is because they are not interested in the studies that are open.  

To address this issue, it is important to try and flip this ‘top-down’ approach and instead develop research from the ‘bottom-up’. This means including community members at the research development stage so they can influence what topics are studied and shape research project ideas, so they reflect communities’ interests and needs. Developing an understanding of different communities’ research priorities and seeing where this matches researcher interests and local health issues means we can undertake research that matters to everyone. In turn, this will hopefully help to increase recruitment to studies, alongside other adaptations driven by communities’ needs. 

We often call this type of activity ‘research involvement’.

How can my VCSE get involved?

There are many opportunities to take part in research involvement, and you can find out about these through our Research Collaborative. By joining you will hear from many different health and social care researchers about how you can shape their research projects or even participate in them. As well as our Basecamp group, you get access to our FREE events. Join now to attend our next event on:

Saturday 26 September

Here we will be focussing on skin conditions and experiences of cancer among ethnic minority communities. 

Click here to join now: Research Collaborative Membership Application Form | Raising Voices in Research