Evidence Library

Method: Postal survey and telephone interviews with UK funders of health research.

 

Findings/recommendations: Many UK funders of health research are encouraging researchers to involve consumers in their work. Many recognise that different forms of consumer involvement will be appropriate for different types of research project. There is no standard way of judging the quality of proposals for involving consumers in a research project. Given the variation in involvement, any criteria used to make judgements about quality will need to be flexibly and fairly applied. Researchers also need to be made aware of funders' requirements.