Barriers to implementing research in higher education

Abstract

Summary The paper [1] is concerned to discuss why so much institutional research activity is carried out at such a cost and has apparently made so little continued impact on so few institutions. It argues that the problems relate not so much to inadequacies in methodology as to the nature of the decision-making process and the relationship between decison-makers and researchers in education. The paper discusses some of the barriers to the effective use of research and relates this discussion to the experience of institutional research at the Open University.