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This section outlines steps that two organizations representing different research traditions have identified as essential to implementation of collaborative research.
- A diagram of the steps that the Department of Energy laboratories and industry/university partners fulfill when undertaking projects together (from http://www.eere.energy.gov/industry/financial/crada.html) appears in the table below. The Department of Energy national laboratories were created to support the various missions of the Department, including energy, national security, science, and related environmental activities. The laboratories conduct innovative research and development in technology areas, some available nowhere else. To carry out their work, the labs have developed capabilities and state-of-the art facilities in a number of geographic areas. Industrial and university partners seeking to gain entry to these national assets can do so through a variety of mechanisms including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA). .
The Department of Energy identified Keys to Successful Implementations (found on the DOE website):
- Laboratory and university/industry principal investigators responsible for the technical effort communicate early.
- Laboratory and university/industry technology transfer staff responsible for coordinating overall activity communicate early.
- All parties agree on funding levels and sources before starting the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement--CRADA process.
The following table lists steps necessary to create a CRADA.
| Action Steps for a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) |
| Step |
National Laboratory |
Both |
Industry Partner (including universities) |
| 1 |
ryrty |
Researchers discuss ideas, identify mutual interests, draft scope of work. |
yrtyyrt |
| 2 |
Determine contract considerations. |
htyhyt |
Identify corporate/university support. |
| 3 |
Develop Joint Work Statement (JWS). Send draft Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to Industry/University Partner. |
Draft Statement of Work (JWS) with milestones, etc. |
hfgdhfdg |
| 4 |
Submit JWS to DOE Operations Office. |
gfdgd |
Review draft CRADA. |
| 5 |
DOE Operations Office approves JWS. |
dsfsd |
Review draft CRADA. |
| 6 |
Develop and distribute final CRADA. |
Review CRADA. |
yrty |
| 7 |
Obtain Laboratory, DOE Operations, and DOE HQ approval (if needed) of CRADA. |
sdf |
Approve final CRADA. |
| 8 |
fgf |
Execute CRADA. |
dfsdf |
- Community-Based Research represents a different research tradition. In it, a project is usually designed to change a segment of society. Such research may create a more effective social program, build a more sustainable organization, make a safer neighborhood, enhance public health, or change a law. Community-Based Research is about action. It is about changing social conditions, whether on as small a scale as a single family or on as large a scale as the global economy (Miller and Brydon-Miller, 2000). The role of the researcher is thus different within this tradition.
| Differences in Perspective on the Role of Research |
| From the Researcher's Point of View |
From the Community's Point of View |
 |
 |
| From Strand et al., 2003, p. 82. |
When a research project is community based, it is both similar to and different from conventional research. Each phase of the research process is different from the traditional approach to research.
In identifying a research question, the community provides the major initiative for framing the question, balancing the academic disciplines' independence in defining questions. Methods are determined not in isolation or solely with respect to the academic researchers' capacities, but also in the light of the community's resources. Carrying out the research is likely to bring university researchers and community organizers into contact, cutting across social class, race, and ethnic lines, thereby enhancing the skills and understanding of each of the parties and learning from the skills and experiences of the others. Analysis and interpretation are often qualitative in nature. Presentations have a more immediate impact because the audience consists of those directly involved, rather than influencing a more theoretical-interested body of experts. Results can be transformational not only for the participants but also for the agencies that serve them and institutions of higher education that strive to be more accountable to their own community service mission (Stringer, 1999).
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