Om forskerroller og metodevalg i oppdragsforskningen

Abstract

Commissioned research is a valuable source of research-based knowledge in the central administration. However, commissioned research differs from other research in that commissioners can add detailed guidelines for what types of methods and data the commissioned projects are to be based on. What expectations do commissioners establish for commissioned research, and how should researchers respond to these expectations? In this chapter, I demonstrate how the various goals that commissioned research serves in the larger politicaladministrative system may contribute to different methodological expectations for commissioned research. I start from two defined policy areas: the field of work inclusion and the field of integration. While there are greater expectations that the research should demonstrate “what works” in the field of work inclusion so that the outcomes can be scaled up and applied to the entire NAV system, there is more interest in how research can contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and inspiration for autonomous municipalities in the field of integration. This means that the researcher is assigned different roles in the system they enter and must deal with different audiences that are to be addressed during the research process.