Research Driven Dialogs: A Method for Social and Scholarly Impact

Research Driven Dialogs (RDDs) are a method for collective sense-making and collaborative reflection on research findings by a range of stakeholders hoping to better understand and address a complex problem. Research findings are opened up through a process of dialog; implications for practice and action are co-designed by participants in ways that are compatible with institutional and sociocultural realities. RDDs thereby coproduce knowledge in ways that maximize social impact and deepen and contextualize scholarly insights without imposing excessive time-burdens on stakeholders. We present an overview of the stages of RDDs through a development leadership project in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, outlining how these can be designed to maximize research outcomes and extraneous benefits.