How do we assess if sites or areas are important or significant? What research questions can we ask? How do we go about co-ordinating this research?
Research Frameworks help us identify what is important or significant and provide research questions and objectives to help co-ordinate and focus our research effort.
They are created by bringing together people across the sector to create a shared framework, including:
Research Frameworks provide us with:
1. An up to date overview of current understanding – ie “what we currently know”
This is usually created by synthesising information from lots of different sources, eg Historic Environment Records (HERs), reports from planning-led investigations, academic and society journals. This provides an overview of a specific period, place or theme – eg The Bronze Age in the West Midlands.
2. A Research Agenda – identifying gaps in our knowledge and providing questions to fill these gaps
This is an agreed set of research areas and questions that is used to help co-ordinate research – they help focus what the sector wants to know more about. Research agendas can help to coordinate academic and community research as well as provide a research focus for planning-led projects.
3. Strategies to carry out this research.
These strategies provide the framework within which the research can be carried out – promoting potential ways forward and partnerships.
They can cover archaeology, the built environment, landscapes and maritime heritage.
They are normally organised by:
A table of existing research Frameworks can be found here.
Research Frameworks play an important role in providing an overview of current understanding, coordinating research and informing decision making – particularly planning related. They have many different uses:
1. Local authority staff:
2. Contractors:
3. Academics:
4. Local Societies: