Commissioned Research

From institutional need to durable knowledge

Commissioned Research is the Commons pathway through which an institution, organization, professional body, public agency, partnership, or community can develop a defined need into a rigorous, governed, and usable programme of research, evaluation, analysis, or knowledge development.

The need may arise from a decision that requires evidence, a programme that requires evaluation, a population whose experiences are poorly understood, a professional problem that calls for a framework or standard, or an emerging issue for which existing knowledge is inadequate.

The commissioning body may know precisely why the work is needed without yet knowing the most appropriate methodology, research team, scale, or final format of the outputs. Commissioned Research provides a structured way to move from that initial need toward a defined assignment, an accountable project, and a durable knowledge record.

The process is designed for serious institutional and intellectual work. It recognizes that good research is not produced by a commissioning body alone or by a provider working in isolation. It is developed through an informed relationship among the commissioning body, researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, communities, advisers, and eventual users of the findings.

The purpose of Commissioned Research

The purpose of this layer is to support research and knowledge work that has an identifiable use.

A commission may be intended to:

• Inform a policy or institutional decision.
• Evaluate a programme, service, intervention, or strategy.
• Clarify an evidence gap.
• Understand the experiences or needs of a population.
• Assess feasibility or implementation.
• Compare approaches or contexts.
• Develop a professional standard or guideline.
• Produce a framework, toolkit, or implementation resource.
• Synthesize existing evidence for a defined audience.
• Establish a foundation for further research.
• Support public, professional, or community understanding.

The practical orientation of commissioned work does not diminish its intellectual character. A commissioned project must still make its concepts, assumptions, questions, evidence, methods, limitations, and claims sufficiently clear for the work to be assessed and trusted.

Commissioned Research as a Commons activity

The Commons is designed to support more than the publication of finished work. It supports the development of questions, the exchange of expertise, collaborative inquiry, and the preservation of knowledge.

CBOX provides the collaborative infrastructure for this environment. Members can work through profiles, groups, forums, activity streams, shared media, controlled access, and project spaces. CBOX is used by organizations and communities to collaborate on projects, publish research, and create repositories of knowledge.

Within Commissioned Research, CBOX provides:

• A shared entry point for Commission Requests.
• A persistent record of the initial proposal.
• A space for clarification and discussion.
• Request-specific private or hidden workspaces.
• A collaborative environment for brief development.
• A project record for approved work.
• Links between discussions, documents, and final outputs.
• A route into Repository preservation and future reuse.

CBOX is an enabling environment, not a substitute for research governance. It does not by itself ensure methodological quality, ethical conduct, data protection, independence, or valid interpretation. Those responsibilities remain with the commissioning body, the provider, the relevant advisers, and the institutions governing the work.

What may be Commissioned

Commissioned Research may take many forms.

The appropriate form should be determined by the nature of the need and the intended use rather than by a preference for a familiar output.

Primary Research This may include qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, participatory, comparative, or community-based inquiry.

Evidence synthesis This may include literature reviews, evidence maps, structured reviews, rapid evidence assessments, or synthesis of institutional and practice knowledge.

Evaluation A commission may evaluate a programme, service, policy, intervention, implementation process, outcome, or institutional change.

Needs assessment A needs assessment may examine the experiences, priorities, barriers, resources, or unmet needs of a defined population, profession, institution, or community.

Feasibility and options analysis A commission may assess whether an intervention, policy, programme, service, or institutional development is feasible and what options are available.

Framework, guideline, and standard development Research may be commissioned to inform a professional standard, institutional framework, implementation guide, practice guideline, or quality model.

Knowledge translation and resource development The work may involve turning evidence into practical tools, training resources, communication products, or materials designed for a defined audience.

What makes a Commission Appropriate?

Commissioned Research is appropriate when the commissioning body can identify:

• A real and consequential need.
• A plausible purpose for the work.
• An intended audience or user.
• A commissioning authority.
• A willingness to clarify and refine the assignment.
• A reasonable prospect that the work can be resourced and completed.

A topic that is still exploratory, a personal idea without an institutional sponsor, or a question that has not yet been sufficiently defined may be better developed through a Collaborative group.

The distinction is not based on the perceived importance of the topic. It is based on the maturity of the need and the readiness of an organization to take responsibility for commissioning the work.

The Commissioning Lifecycle

• Identify and prioritize the need.
• Prepare and refine the Commissioning Brief.
• Submit and review the Commission Request.
• Engage and select appropriate expertise.
• Authorize and initiate the project.
• Conduct, monitor, and govern the work.
• Review and accept the outputs.
• Disseminate and apply the findings.
• Document, publish, and preserve the knowledge.
• Close the commission and enable reuse.

The sequence is not entirely linear. A project may return to its questions after an initial evidence review, revise its design during inception, or alter its outputs when the needs of users become clearer.

The Commissioning Brief is an important transition point, but it is not the conclusion of the process. It defines the assignment so that the work can be sourced, authorized, delivered, and evaluated.

What makes a Commission Intellectually Credible?

A credible commission should make visible:

• The problem or opportunity that gives rise to the work.
• The existing knowledge and remaining uncertainty.
• The decision or action that may be informed.
• The population, institution, or context under consideration.
• The assumptions that shape the inquiry.
• The questions that require attention.
• The limits and exclusions of the work.
• The ethical and political implications.
• The standards by which quality will be judged.
• The resources and constraints that shape feasibility.

The commissioning body does not need to resolve all these matters before making an initial request. It should be prepared to engage with them as part of the development process.

What makes a Commission Useful?

A commission is useful when its outputs can be interpreted and applied by the people for whom the work matters.

This requires attention to:

• Audience.
• Format.
• Accessibility.
• Timing.
• Institutional context.
• Decision-making authority.
• Implementation capacity.
• Competing evidence.
• Uncertainty.
• Communication.

A technically excellent report may have limited value if its intended users cannot understand it, do not trust it, do not have access to it, or have no practical route for applying its findings.

For that reason, intended use and dissemination should be considered at the beginning of the project rather than treated as activities that occur after the research is complete.

Ethics, Integrity, and Responsibility

Commissioned Research should be conducted according to principles that protect people, communities, knowledge, and institutional trust.

These include:

• Maximizing potential benefit and minimizing avoidable harm.
• Respecting the rights and dignity of participants and affected groups.
• Ensuring that participation is voluntary and appropriately informed.
• Maintaining integrity and transparency.
• Defining lines of responsibility and accountability.
• Making conflicts of interest explicit.
• Protecting research independence.
• Managing data responsibly.
• Communicating findings honestly, including uncertainty and limitations.

Research ethics applies across the entire lifecycle: planning, design, funding, data collection, analysis, dissemination, publication, archiving, future use, sharing, and linking of data.

The Knowledge afterlife of a Commission

A commissioned project should be designed with its future life in mind.

The completed work may become:

• A Repository record.
• A Journal Publication.
• A policy or practice resource.
• A professional standard.
• A training or teaching resource.
• A new Collaborative.
• A follow-up study.
• A new Commission Request.
• A dataset or evidence map.
• A source for future synthesis.

The Commons should preserve the relationship between the original need and the eventual output.

• Commissioning need.
• Commission Request.
• Concept Note.
• Commissioning Brief.
• Project workspace.
• Final deliverables.
• Repository record.

Future research, policy, practice, and reuse.

A future reader should be able to understand not only what a report says, but why it was commissioned, who produced it, what methods were used, what restrictions apply, and what related work exists.

Who can use Commissioned Research?

The layer is intended for:

• Universities, educational and research institutions.
• Public agencies and government departments.
• Professional and regulatory bodies.
• Health and social-care organizations.
• Education and training institutions.
• Non-governmental and civil-society organizations.
• Foundations and funding bodies.
• Partnerships and consortia.
• Private-sector organizations.
• Communities and grassroots organizations.
• Research providers and independent researchers.
• Practitioners, policymakers, and knowledge users.

The person initiating a request must be authorized to represent the commissioning body and must be able to participate in the clarification, governance, and approval of the work.

How to Enter the Layer

Organizations should begin by reading:

• How Commissioned Research Works, which explains the lifecycle.
• How to Submit a Commission Request, which explains the CBOX topic-based entry process.
• The Commissioning Brief, which explains how the assignment is defined.
• Provider Engagement and Selection, which explains how expertise may be secured.

Then access the Commissioned Research Group.

What the Commons expects from Commissioning Bodies

The Commons expects a commissioning body to:

• Describe the need honestly.
• Consider existing knowledge.
• Identify intended users.
• Avoid prescribing conclusions.
• Be open to methodological advice.
• Identify relevant stakeholders.
• Recognize ethics and data responsibilities.
• Be realistic about resources and timing.
• Participate in clarification and scoping.
• Review outputs responsibly.
• Support dissemination and appropriate preservation.

The initial submission does not need to be perfect. It does need to be serious, authorized, and sufficiently clear to support an informed next step.

What the Commons Provides

The Commons may provide:

• A structured request environment.
• Initial review and clarification. Support for scoping.
• A space for collaborative brief development.
• Connections to relevant expertise.
• Project-based CBOX collaboration.
• Guidance on outputs and dissemination.
• Support for Repository deposit and linking.
• A durable record of the project and its knowledge.

The Commons does not replace the commissioning body’s responsibility to secure authority, resources, ethical approvals, contracts, or institutional permissions.

Begin

Read How Commissioned Research Works.

Read How to Submit a Commission Request. Open the Commissioned Research Group. Read the Commissioning Brief. Contact the Commons Coordination Team.

See also

• Commissioned Research Overview
• How Commissioned Research Works