Information Management Prototype for Clinical and Translational Research (IMPACT-CTR)

A study focused on understanding the tools and strategies teams use in seeking, using, creating, sharing, storing, and retrieving information

What is this offering?

Study Overview

The purpose of the study is to understand the tools and strategies teams use in seeking, using, creating, sharing, storing, and retrieving information while conducting collaborative clinical and translational research. Our findings will be used to develop a learning module to help teams improve their approach to information management.

Why should you and your team participate?

• You will be contributing to science! By sharing your strategies and your challenges around information, you will help us create best practices that other teams can implement, saving everyone time and energy.
• You will be improving your teamwork! In previous research, we have found that the simple act of discussing team processes, like how your team manages information, will have a positive impact on how your team works together. Teams rarely take the time to discuss their approach to teamwork, which can lead to conflict and less effective teams. By participating in this project, your team will begin to pay attention to how you work together instead of focusing exclusively on your scientific tasks.
• You will be modeling for your trainee and staff that “doing science” is more than just the data collection and analyses! By participating in discussions around teamwork, you’re providing essential training to future scientists.
• You will have access to expert-facilitated Collaboration Planning and the new information learning module! At the end of your team’s interviews, we will schedule a 90-minute facilitated Collaboration Planning session with your team, where we will walk you through honing your team’s approach to collaboration. Once the new information strategy learning module is complete, your team will have early access to it.
• Your next grant proposal will be enhanced! A collaboration plan can enhance your next grant proposal, especially with multiple PIs or as part of a large Center grant, demonstrating a high-functioning, thoughtful team.

Who is eligible to participate?

Any funded team working in CTR, broadly defined, is invited to participate! Your work could fall at any phase in the translational research process, from basic to clinical to population to community-based research. If your work has translational potential, we would love to talk with you! Teams should have a minimum of four members (including the PI) who are interested in participating, preferably representing multiple roles (e.g., project manager, data manager, scientist, student, etc.).

What does participation entail?

Participation in this study requires you and members of your team to each complete a brief (~10 min) survey about your team’s processes, then participate in an interview about your team’s collaborative work (1 hour). There is no advanced preparation required for this interview, and most people find it quite fun to talk about the ways in which they collaborate! A few teams will be asked to allow a member of our study team to attend 1-2 team meetings to observe your team’s collaborative work in action, and a few individuals will be asked to participate in an additional user experience interview (30-60 min) in which they demonstrate various tools or strategies for information management. All of these interviews and observations will be virtual and scheduled at your team’s convenience.

This study was deemed exempt by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board, HUM00255826.

Recording Information

Video and audio tapes will be made of your participation in interviews. These recordings will only be used by members of the research team. The researchers or someone hired by the researchers will listen to the recording and transcribe what people said during the interview. The transcription will be saved but the recording will be destroyed.

How will confidentiality be protected?

This study is confidential. Neither your name nor any other identifiable information will be published. Only members of the research team will have access to the data. All data will be stored on secured servers according to U-M policy. Identifiable information will be stored separately from other study data. Additionally, you have the option to skip or withdraw from any activities that make you upset or uncomfortable. If you participate in this study, we may quote you directly without using your name.

Participate in the Study

To participate in this study, please complete this interest form and a member of the research team will reach out to schedule a brief informational call.

Questions?

Please feel free to contact us by email at [email protected]

For more information regarding the research areas please view previous JCTS papers on Information Behaviors of Translational Teams

Chladek J, Kelly PW, Rolland B. Freelance information management agents: why information management is so hard on translational teams. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. 2023;7(1):e209. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.616

Kelly PW, Chladek J, Rolland B. Toward a translational team science hierarchy of needs: Exploring the information management challenges of team science. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. 2023;7(1):e210. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.614

Research Team

Betsy Rolland, PhD, MLIS, MPH, Principal Investigator

Beth LaPensee, PhD, Co-Investigator

Shruthi Venkatesh, PhD, Project Scientist

Funding

This project is funded by NIH

How this advances translational science

Developing and implementing innovations that address persistent challenges to advancing translational progress.