Step 6 - Decision and/or Action

Regardless of whether research information has come through the formal research route or the pilot project route, or even directly from one of the early stages of the research process, action or decision of some sort is usually in order. The presented information should be in such a form that it facilitates the transition to this step.

There are cases where the information leads to further research as a form of action. This is certainly the normal flow of activity in the academic world, usually in combination with some sort of publication of preliminary results or progress reports. In the case of Pardigm Pioneering , where the research process is a recursive or iterative one, conducted in a series of small steps in order to tease out an operational rule-set of a larger paradigm, this process will be repeated many times until such a rule-set is identified.

The area of "use of knowledge / information" is a fascinating one, and is of central concern to researchers who wish to continue their work without getting totally discouraged, or running out of funding sources. In this, it resembles standard "4 P's" of marketing research and good communication practice...knowing

1. who wants the "product", why, and in what format.
2. how to make the product accessible to the target market group ("place")
3. what "price" people are willing to pay for it.
4. How to make sure that interested parties know it is available ("promotion")