Interventions for improving the design and conduct of scientific research: A scoping review

Abstract

Background Research waste is a costly problem for scientific research, with poor design and conduct of the research being key elements which contribute to wastage. Interventions to address poor design and conduct may save time and money. The objective of the study was to map the interventions that have been evaluated for improving the design or conduct of scientific research to identify any gaps in the evidence. Methods We undertook a systematic scoping review. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, EconLit, ERIC, Social Policy and Practice, HMIC, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global and MetaArXiv from 1st January 2012 to 13th June 2022. Evaluated interventions that aimed to improve the design or conduct of scientific research by targeting researchers or research teams were included. Screening was completed by two reviewers and data charting by a single reviewer with another reviewer checking. Results A total of 81 evaluated interventions were included. Most of the interventions targeted research conduct, primarily focussed on registration, publishing, and reporting. Most included studies used observational evaluation methods. Categorising the interventions by the behaviour change wheel framework we found that most studies utilised restriction, coercion, and persuasion and fewer used enablement, training, or incentivisation to achieve their aims. Conclusions More evaluations of interventions aimed at how researchers design their research are needed, these should be developed appropriately and evaluated for effectiveness using experimental methods.