Research Team

A research team involves all of the individuals who contribute directly to a research project. Research teams can vary in size from an individual researcher working one on one with a student assistant to large-scale projects involving multiple co-investigators, collaborators, student assistants, nonstudent assistants, and technicians working across numerous sites. In participatory research approaches, research participants themselves may be considered as co-researchers and, therefore, as members of the research team.

Research teams may work on a single time-limited research project, a parallel series of research projects, or a range of ongoing projects. Regardless of size, composition, and duration, research teams can function in collaborative, hierarchical, or distributed ways. Team members may include academics and nonacademics from similar or diverse employment situations, disciplinary backgrounds, and career stages. Consistent with the emphasis on reflexivity in qualitative research, some teams include distinct roles for team ethnographers to document the collaborative process, to facilitate team functioning, and to contribute to effective evaluation of the collaborative work.

As research teams increase in size and complexity, leadership within the team becomes increasingly important. Any member of the team may fulfill a leadership role on a temporary or continuing basis. Strong leadership is essential to the project management process, including coordinating team members' activities, monitoring progress toward research goals, redirecting efforts as the research plan evolves, and maintaining clear communication within the team. Leaders also play important roles in assuaging tensions or conflicts that may arise within the team.

Research teams are well advised to develop written policies about teamwork and authorship principles. As a general guideline, the order of authorship should reflect (so far as possible) relative contributions to a particular publication regardless of the authors' respective roles in the research project. In some cases, authorship credit may be granted to the research team as a collective such that the work is published under the research team name rather than under individual team members' names.

Research teams provide clear opportunities for mentorship. Experienced researchers are well placed to facilitate the learning and development of junior researchers, including community members and students, as they work together on a research team. More broadly, research teams provide space and opportunity for all team members to contribute to the learning of other team members regardless of status and experience. Researchers who appoint student research assistants to their research teams are ethically obliged to ensure that the research assistantships are educative. Student research assistants provide necessary labor that is needed to complete the research, and they typically receive some form of financial compensation, but they are also expected to learn new skills and aptitudes through the project and to receive appropriate credit for their intellectual contributions. Student assistants require appropriate task assignments and adequate supervision.