Actionable Recommendations

Recommendations of a research are written at the last part of the body of a research paper. But that doesn’t mean they are the least important part of a research paper. Often, readers of a research paper focus on the abstract. But here is the main takeaway: the recommendations.

Recommendations of a paper summarize the ‘what is next?’ aspect of a research paper. In a research paper, researchers state we researched on ABC using the methods 123 and found 456. The findings mean 789 and have abc implications on xyz. The last part is somebody need to do XYZ using a QRS approach , i.e. the recommendations of the research. At minimum, actionable recommendations should include three main issues:

What needs to be done? Given the findings of that specific research, what are the next actions that need to be taken? Is it further research on the same issue, summarizing existing evidence, policy dialogue or improvement in practices or what?

How should it be done? After stating what needs to be done, a recommendations should also state how that is going to be done. Is it the same way as before or is there a need to introduce a different method or approach? A recommendation need to be clear on this.

Who is best placed to do that? Another key element of a recommendation is the ‘who.’ Who is expected (best positioned) to do what has to be done using the suggested approach? This one is very essential part of a recommendation. Defining ‘who’ is critical to evidence translation. However, most recommendations focus on what needs to be done and shy from clearly indicating who is responsible do that.

In summary, a recommendation answers the ‘what’s next?’ question by stating what needs to be done, how and by whom? If they answer these, recommendations could be an important stepping-stones for evidence translation.