The question of engagement

Too many questions.

Is engagement important?

• Is it worth researching?
  
• Is it about collaboration?
  
• What don't I understand about projects or academics don't understand? It's something to do with interacting, its quality.
  
• What don't we understand?
  
• What does my research intend to help to understand better? The literature review will help understanding but to focus it I need a purchase on the issue of collaboration, participation or engagement.

The question was how do public sector organisations engage with consultants in order to contribute to an effective consultancy project.
It has sub questions suggested by the framework in the figure .
Sub questions include:

• How can the phenomenon of engagement be conceptualised? But that would be from perspectives of people, not relationships of how it happens.
• How does engagement contribute to an effective project?
• How does engagement influence relationships?
• Which relationships work well?
• How does the quality of relationships contribute to an effective project?
• How does engagement vary over the life cycle of a project?
• How does engagement help in adding value to a project?

String the questions together - rewrite them.

Argue the relevance of engagement - why research it?

I want to understand engagement whether people call it engagement or not. If I ask people what they think engagement is, then I find out what people think is the phenomenon, but what I want is to know how they do it. Find out about peoples' relationships rather than views, who influences whom.

More questions

• Where is it particularly important and difficult to get engagement and what is it like when it happens?
  
• What are the difficulties?
  
• Who do you interact with at different stages?

Draft an interview guide for a pilot in September.