Why engage the public with data research?

In this blog, Zoe Dale, Public Engagement Manager at ADR UK, explores the benefits of engaging the public with data research. From improving research quality and helping researchers develop new skills, to ensuring research reflects the experiences and priorities of the people represented in the data, Zoe considers why public engagement matters for research, researchers and wider society.

Why engage the public with data research? In my role as Public Engagement Manager for ADR UK, it’s a question I encounter regularly. My answer is simple:  

Public engagement benefits research, researchers, and wider society. 

If you’re already convinced, I hope you’ll discover a benefit you haven’t considered before. If you’re among one of the 11% of researchers who don’t find public engagement important in your working life (Royal Society, Technopolis, 2025), perhaps I can change your mind.

First, it’s worth defining what ADR UK means by public engagement:

“A purposeful set of activities designed to promote an ongoing dialogue with the public about administrative data research, driven by active listening and responding.”

This reflects a wider shift in the research landscape, moving from information broadcasting to meaningful two-way conversations that listen to (and value!) public perspectives. It’s about more than informing people; it’s about involving, consulting, collaborating and learning from each other.

With that in mind, let’s jump into the benefits.

Benefits of public engagement to research outcomes

Engaging the public, or representatives of the public, is much like consulting other experts as advisors or discussing ideas with academic colleagues. Public contributors bring novel questions, lived experience and community knowledge that can validate or challenge academic assumptions. This allows insights to go beyond the data alone. By helping to shape research questions, outputs and outcomes, they can improve research quality. In her reflection of building an advisory panel for her project, ADR UK research fellow Dr Ezgi Kaya observed how the public’s involvement shaped the project and dissemination strategy, including offering candid feedback and challenging thinking in productive ways.

For anyone working with data, demonstrating trustworthiness is also essential. Administrative data comes from the public, so we have a duty to not only share findings but also listen and take onboard feedback. 

Data alone doesn’t capture the full complexity of people's lives, experiences, or priorities. By engaging with the public, researchers can understand where data may be incomplete, challenge assumptions, and ensure that research reflects the people represented by the data. 

Public engagement can also create lasting benefits beyond a project’s lifetime. Research informed by public perspectives is more likely to achieve relevant and meaningful impact. More on that later.

Benefits of public engagement for researchers

Engaging with lay audiences helps researchers develop stronger communication skills and learn to make complex information accessible. For example, whilst running a creative theatre-based workshop on young people’s attitudes towards administrative data, ADR UK fellow Dr Hannah Dickson used game-based activities to build participant’s understanding of administrative data before further discussion, enabling the insights gathered later. The ability to communicate research clearly, and without jargon, is an essential skill for anyone looking to share their research with other researchers, policymakers, funders and the wider public.

Also, public engagement can contribute to career development and opportunities. If you’re a researcher connecting with people around a shared topic, your research will naturally reach new audiences who could be future collaborators or funders. As they say, networking is rarely a bad thing. 

Benefits of public engagement for wider society

Good public engagement provides mutual benefit for everyone involved. This should include valuing people’s time by offering fair honorarium payments, in ways most suitable for participants. It also includes valuing contributions, for example by implementing "you said, we did" feedback loops, and by crediting them for their contributions.

Through engagement, public contributors bring lived experience and perspectives and gain the opportunity to inform research that matters to them. Charities and practitioners contribute expertise from working directly with communities and can therefore shape research outputs that may have practical implications for their work. These tailored research priorities or outputs are more likely to address issues that matter to society and deliver tangible benefits. That’s something we all want.

Find support to undertake public engagement

I hope I’ve got you thinking about the benefits of public engagement in data research and the ways it benefits research, researchers and wider society. If you’re a researcher, you can find more resources, advice and stories of public engagement at ADR UK. The best news? We’ve got plenty planned this year to bring you more resources for your public engagement journey soon, so watch that space!

References

Royal Society, Technopolis. (2025). Factors Affecting Public Engagement by UK Researchers 2025. https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/science-for-society/factors-affecting-public-engagement-by-uk-researchers-2025.pdf