What is the role of member of a research team in research?

Conducting clinical research requires a team of people with a variety of skills and experience. If you decide to participate in clinical research, you may interact with scientists, medical experts, and others who work together to coordinate all aspects of a study.  

At Johns Hopkins Medicine, research team members vary by study site, type, design, and purpose, but may include: 

• Also called a primary investigator, this person oversees all aspects of a clinical research study. They develop the study concept; write a detailed description of how the study will be conducted; and submit it for approval to the site’s institutional review board (IRB). In addition, this person oversees participant recruitment and making sure participants understand their rights and agree to take part. They also supervise the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of research results. The PI is ultimately responsible for everything in the study. 

• These doctors work with the PI to monitor and care for people who take part in the study. They treat patients according to the clinical trial design, evaluate and record patient responses, and document side effects. 

• This team member often explains study details to patients, staff and health providers in the community who might refer their patients. The person also helps with giving the study medicines and assists the PI in monitoring for side effects.

• The study coordinator handles many of the activities for a research study. Study coordinators may be involved in recruitment and ensure participants understand the requirements of the study and agree to participate. Study coordinators also may schedule research visits and complete research interviews. They work with the PI, the research institution, and others involved to make sure that the study follows research regulations.

• Many studies include medications under research. Research pharmacists ensure that research medications are delivered to Johns Hopkins safely and are given in the best way to evaluate effectiveness.

• Participants are also a part of the team! We consider clinical research participants as partners in the process. Without participants, clinical research is not possible.

To promote access for all people, Johns Hopkins Medicine strives for diversity among the research team. From the PI to the study nurses and physicians, we want our teams to reflect our community, so that all people feel comfortable participating.

Other People Can Be on the Team, Too 

When you participate in a clinical trial, you may want to involve your usual health care providers. Our goal is that everyone who cares for you is aware of both your research experience and clinical care.

Clinical trials do not provide long-term, comprehensive health care. They offer only temporary, condition-specific treatments or procedures. Including your current health care team may help with receiving comprehensive care. If you choose to include your other health care team, you can also be sure that any existing treatments or conditions will not conflict with the study treatment or protocol.  

Research participant advocate: Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Research Participant Advocacy Group focuses on improving the experience of people who participate in clinical research. The advocate strives to make sure participants understand what they are volunteering for and their rights as a research participant. The advocate can also address any concerns participants have. 

For information about clinical trial opportunities at Johns Hopkins Medicine, visit our trials site.

What constitutes a research team in one department or institution might be described elsewhere as a research group, research centre, research unit or research institute. Regardless of the terminology used, the key characteristic of a research team is that it comprises a group of people working together in a committed way towards a common research goal.

Research team diversity

There are many different configurations of research teams in academia and boundaries can be 'fuzzy'. They may comprise co-investigators, fractional or pooled staff, technical and clerical staff and postgraduate research students. There may also be inter- and intra-institutional dimensions and increasingly international ones; some team members' contributions may well be largely virtual, via email, phone or videoconference.

Also, team members may have different disciplinary backgrounds, different motivations and aspirations, and different cultural backgrounds. Over time, team members' roles may change from being core (fully dedicated to the research goal) to peripheral (committed to this research goal, but also working in one or more other teams), and vice-versa.

Assessing the balance and composition of your team. 

Ideally, the balance and composition of the team in terms of skills, expertise and other contributions will be appropriate to achieve the team's objectives, i.e. for the  research goal the team is working towards. The research team leader needs to be confident that team members have, or can develop, the necessary skills and knowledge for the research in hand, and you will make recruitment decisions on that basis.

There is also another perspective on the effective team which it is good to consider. In addition to knowledge, experience and skills individuals have different behavioural traits or characteristics they bring to the way they carry out their work and these can be aligned to particular roles in the team: some are very good at seeing a big picture, others very good at detailed work. Some are very oriented towards action - good at just getting things done; others are natural communicators and networkers. The need for these different roles will emerge at different times and it is worth considering the composition of your team to ensure you have a balance of strengths. 

To find out more about specific team roles and the research by Meredith Belbin on which they are based, see the section further down this page. 

Managing your team

Your responsibilities as a manager of the group

These are the responsibilities identified in Adair's action-centred leadership model:

• establish, agree and communicate standards of performance and behaviour
• establish style, culture, approach of the group - soft skill elements
• monitor and maintain discipline, ethics, integrity and focus on objectives
• anticipate and resolve group conflict, struggles or disagreements
• assess and change as necessary the balance and composition of the group
• develop team-working, cooperation, morale and team-spirit
• develop the collective maturity and capability of the group - progressively increase group freedom and authority
• encourage the team towards objectives and aims - motivate the group and provide a collective sense of purpose
• identify, develop and agree team- and project-leadership roles within group
• enable, facilitate and ensure effective internal and external group communications
• identify and meet group training needs
• give feedback to the group on overall progress; consult with, and seek feedback and input from the group.

Looking at the list of responsibilities above, which are the areas where you feel confident in your abilities?  Which are the areas where you feel less confident, or might benefit from some support or development?  Most people will lack confidence in some areas of their people management skills. Look at the section on Developing Yourself as a PI for ideas and advice, talk to a more experienced colleague or ask your head of department to arrange some mentoring.

Team  roles and development

A research team consists of people working together in a committed way towards a common research goal. Teams, like individuals and organisations mature and develop and have a fairly clearly defined growth cycle. Bruce Tuckman's 1965 four-stage model explains this cycle. It may be helpful  to reflect on your team's current stage of development  in order to identify relevant approaches to leadership and management.In addition to understanding the development of your team over time, having an understanding of the preferred ‘team roles', the characteristics and expected social behaviour, of individual team members, including the team leader, will help ensure that the team performs effectively together.

Using team role or individual profiling tools can offer insights into building and maintaining an effective team, but team role analysis is most useful if all members evaluate their own and others' preferred roles, whichever tools are chosen.