Research Project Criteria

Project Topics

A project must be consistent with ServCollab’s mission to serve humanity through research collaborations that catalyze reducing human suffering, improving human well-being, and enabling well-becoming.
It must include authentic/original research questions that advance service research.
It must have clear implications and relevance for societal impact and human well-being for various stakeholders.
Ideally, projects should develop long term research agendas for reducing human suffering, improving human well-being, and enabling well-becoming.

Project Rigor

A project must use appropriate theories, frameworks, and concepts that fit the purpose of serving humanity. Because humanity is remarkably complex, using and adapting theories/frameworks from other disciplines is highly encouraged.
It must have a robust methodology. Using multi-method studies and novel methodologies is highly recommended.
It must meet the highest ethical research standards for human subjects research. Any documented violations would result in loss of ServCollab affiliation.
Research studying understudied populations and contexts is highly recommended.
A project can be conceptual, empirical, or both.

Research Teams

A project team should be diverse and inclusive because such teams better represent the whole of humanity.
Ideally, research project teams are multi-country, multidisciplinary, and multi-stakeholder including non-academic partners from nonprofit organizations, for profit corporations, or government agencies.
Research projects should seek to expand research capacity by encouraging inclusion of early career researchers.
Project teams must practice collaborative research processes. Hence, each project team should establish clear and strong collaboration ground rules for succeeding together.