Research & Development Framework

The ARMA International Educational Foundation has developed a Research and Development Framework to help focus and provide context, direction, and priorities for research and development efforts in the field of records and information management. The profession is undergoing change of unprecedented magnitude and velocity due to the rapid restructuring of governments and other institutions; the impact of computers, digital technology, the Internet, and the World Wide Web; and changing needs and expectations on the part of customers of information as to how they seek and use information. The changes in the field on a global level that are generated by technology and other forces have made many traditional approaches obsolete, occasioned a substantial revision of others, and brought the need to develop substantially new policies and programs that are suited to the new information management strategic challenges.

However, technology changes have come about so fast that there has not been enough time for either thoughtful analysis or thorough research and development.  Both of these are needed to form the basis for the new approaches and products. To date, technology and institutional change have far outdistanced information programs’ capacities to accommodate and deal with them, in part because research and development efforts have been less than adequate. There is not a consensus on the questions or areas most in need of attention. There has been a scattering of efforts, which has resulted in less than optimal use of very limited time, limited funding, and other research/development resources. Projects are too often carried out in isolation, out of communication with other project leaders, and without a framework to indicate priority categories where the work is most needed and most critical. Much of the research that has been done, including some that has produced excellent products, has had limited impact because its results have not been made known or tested in actual records and information management settings.

The Foundation believes there is a need for a clearer sense of what should be accomplished in research and development if the profession is to master its challenges and continue its long record of service to individuals, institutions and society. The Foundation strives to lead, coordinate, foster and facilitate focused research and development efforts. We envision our main role to be a catalytic one of fostering, coordinating, and providing encouragement to others.

The Foundation’s overall research strategy is to:

• Fund research, in whole or in part with other funding bodies. 
• Build a research agenda with funding priorities as criteria for the funding of these projects.
• Build alliances with other research funding bodies for research in the information management field.