Chapter 6: Negotiating and Selling an Intervention-Research Project without the support of a Well-Structured Research Laboratory

Negotiation is a fundamental phase of an intervention-research (IR) project (see Chapters 2, 4, & 5). As in many other human activities, the first contact and exchange with the client firm leave an imprint that strongly influences latter stages. Thus, the researcher in the negotiating phase of an intervention-research project must be fully aware of the stakes of this phase of reciprocal discovery. It requires researchers to clearly define the objectives of the intervention as well as communicate the difficulties and pitfalls that are likely to be encountered, which can undermine a primary purpose—the production of knowledge. The objective of this chapter is to reflect on the lessons of IR negotiations in various contexts ranging from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to international organizations—from the perspective of a lone researcher without the support of a strong research team as discussed in Chapter 5.