Ideals of Parliamentary Research

From UK House of Commons Parliamentary Research Handbook.

1. Impartial. Parliamentarians are faced with information from a large
number of stakeholders with often conficting views. Parliamentarians
need to be assured that your research is politically impartial, and that it
takes into account the political context.
2. Clear and authoritative, even on technical subjects. Parliamentarians
cannot be experts on everything. But they are expected to have a view
on almost any subject, and they often have to give those views at short
notice. They also have to scrutinise sometimes complex legislation and
the performance of government on topics on which they may have no
prior knowledge. Your research needs to fill the gap between what
Parliamentarians know and what they need to know. You should write
with non-experts in mind using clear language to simply explain technical
subjects, using the most authoritative evidence available.
3. Accessible. Parliamentarians are often time-poor due to their
exceptionally challenging workloads. Occasionally a Parliamentarian will
require longer in-depth briefings, but most often your work should be
succinct, focused on the most important issues and easy to navigate.
4. Timely. Parliamentarians often need research within very demanding
deadlines. You need to anticipate the research needs of Parliament so
that information is ready in advance where possible. In some cases you
might be required to be expert at finding information and producing
briefings at very short notice.
5. Relevant. Parliamentarians have a unique representative, legislative and
scrutiny role. Your briefing should be designed specifically to support
them in being effective in their work.
6. Confidential. Parliamentarians may be unable to openly conduct their
own research, or it might be used to inform private discussions.
Depending on the rules of your team, you may available to conduct
confidential research on behalf of parliamentarians, who can be
confident that you will never divulge information about who you are
working for without prior permission.

A challenge in research work is to balance these criteria. Sometimes giving

voice to all opinions (impartiality) can clash with authoritativeness; sometimes
detailed accuracy works against accessibility. Resolving these issues is a core
part of your work.