Good from Woods research toolkit

The toolkit is designed to help you do rigorous research into whether your woodland activity has an impact on the health and wellbeing of participants

Final year students from BSc Animal Behaviour and Welfare.

The toolkit takes you through the whole research process from planning to reporting but you can also use individual elements on their own.

Toolkit index and research process

1 – research motivations

Research motivations – questions for you and your organisation to think about before you start your research.
Good from Woods research case studies – read reports from previous Good from Woods research projects. These include a summary of methods used and evaluation of carrying out research.

2 – planning your research

A printable step-by-step guide to planning your research project (pdf) – how to plan your research from start to finish
Research skills – how to use your existing skills to the full and tips on being aware of bias.
Research ready checklist (pdf) – check you are ready to start!
Timesheet template (xls) – to help you keep track of your time and progress.

3 – choose your research methods

Guide to choosing research methods – questions to help you choose suitable research methods.
Research methods index – a key to help you select methods to suit your research, linking to in-depth guides for each method and printable templates.

4 – research ethics and participant consent

Guide to research ethics and participant consent – what to consider to ensure ethical research and maintain your participants’ privacy.
Ethical consent form and information sheet template (pdf)

5 – gathering research data/evidence

Data protection, organisation and storage – how to safely store, label and organise the data/information that you’re collecting and ensure anonymity for participants in line with data protection rules.

6 – analysing your data

Guide to analysing data – how to make sense and extract meaning from the data you’ve collected.
Data analysis spreadsheet example (xls) – a template to help you organise and sort through data.
Wellbeing indicators – a set of indicators devised by Good from Woods to help you find themes in your research data and group positive or negative instances of wellbeing.

7 – presenting your findings

Guide to presenting your findings – how to summarise and report back on your findings.
Short report template (pdf)
Presentation plan example (pdf)

8 – sharing your findings

Guide to using your report/findings – how to share findings, report back to your organisation and make recommendations based on your evidence, including guidance on reflecting on the research process.