The Research Agenda for the Organizational Ombuds Profession: A Living Document.

The Research and Assessment Committee of the International Ombudsman Association (IOA) was charged by the Board of Directors to create a research agenda for the ombuds field. The agenda is intended to serve as a guide for future initiatives within the IOA related to research, outline the research priorities of the IOA for outside entities, and establish research as a fundamental value to the field of ombuds work. A Research Agenda Subcommittee formed to take on this project and develop a qualitative survey to identify the research interests of IOA members. The subcommittee distributed the survey to all current members, and eightyfive of them completed it. Analysis of the data resulted in eight major research goals supported by 42 specific research areas. This article establishes the importance of the research agenda for the IOA, explains the methodology used to create it, explores areas of inquiry underpinning each of the eight research goals, and discusses implications for the advancement of research on organizational ombuds. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the valuable contributions that many of our ombuds colleagues made to this project. Alan Lincoln, Zachary Ulrich, Robert Harris, and Valmarie Albertini took part in survey development, research design, and/or data-gathering, and Duncan McDonald assisted with data analysis. Mary Rowe, Linda Brothers, Timothy Hedeen, Jennifer Schneider, Debra Giambo, Kim Fulbright, and Willem Kweens provided feedback on our analysis and interpretation of the data. Wayne Marriott, who joined the subcommittee in the project's final stages, brought a fresh perspective and editing to the writing of this manuscript. Finally, we want to express appreciation to the IOA for its support of research and this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]