Table 1 Examples of academic reasons for conducting research

Satisfy personal interest/curiosity e.g. ‘if you have a data set you can explore some interesting things’ [R11]

Build personal knowledge, develop expertise, leading to recognition and career advancement e.g. ‘it helps you understand where you might target things, and probably builds into a body of work that actually really helps’ [R7]

Meet publication expectations/targets e.g. ‘to some degree we are influenced by the publish or perish mentality’ [R5]

Support research students/assist in attaining postgraduate qualifications e.g. ‘it came out of PHD work….where you raise questions about things’ [R7]

Advance the field/contribute to new knowledge/innovate e.g. ‘with the PhD student…one part of it is thinking of unique novel ways and how they can advance the field’ [R11]

Add to the existing evidence base/consolidate knowledge e.g. ‘if we’re starting work in an area….we do like to start with a systematic review so you know what's happening in the field’ [R10]

Collaborate with other researchers/expand the research field e.g. ‘they were largely conducting research on xx. …..and came looking for my obesity expertise’ [R7]

Inform further research and funding applications/secure additional funding e.g. ‘we used this pilot to inform a funding application for a bigger study’ [R12]

Build on from previous research/improvement and progression within individual research portfolios e.g. ‘it was more about trying to understand the patterns and behaviour and the predictors of the behaviours that would help inform future versions of the interventions’ [R6]

Bring issues to the attention of other researchers e.g. ‘We’re try to inform the field…that descriptive research or pilot study may inform other people’s studies’ [R11]