Matching science with coastal management needs: The search for appropriate coastal state indicators

Through an analysis of the interaction between end users and researchers participating in the European Union–funded CoastView project (EVK3-CT-2001-0054), this article illustrates some of the difficulties associated with end user–oriented research. A way of structuring and focusing discussion between end users and researchers, which was applied and further developed during the course of the project, is suggested as a method to deal with these difficulties. The analysis in this article indicates that successful specialist support of decision making is related to the use of a systematic “frame of reference.” This involves explicit definitions of both strategic and operational objectives applied in a four-step decision recipe consisting of (1) a quantitative state concept, (2) a benchmarking procedure, (3) a design procedure for measures or interventions, and (4) an evaluation procedure.