In this paper we compare the use of research and other evidence in the decision-making practices of two groups of education policy elites, situated in different contexts--provincial education ministries and school districts. Data are derived from two pan-Canadian studies: Galway (2006) and Sheppard, Galway, Brown and Wiens (2013). The findings…

Much of the evidence translation literature focuses narrowly on the use of evidence in the initial policy formulation stages, and downplays the crucial role of institutions and the inherently political nature of policy making. More recent approaches acknowledge the importance of institutional and political factors, but make no attempt to…

Despite a political climate demanding evidence-informed decision making in education both within individual countries and at the international level, empirically grounded European research in this field is scarce. This paper reports on a European Commission-funded study that sought to identify and analyze different initiatives across Europe aimed…

Purpose: This article provides both a tutorial and a clinical example of how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can conduct evidence-based practice (EBP) when working with children with speech sound disorders (SSDs). It is a companion paper to the narrative review of 134 intervention studies for children who have an SSD (Baker & McLeod, 2011).…

Systematic reviews provide high-level evidence but there are barriers to their use by policy makers. This paper reports the preparation and evaluation of an evidence briefing, using systematic reviews and other existing sources of synthesised evidence, to support a possible reorganisation of services for young people with eating disorders in an…

Documents containing empirical research were presented to a group of Educational Research Specialists and to a group of Educational Decision Makers for quality assessment. Decision Makers perceived the reports to be of significantly higher quality than did the Research Specialists. Divergent reasons were given. (Author/RC)

Articles in this special issue discuss the utilization of social research by governmental commissions. How social science knowledge influences their decision making is examined. (RM)

Compares the findings of two research projects with studies of the consolidation and application of clinical knowledge in clinical decision making. Both studies confirmed the importance of personal clinical knowledge. Health information services need to use a variety of strategies and knowledge management skills to ensure that the evaluated…

A study of the effect of reading a recent clinical study on pediatricians', pediatric residents', and family practitioners' decisions concerning treatment of a common, potentially serious problem revealed a considerable influence but physician difficulty in using probability data and reliance on intuition rather than calculation. (MSE)

Describes the results of a survey that examined what kinds of database vendors are improving their retrieval software and the decision processes involved. Respondents included large and small vendors from the public and private sectors. An appendix presents vendors' reasons for and against specific innovations. (12 references) (CLB)

The communication of research findings among collegiate institutional researchers is considered in relation to the contribution of qualitative language in general, and catastrophe theory in particular. The qualitative language of catastrophe theory may help reduce the arbitrariness of description, through identification of qualitative features…

Cross-national differences in political, legislative, administrative, regulatory, and judicial systems that may present obstacles to reaching international agreements are discussed. These differences are identified from research comparing the regulation of chemical hazards in Europe and the United States. Implications for the problem of global…

The impact of research and development (R&D) on decision making and managers in vocational education and training (VET) was examined through a review of recent Australian studies in VET and health care. The framework adopted to analyze the relationships between R&D and decision making distinguished between the decision-making domain, the…

This book on leadership includes the following selected titles: "Leadership Characteristics of Leadership Researchers" (Campbell); "Translating Research Results into Action" (Knauft); "Managers on Leaders" (Javidan); "Impact of Leadership on Corporate Success" (Lohmann); "Shido" (Bettin et al.);…

A rationale and methodology for the use of student perceptions in educational decision making, and specifically in the area of curriculum, are presented. Four sections of the paper present ways in which student perceptions may be used: to describe and compare school environments, to compare perceptions of student subgroups within the same…