This paper presents results from a survey of Romanian education researchers on their experience of research uptake and transfer to policy makers and practitioners. A range of variables are analysed in order to understand the factors they perceived to influence the use of educational research. The researchers' context was analysed, including…

Purpose: We apply diffusion of innovations theory to examine two key research questions designed to inform efforts to improve the research--practice gap in education: (1) Are there distinct types of educators that differ in their prioritization of the compatibility, observability, complexity, relative advantage, and trialability of research? and…

One of the fundamental purposes of educational research is to provide evidence to facilitate effective practice. However, the evidence itself does not have much value for practitioners unless key information about the context from which the evidence was generated is also provided. In this paper, we use the word 'context' to refer to factors that…

Interest in research utilisation in policy and practice has grown in the last few years for both academics and users. This interest is partly due to changes in higher education institutions in many countries that emphasise a research-centred approach, which prioritises the dissemination and transfer of research results to end users. The process…

Researchers have noted with concern the often weak link between research evidence and policymaking, particularly in some areas such as education. In this introductory essay--dedicated to the late Carol Weiss--we consider this issue first by reflecting on how changing historical conditions can shape institutional demands on and for research…

The authors argue for a reconceptualization of rigor that requires sustained, direct, and systematic documentation of what takes place inside programs to document how students and teachers change and adapt interventions in interactions with each other in relation to their dynamic local contexts. Building on promising new programs at the Institute…

The nexus between research and policy in higher education as in other sectors of society is multimodal and not adequately captured by the notion of a cultural gap between the world of practice and the world of research. Neither can the relationship be seen as unidirectional. This paper sketches out the range of uses of research in policy-making,…

Within this article, the authors explore the disconnect between research production, dissemination, and utilization, particularly within the field of educational leadership in the United States. Their exploration begins with an examination of the macro-level contexts within which such activities currently take place. They then turn to an…

Too often, researchers get a bad name for engaging in inquiry that is inaccessible to the practitioner and policy communities who could most benefit from it. Although speaking to others in the scholarly community is important, researchers must also be able to translate their results into more accessible language for multiple audiences. This…

Academic journals are the primary mode of communication among researchers, and they play a central role in the creation, diffusion, and use of knowledge. This article updates previous attempts to identify a core set of journals that most education scholars would acknowledge as consequential sources. On the basis of nominations from a panel of…

Over the past few years Research Data Services (RDS), part of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), has led numerous large-scale, longitudinal projects. Feedback to schools has been provided for all of these projects, and has been in the form of sets of tables and charts and electronic files illustrating pupil performance and…

Federal educational policy, funding, and legislation are currently forwarding a research agenda described by the current administration as scientifically based. We characterize this agenda, described in multiple official documents as the gold standard, as neopositivist. We consider the ways in which this research paradigm and the methods that…

Discusses some areas of particular interest in the study of education in the South Pacific islands: educational development in small, recently decolonized nations; mismatch between policies of donors of international aid and the needs of developing nations; importance of understanding the context of education; and misapplication of educational…

This paper presents a researcher's view of the foundations on which to research rural schooling. Three sections each discuss a different parameter of rural education research into science and mathematics education. These sections advise a conservative approach to research methodology, a liberal approach to content, and a radical approach to…

This paper examines the meaning of "rural" in rural education research and the relationship of this meaning to the research project's design and purpose. In traditional, comparative research designs, "rural" becomes a part of research that involves or implies comparisons with the nonrural. In contrast, emergent, interpretive…