Objective: To encourage the inclusion of research practice in instruction. Methods: The choice to bring existing research into a classroom to enhance student engagement and learning does not have to rest with one's own practice; however, those whose primary responsibility is to teach may be required to connect their research to teaching. Results:…

Interdisciplinary working plays an important role in achieving impact outside academia. One barrier to interdisciplinary working is the lack of mechanisms to assess contributions from outside the primary discipline. Positioning our research in debates about knowledge translation, we analyse the ability of narrative cases to assess the…

Background: Within the realm of public education, there is a well-known "knowledge to practice gap" on current conceptions of classroom assessment. A collaborative research project undertaken by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and a research team at Queen's University explored the roots of this gap from the…

Purpose: To provide a primer regarding treatment fidelity as it affects evidence-based practice (EBP) for speech-language pathologists. Method: This tutorial defines treatment fidelity, examines the role of treatment fidelity for speech-language pathologists, provides examples of fidelity measurement, and describes approaches for assessing…

The best available evidence is one of the three critical features of evidence-based practice. Best available evidence is often considered to be synonymous with extremely high standards for research methodology. However, this notion may limit the scope and impact of evidence based practice to those educational decisions on which high quality…

There have been ongoing debates among educational researchers over the appropriateness of various research methods. This paper begins with the contention that these differences in methodological orientation are in large part reflections of the broader ideological and value convictions of the researchers themselves. A critical point to be made,…

This study was conceived as a systematic replication of a content analysis of published science education research conducted by Horton et al. in 1993. As such, 47 research articles published in "Science Education" between 1988 and 1992 were examined. Also, this study further extended the findings of Shaver and Norton, and Wallen and…

This article examines the clinician/researcher relationship, suggests directions for improving the relationship, and discusses avenues for transferring research information to clinical practice. An eight-step model for transferring research studies to practice is adopted and three steps are targeted for discussion and illustration. A case study…

This paper translates research findings on systematic preference assessment with individuals with nonsymbolic or limited symbolic communication skills into guidelines for planning such assessments to reduce the risk of missing or misinterpreting the person's preferences. It offers four questions for guiding the planning of preference assessments,…

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have contributed to test development and validation in counseling psychology, but additional applications have not been fully realized. The author presents an overview of the goals, terminology, and procedures of factor analysis; reviews best practices for extracting,…

Two major advances in the provision of behavioral support to students with severe disabilities include: (1) procedures for conducting functional assessment, and (2) design of comprehensive interventions. The research foundation for these advances, implications for clinicians, and future research directions are presented. (Author/DB)

Describes functional assessment, discusses the need to translate research findings into formats and processes that can be used efficiently in applied settings, and stresses the need for research to continue to build a technology of functional assessment that meets the range of situations faced in schools and communities. (Author/CR)

This article focuses on strategies that can be used to evolve an evidence-based practice. It describes methods for gathering research information, for reviewing studies critically, and for summarizing information for practice using a model supporting evidence-based practice. An example of the application of these strategies to early intervention…

Presents a model to help schools pose and answer data-based questions about teaching and learning, describing different types of data that educators can use to piece together pictures of their schools (e.g., student learning statistics, demographic data, and school process data) and discussing how educators can cross data from different categories…

This article introduces a mini-series on research methods in school psychology. A conceptual overview of research methods is presented, emphasizing the degree to which each method allows the inference that treatment affects outcome. Experimental and nonexperimental, psychometric, descriptive, and meta-analysis research methods are outlined. (SLD)