Past efforts aimed at promoting a better integration between research and practice are reviewed. These include the empirical clinical practice movement (ECP), originating within social work; the empirically supported treatment (EST) initiative of clinical psychology; and the evidence-based practice (EBP) model developed within medicine. The…

This article presents some explanations for why social science research has been of limited value to the educational policy maker and makes some recommendations to both the policy analyst and the policy decision maker. (Author)

Develops a model for analyzing the behavior of commissions and discusses the role of social science in the model. Uses the model to examine Boston's Safe Schools Commission, with data on how social science was used by the commission being used to suggest several modifications to the model. (Author/JN)

Describes four stages of policy formulation (issue definition, deliberation on policy options, authoritative allocation, and performance oversight) and four types of policy-relevant social research (descriptive, explanatory, critical, and forecasting). Proposes a model showing the linkages among research types, policy-making stages, and policy…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article reviews 27 empirical studies on the utilization of social science research. Its conceptual framework for utilization includes action generation, information processing, affective bonding, and strategy formulation and control. The authors identify 3 types of utilization…

The social sciences tend to address easily quantifiable aspects of human life and produce statistical findings of value only to scholars and scientists. The Hite studies, which address ordinary human concerns and present their findings in a form easily understood by the general public, represent a model for the future. (Author/RM)

This paper compares and contrasts two types of social research--policy-oriented research (practical and/or applied social discipline research) and academic social science research (theory-oriented experimental research). Data are based on 120 projects of social policy research conducted in The Netherlands in the areas of industrial and labor…

Discussing concepts presented in "Philosophy and Education: Eightieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education," the author suggests an approach to knowledge-building that would make educational philosophers the synthesizers of interdisciplinary knowledge in the social sciences. Problems with existing conceptual…

An information feedback model and an ideology of evaluation are posed and contrasted with experiences in evaluation research. Impact on policy is the criterion for success of an evaluation and political constraints block this impact. Some ways social researchers might conceptualize and construct an appropriate base of power are considered.…

Focusing on whether and how research actually contributes to the formation of public policy, this paper explores the critical problems in the linkage between science production and the systems that formulate educational policy. The authors suggest that the utilization of social research is limited more by problems of integrating research into the…

New perspectives on social science research suggest five propositions: studies in higher education must not be value-singular; higher education researchers must not ignore "harbingers of the paradigm revolution"; they must take into account new interpretations of knowledge acquisition; they must not depend on prescriptive models; and they must…

This paper explores the evidence of a substantive paradigm shift in curriculum theory by examining the questions that have caused Elliot Eisner's radical shift from an empirical-analytical research model to a critical-theoretical one. The role of theory development and of ethics and values in research have propelled Eisner's theoretical shift. (TE)

The effectiveness with which research findings are disseminated to policy makers in education, particularly at the state level, is explored in the four chapters of this report. In chapter 1, Linda J. Nelson reviews the literature and determines that policy makers do make important, but indirect, use of research. She suggests that research…

This literature review examines 12 current works dealing with converting basic research on adult learning, adult development, adult education, instructional methods, and learning theory to practical application in the training of trainers. Focus of the review is on translating principles from scientific language to language more suitable to…

Recent research studies and reports of current desegregation plans are examined against the background of two models of social systems: consensus and conflict. The article's focus moves from the community to the school to the classroom to the individual. Available from Duke University Press, Box 6697 College Station, Durham, NC 27708. (Author/IRT)