Pasteur's quadrant is offered as a framework for escaping the dichotomy of "applied" vs. "basic" research. By focusing on research inspired by the community or society's needs, and which also draws on or creates appropriate theory, public universities can alter faculty's research agenda so that the total contribution of university research to the…

Effect Sizes (ES) are an increasingly important index used to quantify the degree of practical significance of study results. This paper gives an introduction to the computation and interpretation of effect sizes from the perspective of the consumer of the research literature. The key points made are: (1) "ES" is a useful indicator of the…

Personal interaction between health policy makers and researchers is widely seen as the key to enhancing research use, but there are also increasing demands that policies be based on syntheses of the available evidence. A potential paradox arises in that whilst interaction may result in greater use of the evidence it might also lead to a partial…

In recent years a number of writers have expressed concern that teachers fail to engage with published educational research, and that this failure rests in part with the research producers' disconnection from their users. In the context of these criticisms, this article considers how our knowledge of teachers' life cycles, from their early days in…

Objective:: To help close the gap between health promotion research and practice by using systems thinking. Methods: We review 3 national US tobacco control initiatives and a project (ISIS) that has introduced systems thinking to tobacco control, speculating on ways in which systems thinking may add value to health promotion dissemination and…

As my playful title suggests, I am referring to the process where the statement, "send reinforcements; we're going to advance," is said to have become, "send three- and fourpence; we're going to a dance." This quotation springs to mind when asked to think about how research gets picked up and recommendations from research are…

A. D. Mitchell's work on the phosphorus(I) reduction of the halogens and of mercury(II) and copper(II) chlorides is examined. A review of some salient characteristics of the Mitchell mechanism is presented, together with a discussion on how a student might benefit from a case study of the phosphorus(I) reduction of iodine or the similarly behaving…

This chapter describes the National Student Clearinghouse and discusses opportunities and challenges for tracking community college students. It also presents a system perspective on using clearinghouse data to promote more comprehensive student and graduate tracking. (Contains 2 tables.)

There has been an increasing focus on evidence-based practices in special education with efforts underway to authoritatively identify those practices that are evidence based. However, the identification of evidence-based practices is only the beginning of the process of implementing evidence-based special education. The professional wisdom of…

This occasional paper is a summary of what the staff of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Dissemination Initiative learned about how to connect research, policy and practice in ways that promote evidence-based practice in the field of adult learning and literacy. NCSALL Tools for connecting practice, policy,…

This paper examines the possibility that citizens' mediated and sporadic exposure to education research influences their policy attitudes. It reflects upon how citizens--who are not direct consumers of education research and who lack basic training in the modes of social scientific inquiry--use the paucity of information made available to them in…

Finding time for teams to work in schools is both a necessity and a responsibility. If educators are sincere about efforts to improve student learning, leaders must take responsibility for providing team time for teachers and a structure in which they are able to work collaboratively. The Papillion-La Vista (Nebraska) Public Schools took to heart…

In this brief essay the authors reflect on the value of community participation and cultural adaptation in their evolving research on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) infant and toddler development. They describe three concerns identified by their AI/AN community partners in adapting established research methodologies to work in AI/AN…

This study was designed to evaluate attitudes toward and utilization of evidence-based practices (EBPs) among mental health professionals specializing in trauma. An Internet survey was completed by 461 trauma professionals who were recruited via International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies membership rolls and electronic mailing lists of…

"A Parent's Guide to Assessment" is the fifth volume in the "Life Journey through Autism" series published by the Organization for Autism Research (OAR). It is intended to remove the mystery surrounding assessment, provide parents with a practical understanding of the assessment process, equip them as a parent with the…