How can research and practice can be linked together to improve vocational education? Vocational education researchers should conduct research that can directly benefit policy makers and practitioners and present their findings in ways that influence the improvement of policy and practice. Three basic assumptions need to be recognized: (1) the political, sociological, economic, context of a given state, a nation, and the world is a major determination of issues addressed by federal and state policy makers and affects practitioners at local school division levels; (2) research can influence, enlighten, and sensitize policy makers and better inform implementation, application, and practice; and (3) the need for and development and dissemination of new knowledge is a complex process and the way the information is obtained, developed, and transmitted is as important as the knowledge itself. There is a concern for strategies that link researchers with practitioners and from universities to provide incentives for application-based research. Priority should be given to research that will directly benefit policy makers and practitioners, and their findings should be presented in ways that will communicate effectively to the users of that research. This will require collaborative partnerships in improving the policy and practice of vocational education. (NLA)