TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of evaluation in research-practice integration
T2 - Working toward the "Golden spike"
AU - Urban, Jennifer Brown
AU - Trochim, William
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - Program evaluation and planning is at the heart of efforts to integrate the domains of practice and research. Traditionally, research and practice have operated in independent spheres with practitioners focused on the implementation of programs that affect individual behavior and researchers focused on the development and testing of theory. Evidence-based practice (EBP), practice-based evidence, and translational research have attempted to unite these worlds, and although significant advances have been made, there is a continued need to find mechanisms that enable a seamless connection between knowledge generation and application. We propose a method that builds on the traditions of theory-driven evaluation, logic modeling, and systems science and uses evaluation and program planning as the bridging mechanism between research and practice. Included in this approach are methods that aid in the explicit expression of implicit theories, management of evaluation resources, and linkage of program theory and evaluation measures to a research evidence base.
AB - Program evaluation and planning is at the heart of efforts to integrate the domains of practice and research. Traditionally, research and practice have operated in independent spheres with practitioners focused on the implementation of programs that affect individual behavior and researchers focused on the development and testing of theory. Evidence-based practice (EBP), practice-based evidence, and translational research have attempted to unite these worlds, and although significant advances have been made, there is a continued need to find mechanisms that enable a seamless connection between knowledge generation and application. We propose a method that builds on the traditions of theory-driven evaluation, logic modeling, and systems science and uses evaluation and program planning as the bridging mechanism between research and practice. Included in this approach are methods that aid in the explicit expression of implicit theories, management of evaluation resources, and linkage of program theory and evaluation measures to a research evidence base.
KW - Education
KW - Evaluation planning
KW - Evidence-based practice
KW - Pathways
KW - STEM
KW - Systems
KW - Systems evaluation
KW - Theory-driven evaluation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70449589365&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1098214009348327
DO - 10.1177/1098214009348327
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70449589365
SN - 1098-2140
VL - 30
SP - 538
EP - 553
JO - American Journal of Evaluation
JF - American Journal of Evaluation
IS - 4
ER -