Background: Understanding knowledge utilisation in policymaking is a core task for the social and political sciences. However, limitations and biases abound in commonplace approaches to measuring such use. Consequently, we have little systematic evidence of the extent to which knowledge sources are used in policy decisions. Aims and objectives:…

Current assessments of research impact have been criticized for capturing what can be easily counted not what actually counts. To empirically examine this issue, we approached measuring research impact from two directions, tracing forwards from research and backwards from policy, within a defined research-policy system (childhood obesity…

Background: Decisions related to the development and implementation of public health programmes or policies can benefit from more effective use of the best available knowledge. However, decision makers do not always feel sufficiently equipped or may lack the capacity to use evidence. This can lead them to overlook or set aside research results…

Background: Brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners (BIBS) bridge research and policy or practice, and can elevate the role of evidence in decision making. However, there is limited integration of the literature across different sectors to understand the strategies that BIBS use, the skills needed to carry out these strategies, and the…

The role of district research leaders (DRLs) in central offices has emerged as a strategy for improving the creation, flow, and use of research knowledge in decision-making. However, there is limited information about the responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges inherent in these roles. This exploratory qualitative study features document…

The Every Student Succeeds Act builds on prior efforts to bridge the gap between research and practice through the imposition of evidence requirements. This article presents findings from a small-scale micro-process study of three districts in one state during their first year of implementing those requirements. Informed by past conceptualizations…

Background: In today's era of evidence-based policymaking, policymakers face pressure to use research evidence to inform their decisions. This is particularly salient in the United States, where federal law mandates that education leaders implement policies, programs, and strategies that have been demonstrated to improve student outcomes. Despite…

Many research funding and research performing organizations evaluate their operations or are subject to evaluations. A Working Group within Science Europe undertook to illustrate how "ex post" evaluation of research is actually used. Based on 11 case studies from seven organizations and countries, we explore the use of evaluation studies…

The need for evidence-based decision-making is more salient than ever before, demanding a deeper knowledge of the relationship between research and practice but also of the levers that can enable stronger ties. Knowledge brokers are a promising means for leveraging indirect relationships between research and practice, but to date are understudied…

Focus on evidence-based policymaking is greater than ever, and public spending on evaluations is rising. A primary merit of these expenditures is that politicians actually use new knowledge instrumentally--to influence and inform decision making. Nevertheless, we know surprisingly little about whether and how research-based knowledge is utilised.…

Background: Local government (LG) is ideally placed to influence the determinants of public health (PH) and reduce inequalities, but opportunities are routinely missed. Aims and objectives: The aim of the Local Authority Champions of Research (LACoR) study was to explore ways to embed a culture of evidence use in LG. Methods: Five linked work…

Using findings from research and evaluation is essential to facilitate evidence-informed decision making across the adult learning and skills sector. This is especially pertinent at a time of rapid and far reaching change in how adult education is funded, commissioned and delivered. It is important to understand how and in what ways evidence is…

Despite claims that we now live in a post-truth society, it remains commonplace for policy makers to consult research evidence to increase the robustness of decision making. Few scholars of evidence-policy interfaces, however, have used legislatures as sites of study, despite the fact that they play a critical role in modern democracies. There is…

Education policy continues to press for increased use of research evidence in decision-making, yet decades of research point to weak links between research and practice. We see evidence-informed improvement not as a problem with schools, but with a larger evidence-use ecosystem. As a step toward building and strengthening multidirectional paths…

In this technical report, the Center for Research Use in Education (CRUE) presents the methodological design of a large-scale quantitative investigation of research use by school-based practitioners through the "Survey of Evidence in Education for Schools (SEE-S)." It documents the major technical aspects of the development of SEE-S,…