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…

Examines American Indian communities' attitudes toward social science research and Anglo social science researchers. Discusses the positive role that Indian social scientists can play in improving the quantity and quality of research conducted in Indian communities. (Author/GC)

This essay outlines the theoretical framework surrounding the debate on school desegregation and offers a reanalysis of the role of research in school desegregation. (Author/AM)

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…

If they are to develop more effective social intervention strategies, social scientists must pay attention to social causality in their research. This will lead to more credibility for the social sciences and more support for research funds. Social causality is defined as a social process that produces a change in some dependent variable. It…

The linkage between policy research and policy formation can be strengthened through the use of qualitative methods. Currently, the linkage between policy research and policy decision making is tenuous; there are differences in philosophy, function, self-definition, and criteria by which success is measured. Although research cannot dictate the…

This paper discusses some of the ways in which social science research can be useful to inform the court in school desegregation litigation. (Author)

Inherent differences between the legal-adversary process and empirical social science research are damaging to the growth of social science and to its usefulness in court. Changes are suggested which would increase the value of social science findings in court decision making. (Author/GDC)

Relativism is an inevitable consequence of our interpretive mode of being in the world. This is so for both our daily lives and our professional lives. What does not overly concern us at the former level should likewise not concern us at the latter level. (Author/BJV)

Ethical issues; institutional characteristics and organizational arrangements; and roles and skills of the researcher must be considered if the government is to apply social science research findings more widely for the public good. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single issue, $6.95.) (Author/GDC)

Explores the relationship of social science research to social policy making, stressing that social science models and research findings are largely irrelevant to the actual concerns of policymakers and noting the ways in which ideological factors mediate the process. (SLD)

The perspectives of this scholar-activist are focused on interactions between evaluation studies and policy research, and reflect a strong commitment to improving people's lives through the conduct of better research, targeted directly on policy-making processes. Journal availability: see TM 503 798. (Author/CP)

Concludes that the social sciences must meet the same standards of rationality and honesty as the natural sciences, and, in addition, be wary of the uncertainties that arise from bias within and from the interests at stake outside. (Author)

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)

Concludes that today's problems are complex and that their solutions may be equally complicated. The overriding need is for the straightforward application of social science techniques governed by human values. (Author/AM)