Research Knowledge Utilization in Education: A SGER Proposal

该项目涉及将通过教育领域的研究获得的知识转让给实践者。其目的是加强对研究知识传播做法的了解。反过来，这应该会开辟有希望的研究线路，以加强研究成果在直接研究界之外的转移。为了实现这一目标，研究人员计划进行一项分三个阶段的研究。首先，他们将比较和综合来自多个领域的研究知识利用(RKU)的结果。他们借鉴了丰富的科技科研评价经验，但对教育科研评价的经验较少。此外，他们建议审查公共卫生领域的工作(与教育一样)，这些工作严重依赖公共部门机制来实现创新。关于RKU的累积结果将被用来完善所提出的最初的教育RKU模型。其次，研究小组将开发类似于成功的“痕迹”研究的回溯性研究，研究主要技术创新如何利用不同的研究结果。其目的是比较研究知识如何促进一个科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育领域的进步，以及公共卫生领域的相应过程。这些领域的选择将基于对RKU在教育和公共卫生方面的研究的初步审查，以及对基于STEM问题的关键研究领域的看法。方法将结合广泛和集中的文献搜索、相关案例研究的回顾、访谈和文献计量分析。第三，该项目将应用“文本挖掘”来帮助理解知识流动，确定应用程序，指出知识转移的关键贡献者，并确定潜在的用户群体。该团队将与代表多个视角的选定参与者联系，以形成小组。互动将主要以电子方式进行，以节省学习资源。小组成员将被要求审查RKU模式，丰富“痕迹”案例的信息库，并评估研究方案，以追求知识转移机制。就智力价值而言，该项目提供了一个概念模型，将影响RKU在教育中发挥主要作用的因素联系起来。这将借鉴RKU几十年来的研究成果，将教育因素与其他领域的因素进行比较。此外，从两个比较的“痕迹”案件的调查结果应该澄清RKU的杠杆点，值得调查。该项目应作为进一步发展促进RKU进行STEM教育的方法的基础。其更广泛的影响可能是巨大的。从本质上讲，联邦政府资助了大量的教育研究，这些研究的利用在很大程度上是有问题的。就这个项目的成功而言，它应该为更有效地利用教育研究提供推动力。这应该会带来回报，通过促进将知识转移到邻近的研究社区、具有技术知识的从业者以及在研究本身没有很强背景的用户来提高教育研究的价值。

This project addresses the transfer of knowledge gained through research in the field of education to practitioners. The objective is to enhance understanding of research knowledge dissemination practices. That should, in turn, open promising lines of research to enhance transfer of research findings beyond immediate research communities. To achieve this, the researchers plan a three-stage study. First, they will compare and synthesize findings on research knowledge utilization (RKU) from multiple fields. They draw on extensive experience in science and technology research evaluation with more limited experience concerning educational research assessment. In addition, they propose to review work in the public health domain that (as with education) relies heavily on public sector mechanisms to achieve innovation. The cumulative findings on RKU will be used to refine the initial educational RKU model proposed. Second, the research team will develop retrospective studies analogous to the successful "Traces" studies of how major technological innovations drew upon disparate research findings. The intent is to compare how research knowledge has contributed to advances in one Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational domain with the corresponding processes in a public health domain. Selection of those domains will be based on preliminary reviews of RKU studies in education and public health, combined with perspectives on key research domains based on STEM issues. Methods will combine broad and focused literature searches, review of pertinent case studies, interviews, and bibliometric analyses. Third, the project will apply "text mining" to help understand knowledge flows, identify applications, point to key contributors to knowledge transfer, and identify potential user communities. The team will contact selected participants representing multiple perspectives to form panels. Interaction will be primarily electronic to conserve study resources. Panelists will be asked to review the RKU model, enrich the information bases for the "Traces" cases, and assess research protocols to pursue knowledge transfer mechanisms. In terms of intellectual merit, the project provides a conceptual model relating the factors that play major roles in effecting RKU in education. This will draw on findings from RKU studies over several decades, comparing educational factors with those in other domains. Furthermore, findings from the two comparative "Traces" cases should elucidateRKU leverage points that warrant investigation. This project should serve as a base for further development of ways to facilitate RKU in STEM education. The broader impacts of that could be tremendous. In essence, the Federal Government funds a great deal of educational research whose utilization is largely in question. To the extent that this project succeeds, it should offer enablers to leverage educational research more effectively. That should pay off by enhancing educational research value by facilitating transfer of knowledge to neighboring research communities, to technically knowledgeable practitioners, and to users without strong backgrounds in the research per se.