One of our Foundation’s primary goals is to improve the use of research evidence in policy decisions that affect youth. To accomplish this goal, and ultimately to improve youth outcomes, we seek to support studies that build and test robust strategies for getting evidence used.
We’ve learned from grantees that evidence use in public policy is often founded on routines that regularize the consideration of research evidence by policymakers. What’s more, studies have shown that such routines require policymakers’ trust in the evidence, which is tantamount to trust in the researcher or intermediary that conveys findings and translates policy implications in a specific context. Still, moving from these foundational elements to fully formed strategies requires further inquiry.
This webinar, recorded on June 30, 2020, provides real-life examples of what studies on robust strategies for improving evidence use look like in different stages of development and at different levels of public policy.
Foundation President Adam Gamoran speaks with research grantees Max Crowley and Itzhak Yanovitzky, each of whom share details of the specific issues their respective studies aim to address, the strategies they are examining, and ways they have approached the question of how to evaluate impact and assess change. Crowley’s study, “Impact of the Research-to-Policy Collaboration Model: Testing an Approach to Improve the Use of Evidence,” focuses on improving evidence use at the federal level and involves a randomized controlled trial of an intervention that places researchers and policymaker in structured and intensive collaborations. Yanovitzky’s study, “Active Surveillance of Policy Ecosystems and Networks to Enhance Brokering of Research Evidence into State Policymaking,” centers on the development and implementation of an intervention that synthesizes research and supports knowledge brokers in developing policy, building political will among stakeholders, and advancing legislation.
The broadcast concludes with a discussion of the application process and selection criteria for research grants on improving the use of research evidence.
