Can Simple Interventions Increase Research Use in Secondary Schools

Abstract

A variety of interventions have been attempted in education and other fields to increase the use of research use in policy and practice. However, there is still limited research on the impact of these interventions. This paper uses survey and qualitative data to analyze three interventions designed to increase research use among secondary school leaders in nine Canadian school districts. These interventions were found to have little impact, but were more successful where (1) designated facilitators were involved and (2) research used was connected to existing priority issues. The research design for this study (measuring the change in agreement with particular bodies of research knowledge using interventions and pre-post design) is a promising methodology to measure both research use and impact.