Using the World Wide Web to Connect Research and Professional Practice: Towards Evidence-Based Practice

Abstract

Introduction The Problem Addressed There is an enormous amount of new knowledge generated every year as a result of academic research. To make a practical difference, this knowledge needs to be disseminated and used in practice. Knowledge has no real value on its own--it only becomes valuable when people use it make decisions and take action (Sveiby, 1997). However in most disciplines, research findings take a long time to filter into practice, if they ever do at all. There are a number of barriers to the flow of knowledge between research and practice, which originate from both sides of the divide: * Practitioner's viewpoint (demand side): The pressures of professional practice leaves little time for practitioners to read journals or attend conferences: time is money, and most organisations do not reward their employees for keeping up with research in their field. Also, the volume of research published every year means that practitioners could not possibly keep up with all the latest research developments in their field--if they did, they would have little time to do anything else. * Researcher's viewpoint (supply side): Academic research is primarily focused on production rather than distribution of knowledge (Gibbons et al, 1994). Research communities have developed highly efficient mechanisms for transfer of knowledge among themselves (via the processes of publication and citation), but there is little investment in the dissemination of research results into practice. As a result, potentially valuable research ideas are circulated within research communities without ever finding their way into practice. Part of the reason for this is that academic institutions reward researchers for publishing their ideas in scholarly journals and conferences, not for having them applied in practice. The result of these barriers is under-utilisation of research results and sub-optimal practices. This is undesirable from the point of view of practitioners and researchers: * Researchers do not get their ideas tested in practice, which is a limiting factor in the development and evolution of these ideas (Wynekoop and Russo, 1997) * In the absence of relevant knowledge about effectiveness of practices, practitioners persist in using practices that are obsolete or proven not to work. As a result, professional practice has limited ability to learn from its mistakes. Manufacturing Model of Knowledge Production In manufacturing, it is important to pay equal attention to production and distribution. To get maximum value from investments in production of goods, it is necessary to have parallel investments in distribution, to ensure that goods get sold and produce revenue. Similarly, to get maximum value from investments in research, it is necessary to have parallel investments in dissemination of research results, in order to improve practices and achieve social outcomes. The issue of how to transfer research results into practice is rarely addressed by researchers, and requires much more than publication in scholarly journals and conferences, which is normally seen as the endpoint of a research project. However, very little is known about how ideas are diffused in practice. The mechanisms are not as well understood as in the academic world, and rely more on informal channels, such as word of mouth (Gibbons et al, 1994). Knowledge Management Fundamental to understanding the issues involved in transferring research findings to practice is the concept of knowledge management. Knowledge management has only recently emerged as a field of practice in its own right (Sveiby, 1997; Davenport and Prusak, 1998). Knowledge is a high value form of information that can be used to make decisions and take action (Davenport et al, 1998). A key difference between knowledge and information or data is that it is intellectually intensive rather than IT-intensive. …