Researching research use : an online study of school practitioners across Canada

Because of its traditional role as an enabler of knowledge dissemination, education is expected to contribute substantially to the development of the knowledge economy. This means applying the knowledge that it generates through research to its own practice. Yet the literature shows that school practitioners do not express much demand for research findings, unlike doctors, engineers and other professionals. The purpose of this pan-Canadian online survey study is twofold. First, it investigates the extent to which school teachers, principals and professionals use research to inform their practice and indicates predictors of this use. Second, it tests the generalizability of a questionnaire originally developed within a provincial secondary school context. The 43-item questionnaire yielded 1,153 responses. Frequency of use of research-based information from a variety of sources and types of use were used as outcome measures. The questionnaire also explored practitioners' opinions about research, their attitudes towards research-awareness activities and their expertise to use research findings, as well as the constraints they contend with in everyday practice:- The results indicate that the three groups of practitioners either do not use educational research or use it infrequently. Although the respondents share neutral attitudes towards research, their comments add a negative connotation by qualifying research as irrelevant, and biased. The latent factor opinions about research is the greatest predictor, accounting for 9-16% of the variance in practitioners' use of research. The psychometric qualities of the questionnaire remain stable. Its internal reliability is 0.94. The four-factor solution explains 60% of variance and together with demographic variables predicts 22% of the frequency of use of research-based information. School leadership organizations, teacher education institutions and research-generating bodies stand to benefit from the study's findings, as they point to the necessity of increasing research relevance and accessibility, cultivating teaching as a research-based profession and building school capacity to use research. Future research should further explore the reasons why practitioners do not use research-based information and the ways to change school practitioners' negative perceptions of educational research. Refinements to the questionnaire and its cross-disciplinary comparison to other professions are also open for future inquiry

Educational Research in Educational Practice: Predictors of Use

This study investigates the predictors of school practitioners’ (N = 2,425) use of educational research. The suggested model explained significantly but modestly the infrequent use of educational research by practitioners. Of the four factors in the study, “opinions about research” had the most explanatory power. The results are discussed in connection with existing knowledge about school practitioners’ use of educational research and implications for further research and practice

Research use in education: An online survey of school practitioners

This paper summarizes the results of a pan-Canadian online survey study that investigates the extent to which school practitioners (N = 1,153) use research to inform their practice. The self-reports indicate that the majority of the respondents used educational research, yet this engagement was infrequent. Although the respondents shared neutral attitudes about research, their comments add rather negative connotation to their perceptions. This study’s findings are relevant to school leadership organizations, teacher education institutions and research-generating bodies as they point to the necessity of increasing research relevance and accessibility, cultivating teaching as a research-based profession, and building school capacity to use research