Analysis of the impact of research information on practitioners

Research findings, if they are to fulfil their purpose, must be perceived as valuable and worth accessing. The role of research is to change the status quo, therefore findings need to be absorbed by practitioners. Research is more than a cycle of methodologies and data analysis techniques for other researchers to use and adapt. It is accepted that findings may not always be relevant to the problems or issues faced by practitioners. Practitioners need to be aware of the range of research undertaken and any findings, in order that they may make informed decisions. Much of the research that is undertaken within the information community addresses issues of concern to practitioners. However, the extent to which practitioners are aware of research, have access to research findings and particularly, how this impacts on their decision making is not well understood. To investigaie the impact of research information on practitioners, it is necessary to look beyond outward behaviour patterns and to try to understand the internal processes which lead practitioners to decisions. There is a need to examine the knowledge of the practitioner and how it is applied. Such an approach would produce a fuller and more useful model of how and why research information impacts on practitioners.