IMPLEMENTATION
What is implementation?
Implementation science involves studying when and how research and research evidence is used for practical purposes, for example, to help create public policy or inform decisions. I am particularly interested in implementation and the use of research in public schools, where decisions are made every day about what programs and practices to use. Together with Dr. Jennifer Watling Neal, I co-directed the Michigan School Program Information (MiSPI) project, which investigated how public school educators find information through their social networks and use it to make decisions. For an overview of the MiSPI project, check out this short video.
Research on implementation
From interviews and surveys with educators throughout the State of Michigan, the MiSPI project has found that there is a communication gap between the people who do research on school programs (researchers) and the people who use school programs (educators). Many Michigan educators report having no one to ask for information about school programs, and even those that do rarely get connected to high-quality research. But, some educators can use their existing networks to learn about research on programs by turning to "brokers" that bridge between the researcher and educator groups. Educators have the best chance of finding brokers and learning about research when they talk with others who are different from themselves...educators in a different school, people who aren't educators, etc. The MiSPI project is now working on ways to use social capital to help educators find, understand, and implement research.
Papers about implementation
Neal, J. W., Neal, Z. P., and Brutzman, B. (2022). Defining brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners: A systematic review. Evidence and Policy, 18, 7-24. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426420X16083745764324
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Neal, J. W., Neal, Z.P., Mills, K. J., Lawlor, J. A., & McAlindon, K. (2019). What types of brokerage bridge the research-practice gap? The case of public school educators. Social Networks, 59, 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2019.05.006 [pre-print]
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Neal, J. W. & Neal, Z. P. (2019). Implementation capital: merging frameworks of implementation outcomes and social capital to support the use of evidence-based practices. Implementation Science, 14, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-019-0860-z
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Neal, J. W., Neal, Z. P., Kornbluh, M., Mills, K., & Lawlor, J. (2015). Brokering the research-practice gap: A typology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 56, 422-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9745-8 [pre-print]
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Neal, Z. P., Neal, J. W., Lawlor, J., & Mills, K. (2015). Small worlds or worlds apart? Using network theory to understand the research-practice gap. Psychosocial Interventions, 24, 177-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psi.2015.07.006