Truth Tests and Utility Tests
Decision-Makers' Frames of Reference for Social Science Research
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5250359 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carol H Wei, CAROL H WEISS, Michael J Bucuvalas |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 302 |
| Publication date | 1980-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2095127 |
| OpenAlex | W2328749703 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 123 |
| References cited | 6 |
In an effort to contribute to an empirically based sociology of knowledge application, this paper explores the frames of reference that decision-makers employ in assessing the usefulness of social science research for their work. Analysis of responses of 155 decision-makers in mental health fields to 50 actual research reports reveals five frames of reference: relevance of research topic, research quality, conformity of results with expectations, orientation to action, and challenge to existing policy. All frames are positively associated with perceived likelihood of using a study. Two significant interactions among the frames suggest that, in essence, decision-makers apply a test and a test in screening social science research. They judge truth on two bases: research quality and/or conformity with prior knowledge and expectations. They also assess utility on alternaive bases: feasible direction for action and/or challenge to current policy. The ways in which they apply research conclusions to their work is a broader, more diffuse, and wider-ranging process than many earlier investigators have recognized. In 1949, Robert Merton called for systematic study of applied social science and of the factors that facilitated or impeded its utilization for purposes of practical action. His luminous analysis discussed the cultural, organizational, situational, and cognitive contexts of applied social research and pointed to the need for empirical investigation of their implications for research use. He identified such dimen
Economics · Management science · Political science · Sociology · Test (biology · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Psychology · Social Psychology
Para Pensar a Avaliação de Políticas Públicas de Esporte e Lazer
Forms of communicated knowledge and their effects on Australian teachers
Health policy-makers' perceptions of their use of evidence
Biases in the Interpretation and Use of Research Results
The utilisation of health research in policy-making
Knowledge Exchange Processes in Organizations and Policy Arenas: A Narrative Systematic Review of the Literature
Reconceptualizing evaluation use
Weather Forecasts are for Wimps
Evaluation Von Programmen und Projekten Für eine Demokratische Kultur
Getting results used
Advancing equity via research-practice partnerships
How are mathematical models and results from mathematical models of vaccine-preventable diseases used, or not, by global health organisations
Evidence based education policy in Ireland
Useful to whom? Evaluation utilisation theory and boundaries for programme evaluation scope
Using outcome measures in sub-national level performance management
Research Worth Using
Evidence-based practice and the management of risk in nursing
Further reflections on evaluation misutilization
Evaluation at the University Level
Knowledge in Use
Knowledge Utilization as Planned Social Change
Type, frequency and purpose of information used to inform public health policy and program decision-making
Impact of a university-government partnership in criminal justice
Assessing the Quality of Aboriginal Program Evaluations
Measuring research influence on drug policy
Sport and Social Inclusion
How perceptions of voter control affect politicians’ evaluations of expertise in the news
Maybe we can turn the tide’
Knowledge Utilisation Analysis
Does evaluation quality enhance evaluation use
Evidence‐Based Policymaking and Spatial Planning. Factors of Evidence Utilization
After Katrina
Discursive power in deliberations
Government science in forestry
Knowledge use and learning in everyday social work practice
Resistance to Evaluation
A Vision of Evaluation that Strengthens Democracy
Evaluation Utilization as Argumentation
Evaluating the Benefits from Health Research and Development Centres
The Influence of Evaluation on Changing Management Systems in Educational Institutions
Evaluation models and evaluation use
Trailing Research
The use of social science research to inform policy development
A Decade of Research on Evaluation
The Game of Knowledge Brokering
Understanding Evaluation Influence Within Public Sector Partnerships
Quality, Context, and Use
Does Research on Evaluation Matter? Findings From a Survey of American Evaluation Association Members and Prominent Evaluation Theorists and Scholars
Exploring the Necessary Conditions for Evaluation Use in Program Change
On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking
Definitions of Evaluation Use and Misuse, Evaluation Influence, and Factors Affecting Use
Revising Swiss Policies
Knowledge Competition and Personal Ambition
Mechanisms Shaping an Evaluation System—A Case Study of Poland 1999–2010
Advising national climate policy makers
Sociological research and social policy
The use of performance feedback in school improvement in Louisiana
Evidence‐Based Policymaking – Speaking Truth to Power
NSW Workers’ Compensation Reform
Relationships between Policy Academics and Public Servants
Awareness and use of systematic literature reviews and meta‐analyses by ministerial policy analysts
Does Research Reduce Poverty? Assessing the Impacts of Policy-oriented Research in Agriculture
Credibility Logic and Policy Analysis
Measuring Knowledge Use
Commissions and the Use of Social Science Research
Research Influence in Decision Making to Control and Prevent Violence
The Use of Information by Policymakers at the Local Community Level
Case Studies and Organizational Innovation
Knowledge, Policy-Oriented Learning, and Policy Change
Program Evaluation within the Paradigms
Reforms as A rguments
Underutilized Research
Explaining Research Utilization
Policy as Communication and the Naturalistic Study of the Use of Policy Research
Acquiring Knowledge of Implementation and Change
Knowledge Utilization as a Networking Process
A ction and Enlightenment Functions of Research
Research, politics, and resource management decisions
Structural Equation Modeling in Practice
Increasing the policy and program relevance of results from randomized trials of home visitation
Psychology and the Art of Programme Evaluation
Evaluating Practice
The Extent and Determinants of the Utilization of University Research in Government Agencies
Public‐Value Failure
Policy Change and Expert Involvement in China
University-Based Policy Centers
Issues in the Definition and Measurement of the Giftedness Construct
Public administration in the cross‐hairs of evidence‐based policy and authentic engagement
How to Maximize Utilization of Evaluation Research by Policymakers
Evolving Research Perspectives on Education Politics and Policy
Research news and Comment
The 1988 Presidential Address Contributions of Educational Research to Policy and Practice
Policy Relevance and the Future of Criminology—the American Society of Criminology. 1990 Presidential Address
Bringing Sociology into the Public Policy Process
Policy Research in the Context of Diffuse Decision Making
Observations on the State of Comparative Administration Research in Europe — Rather Comparable than Comparative
Die journalistische Verwendung sozialwissenschaftlichen Wissens und ihre Bedeutung für gesellschaftliche Diskurse
(Un)anticipated Effects of Sentencing Reform on the Disparate Treatment of Defendants
Two Decades of Developments in Qualitative Inquiry
The Case Study as a Serious Research Strategy
| Unique citing works | 123 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,62 |
| Citation span | 1979 - 2025 (47) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 121 |