Evaluation of Research Utilization (From Handbook of Criminal Justice Evaluation, P 629-653, 1980, Malcolm W Klein and Katherine S Teilman, ed. - See NCJ-73970)

• NCJ Number: 73995
• Author(s): R F Conner
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study provides an approach to building utilization concerns into the process of evaluation, so that evaluation of utilization may follow as normally as the reporting of evaluation findings.

Abstract

Based on the rationale that the products of applied research must be useful in guiding future policies and practices, the author argues that knowledge of how evaluation findings in the area of criminal programs are utilized is very limited. In an attempt to remedy this problem, this study focuses on a description and analysis of the different aspects of the utilization process, and it presents a general model for evaluating the effects of research utilization with particular attention to the criminal justice system. One of the major aspects of utilization is its complexity. In the criminal justice system, the definition of research utilization is especially difficult because of the large number of actors (e.g., judges, police, offenders), organizations (e.g., public, private), and levels (e.g., local, county, State, Federal) potentially involved in usage. In order to develop a model for evaluating the effects of the research utilization process, it is necessary to understand the quality and importance of the research results to be utilized; the pattern, type, rationale, and timing of the utilization process; the level of the utilization target; and the state of the utilizers, including experience in research and reward contingencies affecting their behavior. Research utilization can be planned or unplanned. A planned research utilization effort is one in which utilization is either envisioned as one of the primary goals at the outset of the research project or a primary goal as the research project concludes and significant results emerge for dissemination. An unplanned research utilization effort has no specific goals. Dissemination targets are not carefully selected, and dissemination and utilization strategies are not systematically developed. Evaluating a planned dissemination-utilization project is easier than evaluating an unplanned effort. In the latter case, the evaluator is typical called in after the effort is complete, so that he must perform a post-hoc evaluation. Examples in the criminal justice system are given, including a paralegal training program for prison inmates. A conceptual model of an evaluation project related to aspects of the research utilization process is shown in Figure 26.1: the model combines the components of an evaluation project (i.e., goals, inputs, processes and outcomes) with the previously discussed aspects of the research utilization process. Endnotes and 48 references are appended.