ABSTRACT

The use of research evidence is increasingly seen as critical to improving practice across many areas of public policy. At the same time, the role of relationships and relational work have become far more widely recognised in many fields of professional practice. This paper brings together these two developments by focusing on the relational features of evidence use. Drawing on two studies of educational evidence use, in England and Australia, the authors explore how concepts from studies of inter-professional collaboration – ‘relational expertise’, ‘common knowledge’ and ‘relational agency’ – might help in making sense of how research evidence is used and how such processes can be supported. The authors argue that these concepts can help in terms of: supporting more interactive approaches to evidence use; unpicking what is happening within the relational aspects of evidence use; and specifying what is involved in high-quality evidence use relationships.

摘要

研究证据的使用越来越被视为改善公共政策许多领域实践的关键。与此同时，人际关系和相关工作的作用在许多专业实践领域得到了更广泛的认可。本文通过关注证据使用的关系特征将这两种发展结合起来。借鉴英国和澳大利亚关于教育证据使用的两项研究，作者探讨了跨专业合作研究中的概念——“关系专业知识”、“共同知识”和“关系代理”——如何有助于理解研究如何使用证据以及如何支持此类过程。作者认为，这些概念可以在以下方面提供帮助： 支持更多互动的证据使用方法；在证据使用的相关方面分析正在发生的事情；并指定高质量证据使用关系所涉及的内容。