Evaluation of the Research to Policy Collaboration Model

Study Summary

This work aims to evaluate an approach for improving federal legislators' use of evidence-known as the Research-to-Policy Collaboration (RPC) - which seeks to address known barriers to policymakers' use of research, including a lack of personal contact between researchers and policymakers and limited relevance of research translation efforts to current policy priorities. The RPC involves structured processes for identifying policymakers' priorities, building researchers' capacity for nonpartisan responses to current policy priorities, and facilitating ongoing and productive researcher-policymaker interactions. This implementation of the RPC will focus on child and family policies relevant to child maltreatment. This study assesses both processes for collaboration and policymakers' use of research within a randomized controlled trial (RCT) employing a mixed methods approach-including quantitative and qualitative evaluation of impact. The proposed project will be guided by three overarching questions: 1. How does the RPC impact researchers and legislative staff? 2. How does the RPC impact legislative activity? 3. How might perceptions and experiences of collaboration through the RPC relate to different forms of evidence use among researchers and policymakers? The RPC's effectiveness will be tested through experimental design (randomization) using qualitative and quantitative assessments of researcher-policymaker interactions and impact. This includes surveying congressional staff and researchers, reviewing records of policymaker's public statements and introduced legislation, and conducting qualitative interviews around researchers' and legislative staffs' experiences with researcher-policymaker collaboration prior to and during the RPC.

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Research-to-Policy Collaboration
• BEHAVIORAL Light Touch Policy Training