Evidence-Informed, Evidence not Used: A Pilot Study of a Sustained Flawed Process and Unfinished Business

Abstract

An anonymous, online survey using a convenience sample of global researchers was implemented during 2013–2014 to explore the actual use or nonuse of their research outcomes in a range of interventions in the area of substance use and related disorders. Eighty-seven researchers from 19 countries responded. Based on their self-reports, the utilizability of their findings were either unknown to them or had no effects in terms of substance use treatment, prevention, policies, or professional education. Most respondents did believe, however, that their investigations had an influence on substance use research. The study's limitations are noted.

Keywords:

• evidence informed
• utilization of research
• diffusion of knowledge
• substance use intervention

Notes

¹ The reader is asked to consider that the meanings and implications of these “traditional demographics” are rarely delineated for their actual/potential relevance in the past and contemporary (high impact factor) peer-reviewed literature or in the more recent, and at times, predatory online depots of data and their derivatives.

² The instrument is available; request it from the corresponding author.

³ An Impact Factor (IF) is commercial tool, calculated annually by Thomson Scientific, for ranking 1,000s of science journals, A paper's importance is presumed to be measurable by how often it is cited by other researchers which affects the journal's importance. The number of such citations uses a formula which has been challenged. IF ranks journals and not papers. The peer reviewers are not asked to judge an article's value in terms of its potential or actual contribution to a field. Evidence-informed criteria to do so are not available. IF has become and is a profitable process for publishers since librarians rely on IFs to make purchasing decisions. http://www.ascb.org/dora-old/files/SFDeclarationFINAL.pdf downloaded 3/6/15.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stan-Shlomo Einstein

Stan-Shlomo Einstein, PhD, US/IL, is clinical and social psychologist; academician; researcher; journalist (newspaper and radio); poet; editor/author (25 books; 91 topic-oriented special issues of Substance Use and Misuse) and founding editor of the following journals; Substance Use and Misuse; Drug Forum; Social Pharmacology; Violence, Aggression and Terrorism; Altered States of Consciousness. He has been an international consultant, lecturer, conference and training program organizer, and exhibit curator; awards receipient of Pace Setter award, NIDA and Mayor of Jerusalem Outstanding Volunteer Award. Area of interest: the parameters of failure.

Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner

Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner, PhD, is Professor and Chair, Social Work Practice Area, and Director of the Post-Master's Certificate Program in the Clinical Approaches to Addictions at New York University, Silver School of Social Work. She is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions and a Board member of Substance Use and Misuse and several other journals. Dr. Straussner is the author or editor of 17 books and numerous peer reviewed journal articles addressing treatment issues in addiction or those related to trauma. She has taught in many countries and has a private clinical and consulting practice in New York City.

Timothy P. Johnson

Timothy P. Johnson, PhD, is a member of the Editorial Board of Substance Use & Misuse. He also serves as Director of the Survey Research Laboratory, Professor of Public Administration, and Vice Chair of the Social and Behavioral Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His research interests include the social epidemiology of health behavior, and cultural sources of measurement error in the social sciences.

Will Gartside

Will Gartside is a doctoral candidate in Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He develops and manages surveys, interviews, and focus groups to explore the many ways media impact human development. His research interests include the relationship between entertainment media and how consumers view the US Military and American foreign policy. His dissertation explores this topic through a grounded thematic analysis of military-themed video games and online surveys administered via email and Twitter.