As a researcher, I have often heard people lament, “We studied this in the past and nothing was done”, or “Why are we not using this approach”, or some variation concerning the fact that data and information are not being used after the being developed, purchased, or studied. The question is that we think, using our crystal ball, we have built a masterpiece, and wonder why people don’t adopt our insights. We often forget that this “knowledge” could be slow to be adopted by others for many reasons.
Failure of adoption:
- The first is simply the WHY? Sometimes when doing research we understand more about the question that the person who needs the answer. So while we prepare our work, we forget our client will only use what they can understand with some level of confidence. How often have we seen a more senior person misspeak based on information not properly summarized for them?
- Secondly, there remains the ever consuming “tyranny of the urgent”, in that the research is needed in a timely manner, but the research is not needed beyond the “now”. The reasons can vary from staff turnover, policy change, new leadership, the findings were not what was expected, to a thousand different reasons. Furthermore, data is perishable, something that is often forgotten by the researcher, but not the client.
- Thirdly, the experts may not agree with your opinions. My wife is a fan of Downton Abbey, and during season 3, Sybil Branson died after childbirth. The tragedy was there were two doctors arguing over her treatment, and the older doctor stated to the other doctor he is to not interfere. In many ways, we can find people with good intentions failing to achieve an expected outcome because they are using older models from the past. They remain uncommitted to learn, and without the application of new information, their working knowledge could, and does, fail, in providing actionable insights, or even providing the wrong information. Presenting this expert with new information may only lead them to become more entrenched to their position.
- Finally, our research may not actually answer the question being asked!
I suspect the following challenges will remain with us for a long time, based on NCHRP Active Implementation: Moving Research into Practice, posted at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP_ActiveImplementation.pdf.
For the research community, the ghost of people not adopting our great ideas haunts the adoption of our “great efforts”. But we must understand what the client may do with the research once it has been delivered, which may depend upon how we communicate before, during and after the research process!