Multiple Audiences for Encouraging Research Use: Uncovering a Typology of Educators

• In Event: Educators as Users of Research

Abstract

We examine whether there are there distinct types of educators that differ in their prioritization of the compatibility, observability, complexity, relative advantage, and trialability of research. Using semi-structured interview data from 87 Michigan educators, we first used directed content analysis to code for mentions of compatibility, observability, complexity, relative advantage, and trialability. Next, using the coded data, we conducted a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis. Educators were categorized in one of five clusters distinguished by different patterns of prioritization of the compatibility, observability, and complexity of research. These findings suggest that narrowing the research-practice gap in education will require attending to multiple audiences of educators with distinct priorities that guide their perceptions and use of educational research and evidence-based practices.

Authors

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

• Kristen J Mills, Michigan State University

• Kathryn McAlindon, Michigan State University

• Zachary P. Neal, Michigan State University

• Jennifer A. Lawlor, Michigan State University