Research Utilization and Dissemination of Best Practices
Understanding the policy implications of a body of research and translating the results of research to the policymaker require research skill, sound judgment, and subject matter expertise—hallmarks of Gryphon Scientific.
Our skill in identifying and documenting best practices is particularly helpful in bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners. The practical guidelines that result from our "best-practice" assessments are invaluable for sharing knowledge from the field and allowing new program managers to benefit from the collective experience of their peers.
With decades of experience, the principals of Gryphon Scientific are able to quickly identify the key elements of programs in their fields of interest and to find the best practices that have distinguished one program over another. The communication of these practices can be accomplished by a variety of media, both hard-copy and electronic. When we need to reach broader audiences, the Collaborative also has partners experienced in social marketing and advertising communications.
Example Projects
Providing Research Utilization Support to the National Institute of Justice
For the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, while employed with Abt Associates, Joan Mullen, who is now the Managing Partner of Gryphon Scientific, led a series of "Research Application" contracts to develop analytic studies and publications written for non-scientific law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners. The Institute disseminated as many as 30,000 copies of each report to policymakers, practitioners and researchers nationwide, totaling over one million copies over the life of the research application effort. The purpose of the contract was to bridge the gap between criminal justice practitioners and the research community to ensure that program development in key areas was informed by relevant research findings and that researchers clearly understood the needs of practitioners and policymakers.
Under this series of contracts, the project team conducted short-term, highly cost-effective formative evaluations of a wide range of emerging policies and practices. These typically summarized the state-of-practice and research, defined the key issues, identified and described what appeared to be best practices, identified barriers to effective implementation and replication, and defined the research agenda. The project team also developed designs for conducting rigorous tests of the effectiveness of selected programs and developed replication guides based on the results of field test experiences. Mullen served as the overall Project Director for over 20 years, and authored numerous reports on practices ranging from the privatization of corrections facilities to less than lethal weapons technology.