Rigorous, Responsive, and Relevant Policy Research: Developing and Sustaining Research-Policy Partnerships

At its best, social work research contributes to the development of sensible and effective policies and programs that reflect the best scientific evidence and are responsive to the contextualized and complex realities facing individuals, families, and communities. Traditional approaches to research translation assume a linear process – from scientific discovery to knowledge dissemination; from researcher to policy practitioner. However, there is growing interest among foundations, researchers, and policy practitioners in the development of research-policy partnerships that recognize the bi-directional and iterative relationship between research and policymaking and that are inclusive of diverse voices and experiences at all stages of the research process.

The term research-policy partnership in this context is meant in its broadest sense to indicate various arrangements that aim to create and disseminate rigorous knowledge that is useful to policymaking (from agenda setting, to policy design and development, to program administration, and to front-line delivery) and that operate at different scales (federal, state, regional, city, neighborhood) and in partnership with diverse governmental and nongovernmental professionals and a range of community members.

Several questions guide this roundtable: What conceptual models, institutional arrangements, and methods of research-policy partnership are most successful at developing empirically based and policy relevant knowledge? What forms of research-policy partnerships are inclusive of the expertise and lived experience of the populations to which interventions are targeted? How can partnership models best accommodate the diverse purposes and needs of multiple stakeholders from government administrators, to academic researchers, to non-profit directors, to community organizers, and to members of the community? How can successful research-policy partnerships be sustained over time?

Interrogating these questions in the context of child and family policy, the proposed roundtable includes four speakers representing diverse vantage points and expertise on the value, role, and challenge of effective research-policy partnerships. Speakers represent foundation, university, and applied policy sectors and will introduce diverse notions of “partnership,” “participation,” and “knowledge translation.” Each speaker has actively engaged in research-policy partnerships in the child and family domain that are unique in terms of their purpose and goals, structural arrangements, and funding mechanisms. Speakers will discuss the strengths and challenges of different approaches to partnership based on their own professional expertise, personal experiences and backgrounds. Particular attention will be given to the promise and challenge of developing and sustaining partnerships that embrace the diverse education, training, experience, and viewpoints of diverse actors given the realities of differential positions of power and authority and given shifting institutional and policy priorities that influence participants' abilities to effectively participate in research-policy partnerships.

The roundtable is designed to be interactive. To structure the discussion, the facilitator will pose a series of questions to the panelists; however, there will be ample opportunity as well for audience participation. Our goal is to inspire SSWR members to critically engage diverse models of evidence-based policy research, considering the strengths and pitfalls of working within unique research-policy partnership models to create rigorous and relevant knowledge that informs policy in ways that improve conditions for vulnerable children and families.