Bringing Research Into Practice: An Evaluation of Michigan's Sexual Assault Kit

The importance of research-informed practice for the field of sexual assault has been stressed by academics and practitioners alike. However, there are few examples of researcher-practitioner partnerships in the literature, therefore providing minimal guidance for this process. This article describes a researcher-practitioner partnership that was successful in using evaluation data to guide practice and policy decisions regarding the development and implementation of a new sexual assault kit for the state of Michigan. Cousins's practical participatory evaluation theory was used as the guiding framework for the evaluation. Data collection methods included focus groups with practitioners from five, regionally dispersed health care settings in Michigan, and surveys with forensic scientists throughout the state's regional laboratory system. This case study highlights how researchers and practitioners worked together for data collection, analysis, and dissemination to support research-informed practice in this state. Lessons learned and future recommendations for forming researcher-practitioner partnerships to improve the response to sexual assault are discussed.

Cooperative Extension: A Model of Science-Practice Integration for Ecosystem Restoration

Restoration ecology is a science, driven by practical application. Despite the well-recognized disconnect between the science and practice of ecological restoration, there is a lack of practical solutions. In 2014, US agriculture marked the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Extension Service, providing a timely reminder that the divide between science and practice can be bridged successfully. Major restoration efforts are underway across the globe and integrated science-practice communication is required to avoid project failure and a significant waste of resources. Here, we propose a three-tiered approach, re-emphasizing the integration of science-based practice in restoration utilizing the structure, function, and potential for success of the Cooperative Extension Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a model for connecting science and practice in ecosystem restoration.

Why Ineffective Psychotherapies Appear to Work: A Taxonomy of Causes of Spurious Therapeutic Effectiveness

The past 40 years have generated numerous insights regarding errors in human reasoning. Arguably, clinical practice is the domain of applied psychology in which acknowledging and mitigating these errors is most crucial. We address one such set of errors here, namely, the tendency of some psychologists and other mental health professionals to assume that they can rely on informal clinical observations to infer whether treatments are effective. We delineate four broad, underlying cognitive impediments to accurately evaluating improvement in psychotherapy-naive realism, confirmation bias, illusory causation, and the illusion of control. We then describe 26 causes of spurious therapeutic effectiveness (CSTEs), organized into a taxonomy of three overarching categories: (a) the perception of client change in its actual absence, (b) misinterpretations of actual client change stemming from extratherapeutic factors, and (c) misinterpretations of actual client change stemming from nonspecific treatment factors. These inferential errors can lead clinicians, clients, and researchers to misperceive useless or even harmful psychotherapies as effective. We (a) examine how methodological safeguards help to control for different CSTEs, (b) delineate fruitful directions for research on CSTEs, and (c) consider the implications of CSTEs for everyday clinical practice. An enhanced appreciation of the inferential problems posed by CSTEs may narrow the science-practice gap and foster a heightened appreciation of the need for the methodological safeguards afforded by evidence-based practice.