Overcoming Barriers to Applied Research: A Guide for Practitioners
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Overcoming Barriers to Applied Research: A Guide for Practitioners Amber L. Valentino 1
&
Jessica F. Juanico 1
# Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020
Abstract The research-to-practice gap is evident in many disciplines. This gap can be seen through practitioners failing to integrate the latest research findings into their work, and through the implementation of procedures that do not have empirical support. As the number of behavior-analytic practitioners grows, this gap is likely to become more salient. One solution to closing the gap is for practitioners to conduct applied research. This survey study aimed to identify specific barriers that practitioners face when conducting research, to identify how valuable conducting research is to practitioners, and to make recommendations to support research productivity in practice. We report results from survey questions about applied research and provide practical recommendations for practitioners to overcome barriers and to begin conducting research during their clinical work. Keywords Applied research . Research barriers . Research productivity . Research review committee . Research-to-practice gap
Many professions have long acknowledged a gap between research and practice, including education (McIntyre, 2006), human resources (HR; Rynes, Colbert, & Brown, 2002), and psychology (Wandersman et al., 2008). This research-to-practice gap can be bidirectional, consisting of practitioners failing to implement the latest research findings into their practice, or practitioners implementing treatments that lack empirical backing. The former is most commonly acknowledged. For example, HR research suggests that the field should rely on intelligence and personality tests as predictors of employee performance; however, Rynes et al. (2002) found that HR practitioners do not rely on these tests, suggesting a gap between research and practice. The field of behavior analysis is no exception. This gap can be problematic, resulting in outdated practices and irrelevant research, and can consist of many components. These components may include practitioners failing to read the latest research articles or researchers failing to examine applied issues that will allow them to conduct research relevant to clinical practice. Kelley et al. (2015) attributed this gap to a large increase in the demand for services, resulting in an increase in the number of practitioners certified as Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), whereas the
* Amber L. Valentino [email protected] 1
Trumpet Behavioral Health, 6475 Sierra Lane, Dublin, CA 94568, USA
number of researchers in academic settings who are producing studies has remained very low. In the past 2 years, the number of BCBAs has grown exponentially. As of July 1, 2019, there were 34,471 BCBAs and 3,631 Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs; Behavior Analyst Certification Board [BACB], bacb.com, retrieved July 1, 2019). Most studies on the research-to-practice gap have focused on how to encourag
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