This chapter examines what we mean when we talk about ‘using’ research. Research use is a complex and multifaceted process, and the use of research often means different things to different people. For example, does using research involve simply reading the findings from research as part of general background briefings? Does it mean examining research in making a decision – even if the evidence scanned is ultimately rejected as unhelpful? Or is it necessary for research to have had a direct impact on policy choices or practice behaviours for us to be able to say that research has been ‘used’?

This chapter sets out to address these kinds of questions about what it means to ‘use’ research evidence. We begin by exploring the different ways in which the use of research has been conceptualised and assessed. The common image of research use is that the findings from research have a direct impact on the actions of front-line practitioners or local or national policy makers. Empirical studies have shown, however, that research use is rarely a straightforward process of simple application to policy and practice decision making. More often the use of research is a subtle and complex process, difficult to trace and resulting in equally subtle and complex outcomes. Webber (1991, p 15) characterises the process of research use as ‘ambiguous, amorphous, incremental and meandering’, and the form that research use takes is likely to be varied and unpredictable. Developing some clarity and consistency around what it means to use research is important to enhance understanding of the field. Where research use is defined in particular ways, however, such definitions will shape how the process is understood, promoted and assessed. Fixed definitions may therefore be less helpful in making sense of the ‘ambiguous, amorphous’ process of using research. We also look in this chapter at what it might mean to ‘misuse’ research. Finally, we consider the extent to which using research means replicating precisely the findings of a study, and the implications of adapting or refining such findings in the process of their use.

The different ways research can be used

The most common image of research use is of an instrumental process that involves the direct application of research to policy and practice decisions.