Policy Press

Feb 11, 2020

Evidence & Policy: Winner of the 2019 Carol Weiss Prize announced

To mark its tenth anniversary in 2015, Evidence & Policy launched a prize in memory of Professor Carol Weiss, the journal’s first North American Editor and a pioneer in the field.

The 2019 prize has been awarded to Kristen J Mills, Jennifer A Lawlor, Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary P Neal, and Kathryn McAlindon for their paper What is research? Educators’ conceptions and alignment with United States federal policies which is free to download in Evidence & Policy until 31st May 2020. All co-authors are based at the Michigan State University, USA.

The co-authors have written a blog post summarising how educators and policies define research, why it matters, and how we can close the gap between policymakers, educators and researchers. Findings from their research article indicate that educators and policies defined research in similar ways, but each included some unique characteristics. Implications from the study include the need for increased communication between federal policymakers and educators and improved reporting by researchers to better attend to the needs of educators and policymakers.

Katherine Smith and Mark Pearson, Co-Editors in Chief of Evidence & Policy commented “For those of us working to improve the use of research evidence in policy, we are often reminded that we need to do better at 'translating' between the different languages of research, policy and practice worlds. This paper is an excellent reminder of this need, highlighting how even the most fundamental concept - research - can be understood differently in contrasting settings. We had some strong contenders for the 2019 Carol Weiss Prize, but we chose this paper on the basis of its solid empirical design and the importance of its core message.”

Useful links:
Download the prize-winning article ‘What is research? Educators’ conceptions and alignment with United States federal policies’

Read the blog post by Kristen J Mills, Jennifer A Lawlor, Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary P Neal, and Kathryn McAlindon

Find more information about the Carol Weiss Prize

Further Information about the journal Evidence & Policy