Social scientists and decision makers look at the usefulness of mental health research

Interviewed 100 social scientists and 155 decision makers in mental health about what makes social research useful for public policy. Contrary to the expectations of the social scientists, the 2 groups evaluated research and the research-to-policy connection in much the same ways. Where there were disagreements, social scientists overestimated the role of political considerations and underestimated the role of scientific merit in decision makers' judgments of what is useful. The pattern of results suggests that the most important difference between groups lies in their notions of what it means to use research. (17 ref)