The role of government in research translation There was a general sentiment among stakeholders that government should have an overarching role in research translation rather than more direct involvement. Insights from the community services industry Insights from government agencies NGOs felt government has a role in establishing infrastructure and co- Some government agencies saw their role as stewards of the industry. This ordinating research. Particularly, it was suggested that government included taking responsibility for encouraging evidence based practice have a role in facilitating access to existing research and data. and the effective and efficient use of resources. It was also suggested that government have a role in bringing For government to have an effective role in research translation, it needs to together smaller NGOs for the purpose of undertaking research (where build a culture of research and excellence within its own departments. This these entities would otherwise be unable to undertake research). requires developing internal capability to support a research-driven Government funding for research should include provisions for environment. ongoing evaluation. Government may have a role in increasing capacity/capability to use Insights from research organisations research through training its own staff and NGOs on research evaluation and analysis. Governments may influence the use of evidence based practice by NGOs through contractually imposed requirements. There have been cases where Organisations indicated that they like greater access to performance evidence based practice has been contractually imposed (e.g. Communities data regarding the activities and outcomes of NGOs funded by for Children). government, where this would facilitate benchmarking of their practices. Under the Communities for Children model, community organisations NGOs felt that while government has an important role to play in setting could meet their requirement for evidence based practice by adopting the priorities for research, they should not undertake this activity in programs that had previously been assessed as evidence based. isolation. Many NGOs felt that the industry should be effectively engaged in Alternatively, assessment criteria were provided to determine whether an developing any research priorities to ensure they will meet their organisation’s current practices were sufficiently evidence based. The requirements. program gave organisations the flexibility to continue to use their own Some organisations highlighted that the Community Services Industry programs (provided they met the assessment criteria) or to adopt pre- Alliance could play an important role in bringing the industry together approved evidence based programs. to develop research priorities and inform a government research agenda.
The role of government in research translation There was a general sentiment among stakeholders that government should have an overarching role in research translation rather than more direct involvement. Insights from the community services industry Insights from government agencies NGOs felt government has a role in establishing infrastructure and co- ordinating research. Particularly, it was suggested that government have a role in facilitating access to existing research and data. It was also suggested that government have a role in bringing together smaller NGOs for the purpose of undertaking research (where these entities would otherwise be unable to undertake research). Government funding for research should include provisions for ongoing evaluation. Government may have a role in increasing capacity/capability to use research through training its own staff and NGOs on research evaluation and analysis. Organisations indicated that they like greater access to performance data regarding the activities and outcomes of NGOs funded by government, where this would facilitate benchmarking of their practices. NGOs felt that while government has an important role to play in setting the priorities for research, they should not undertake this activity in isolation. Many NGOs felt that the industry should be effectively engaged in developing any research priorities to ensure they will meet their requirements. Some organisations highlighted that the Community Services Industry Alliance could play an important role in bringing the industry together to develop research priorities and inform a government research agenda. Some government agencies saw their role as stewards of the industry. This included taking responsibility for encouraging evidence based practice and the effective and efficient use of resources. For government to have an effective role in research translation, it needs to build a culture of research and excellence within its own departments. This requires developing internal capability to support a research-driven environment. Insights from research organisations Governments may influence the use of evidence based practice by NGOs through contractually imposed requirements. There have been cases where evidence based practice has been contractually imposed (e.g. Communities for Children). Under the Communities for Children model, community organisations could meet their requirement for evidence based practice by adopting programs that had previously been assessed as evidence based. Alternatively, assessment criteria were provided to determine whether an organisation’s current practices were sufficiently evidence based. The program gave organisations the flexibility to continue to use their own programs (provided they met the assessment criteria) or to adopt pre- approved evidence based programs.