Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Study (RPPS)
Summary
(This research was funded by National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice Grant No. 2009-IJ-CX-0207 to Dr. Sullivan. Opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these publications are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.)
Research has the greatest potential to impact change in practice and policy when:
- it is conducted in collaboration with practitioners rather than conducted by academic researchers alone, and
- its findings are clearly communicated to the people who influence policy and practice in a useful, easy-to-read format (Block, Engel, Naureckas, & Riordan, 1999; Mouradian, Mechanic, & Williams, 2001).
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has devoted a great deal of effort to promoting research collaborations with practitioners in the criminal justice (CJ) system. As a result, there have been many successful partnerships. However, the lessons about what contributed to those and similar successful partnerships between researchers and practitioners have not been documented, synthesized, and shared in a way that could inform the development of successful partnerships in the future.
Therefore, the goal of this study was to improve our understanding of successful research collaborations between those working within and outside of the CJ system so that these “lessons learned” can be shared to promote the creation of new partnerships and enhance existing ones. Understanding and disseminating the ways in which groups can collaborate more effectively can produce results with stronger implications for practice and policy, save time and money, and ultimately reduce crime and recidivism. To accomplish these goals, we conducted the Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Study (RPPS).
Invited Presentation
Game Change: How Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Are Redefining How We Study Crime
Representative Products
Manuscripts
- Sullivan, T.P., Price, C., McPartland, T., Hunter, B. & Fisher, B. (in press). The Researcher-Practitioner Partnership Study (RPPS): Experiences from Criminal Justice System Collaborations Studying Violence against Women. Violence Against Women.
Research and Practice Briefs
Click on any of the titles below or go directly to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service to download the products.
Briefs
- Recommendations for Collaborating Successfully With Academic Researchers (pdf, 8 pages)
- How Researchers Can Develop Successful Relationships with Criminal Justice Practitioners (pdf, 8 pages)
- Strategies for Successfully Developing and Disseminating Useful Products from Researcher- Practitioner Collaborations (pdf, 5 pages)
- Highlights and Lowlights of Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations in the Criminal Justice System (pdf, 7 pages)
- Criminal Justice System State Administrative Agencies: Research Capacity and Experience with Research Collaborations (pdf, 8 pages)
- Evidence-Based Policy and Practice: The Role of the State in Advancing Criminal Justice Research (pdf, 5 pages)