"If you were asked to picture a
researcher, what image would come
to mind? A man in a white lab coat
and safety goggles in a laboratory? A
professor doing statistical calculations
in the comfort of his dusty university
office? A conference speaker who, in
a neutral voice, makes observations
and recommendations on how you
should do your work—but offers few
concrete suggestions on how to go
about it? Admittedly, these images are
still fresh in the minds of many college
teachers and reinforce the idea that
education research is a complex and
mysterious process far removed from
the classroom.
This perception sometimes makes life
difficult for those working in the field
of pedagogical research at colleges,
because even if a certain legitimacy
surrounds the research process, the
use of research data remains an issue
in the network. In other words, there
is still a long way to go.
This gap between scientific and
practical knowledge is a well-known
reality. This is why the concept of
"knowledge transfer" is becoming
increasingly important. Originally,
this concept of transfer was simple: it
consisted of "pushing" research knowledge
down to the community in a "top-down" manner, also known as
the expert or science-push model.
It’s a picture that often persists in our
minds when we think about the links
between research and practice. However,
the limitations of such models
have long since been demonstrated,
and new ones have emerged. In
today’s models, transfer is primarily
an interaction based on frequent,
mutually beneficial exchanges
between the research community and
the user community, i.e. the people
who use the research. Especially in
health-related research fields, new
actors have emerged: knowledge
brokers (yes, it’s a real profession!)." -- AQPC
