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Intervening factors in the utilization of social research

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Knowledge in Society

Abstract

In Swedish welfare agencies, it was found that the importance of characteristics of social research for utilization was related to three intervening factors: the context of origin of the research, the functions for the user and the utilization context. These factors seem to explain the difference between competing notions on the importance of scientific sophistication for research utilization.

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Sune Sunesson is professor and head of the Ph.D. program and the research department of the School of Social Work at Lund University. His main research interests are the sociology of human service organizations and the impact of science on these organizations. Kjell Nilsson, Birgitta Ericson, and Britt-Marie Johansson are Ph.D. candidates in the Department of Sociology of the Lund University.

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Sunesson, S., Nilsson, K., Ericson, B. et al. Intervening factors in the utilization of social research. Knowledge in Society 2, 42–56 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02737074

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