After identifying rigorous and relevant research evidence about an effective educational approach, teachers, educators and leaders will need to determine if they should use it and how to go about implementation. Deciding whether and how to apply research evidence in a school, service or learning environment is an ongoing process that involves careful reflection.

Regardless of the tools and resources teachers, educators and leaders use to find research evidence, they still need to assess it to have confidence that it’s high-quality and appropriate for their context. Knowing how to assess the reliability and relevance of research evidence can help with decisions about adopting and implementing new practices.

Not all research evidence will be relevant to a particular educational context. Some research evidence may have been generated in a different type of community, school or service, or with a different group of students or children.

This practice resource is designed to help teachers, educators and leaders reflect on and decide whether a piece of evidence is relevant to their context and whether the corresponding approach is likely to be effective in their school, service or learning environment.

This review was commissioned by the joint UK higher education (HE) funding bodies as part of the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP). It revisits the findings of the 2015 review The Metric Tide to take a fresh look at the use of indicators in research management and assessment.

While this review feeds into the larger FRAP process, the authors have taken full advantage of their independence and sought to stimulate informed and robust discussion about the options and opportunities of future REF exercises. The report should be read in that spirit: as an input to ongoing FRAP deliberations, rather than a reflection of their likely or eventual conclusions.

The report is written in three sections. Section 1 plots the development of the responsible research assessment agenda since 2015 with a focus on the impact of The Metric Tide review and progress against its recommendations. Section 2 revisits the potential use of metrics and indicators in any future REF exercise, and proposes an increased uptake of ‘data for good’. Section 3 considers opportunities to further support the roll-out of responsible research assessment policies and practices across the UK HE sector. Appendices include an overview of progress against the recommendations of The Metric Tide and a literature review.

The signatories of the Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication support recommendations to keep research international and multilingual to be adopted by policy-makers, leaders, universities, research institutions, research funders, libraries, and researchers. This initiative helps to support bibliodiversity, protect locally relevant research, and promote language diversity in research evaluation. Signatories, events, media, and more information can be found at https://www.helsinki-initiative.org/

AERO’s Interactive Evidence Decision-Making Tool is designed to help teachers, educators and leaders use evidence to make decisions about a new or existing practice or program based on AERO’s Standards of Evidence.

There are a range of places where teachers, educators and leaders can find research evidence, but some sources are more credible than others. Knowing how to identify credible sources increases the chances of finding high-quality research evidence.

This practice guide provides information about the types of print and online resources that contain research evidence, as well as using common library and online search tools.

This worksheet is designed to help teachers, educators and leaders use online and library search tools to locate rigorous and relevant research evidence on new and effective approaches to inform their practice.

Research evidence is evidence generated using established and systematic academic research methods to answer a particular question. Drawing on research evidence is a reliable way for teachers, educators and leaders to determine whether they’re using the most effective approaches – practices, programs or policies – to education in their school, service or learning environment.

This practice guide outlines common forms of research evidence and provides tips for what to look out for when considering research evidence. It's the first in a series of 4 practice guides the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has produced to help teachers, educators and leaders use research evidence to strengthen decisions about their practice:

The Value of Research Evidence
Looking for Research Evidence
Assessing Research Evidence
Applying Research Evidence.
This practice guide contains a knowledge check to test your knowledge about research evidence. You can download and print the PDF to complete it on paper or complete it online.