Absorptive Capacity as a Means of Understanding and Addressing the Disconnects Between Research and Practice

Abstract

The research community focuses on conducting research with the purported goal of improving educational practice, yet the two communities largely remain disjointed. This chapter explores the major disconnects between research and practice from the perspectives of both the practice and the research communities, and we present strategies for establishing stronger connections based on the results of our literature analysis. We argue that examining the research–practice gap through the lens of absorptive capacity provides elucidations about the disconnects, and it facilitates the organization of research-based strategies. As a result, both communities are able to jointly determine what constitutes quality research evidence and attenuate the gap between research and practice.