Criteria for Evaluating Research

An agency should use both scientific and practical criteria when evaluating research. Scientific criteria focus on internal and external validity. Practical criteria pertain to the efficiency, usefulness and influence and are more related to applied research such as evaluation, rather than basic research (Even though basic research is rare in child welfare). Answers to the following questions can be found at the above link and provide additional criteria on evaluating and identifying valuable research presented in the previous sections of the guidance:

• How does an agency know findings in report/ research are accurate and have merit?
• How does an agency critically assess the merits of a research study?