tailieunhanh - Urban Health and Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practice - Part 34

Urban Health and Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practice - Part 34. This book provides the most current frameworks, research, and approaches for understanding how unique features of the urban physical and social environments that shape the health of over half of the world's population that is already residing in large cities. Its interdisciplinary research and practice focus is a welcome innovation. | Evaluating Impact 311 developing exchanges where faculty and students as well as policymakers can move between these settings through internships sabbatical programs or other arrangements and inviting policymakers to teach or advise research teams. In many cases the trust and goodwill developed in one collaborative venture can provide a starting point for subsequent efforts on other topics. Finally universities can encourage faculty researchers to engage in interdisciplinary and policy research and to cross the research advocacy divide by rewarding this work through its promotion and tenure practices pilot interdisciplinary research grant programs and the creation of academic spaces for interdisciplinary discussions and research. EVALUATING IMPACT The final stage in the cycle for interdisciplinary work shown in Figure is evaluating the impact of the changes that the research or intervention stimulated. This assessment can take place at a variety of levels asking such questions as Did the research lead to new understanding of an urban health problem that suggested new directions for further research or for policy or practice Did the intervention contribute to improvements in population health or to more health-promoting environments Did the research lead to new theoretical frameworks methodological approaches or analytic strategies that offered researchers new tools or insights Did the process of interdisciplinary collaboration lead to new understanding of how researchers can work together across disciplines sectors or institutions In several chapters including Chapters Two Five Seven and Eleven the authors discuss these questions and offer lessons that their experiences suggest. The heterogeneity of their conclusions reflects both the particulars of the research problems and studies they describe and analyze and the challenges of evaluating interdisciplinary research. In a recent review Klein enumerated some of the unique issues in evaluating interdisciplinary