What Little We Know: A Scoping Review of the Research Utilization Literature in Education Policy

Abstract

This scoping review covers the academic literature on research utilization from its emergence in the 1970s to 2022, with a focus on empirical research conducted on K-20 education policies in the United States. John W. Kingdon’s policy process is applied to distinguish the perspectives of politicians from those of professional staff, because these two groups have different roles and responsibilities in the policy process. The findings reveal that very few empirical studies of the use of research in education policy have been conducted on politicians—those primarily responsible for creating education policy. Rather, most research has been conducted on professional staff whose primary responsibility is policy implementation. Thus, there is limited knowledge of how politicians themselves use research, calling into question the generalization of the academic literature to include politicians, a crucial group of policymaking actors.