Great Minds Don't Always Think Alike: The Challenges of Conducting Substance Abuse Prevention Research in Public Schools

• NCJ Number: 220233
• Journal: Journal of Drug Education Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 97-105
• Author(s): Susan L. Renes; Chris Ringwalt Dr.PH; Heddy Kovach Clark Ph.D.; Stean Hanley M.P.H.
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews issues related to researching substance abuse prevention programs in school settings, and assesses challenges related to recruitment, communication, research design, surveying, and ensuring program fidelity.

Abstract

Recruiting schools to serve as sites for the evaluation of a prevention curriculum requires much more than simply asking the school’s permission. Before a school enrolls, there must be an understanding on the part of both the research team and key school district and school personnel regarding the nature and extent of the study’s requirements, and what adjustments a school will have to make to its routines to support a successful collaboration. Schools, in particular, must fully appreciate the reality that the researcher is likely to impose a considerable burden in return for whatever programmatic services are offered to students, or financial incentives to the school. It is observed that researchers must fully understand that school systems are primarily accountable for educating students. Prevention researchers and school personnel lack a common understanding concerning the opportunities and burdens of school-based drug prevention research. When researchers and schools agree to collaborate on a study of the effectiveness of a substance abuse prevention curriculum, their partnership can look superficially beneficial for all concerned. There are, however, a variety of problems that can sour this collaboration. These problems originate from limitations and constraints pertaining to the school environment, methodological demands made by the researcher, and a lack of mutual understanding between school administrators and researchers regarding how to successfully address and resolve the challenges that will occur. This article examines the problems related to recruitment, communication, research design, survey, and fidelity that can occur when researchers and schools agree to work together. The article discusses the likely perspectives of both the researcher and the school, and gives examples of solutions that have proved acceptable to both. References