Author: Dr. Pankaj Kumar Paul
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/Bijmrd/04080006
Abstract: Educational research is expected to generate evidence capable of improving teaching, learning, assessment, institutional management, and educational policy. Nevertheless, a persistent gap frequently exists between the production of research evidence and its translation into educational practice. This qualitative study examines the nature, causes, and consequences of the research–practice gap in contemporary education and explores strategies for strengthening the connection between educational research and professional practice. A qualitative documentary research design was employed using scholarly literature, policy documents, and research on evidence-informed education, teacher inquiry, educational knowledge mobilization, and research utilization. The analysis was organized around four objectives: examining the significance of research evidence for educational practice; analysing the factors responsible for the research–practice gap; identifying its consequences for teachers, institutions, and educational policy; and proposing strategies for strengthening research–practice connections. The findings indicate that the gap is shaped by differences between academic research priorities and practitioners’ immediate needs, limited accessibility of research findings, methodological complexity, inadequate research capacity among educators, insufficient institutional support, time constraints, and weak mechanisms for knowledge mobilization. The analysis further suggests that research evidence becomes more useful when teachers participate in inquiry, research findings are presented in accessible forms, institutions develop collaborative research cultures, and policymakers establish mechanisms for sustained evidence use. The study concludes that bridging the research–practice gap requires a shift from a linear model of research dissemination towards a collaborative model in which researchers, teachers, institutions, policymakers, and communities jointly produce, interpret, and apply educational knowledge.
Keywords: Educational Research; Research–Practice Gap; Evidence-Based Education; Knowledge Mobilization; Teacher Research; Educational Practice; Research Utilization.
Page No: 45-52