Know and address the user's context and concerns. To be used, research outcomes must address the resources, needs, concerns, and circumstances of a potential user's daily life. Most experts conclude that the most effective way to assure such relevance is to involve intended users in project activities from the beginning, with ongoing and substantial interaction throughout the life of the research or development project. As noted earlier, staffing patterns, advisory committees, focus groups, surveys, and other strategies can help accomplish this goal. Keep in mind that knowledge use is a process of learning, and of change.
Studies show that external incentives to change are much less powerful than internal incentives.
It is important, then, to know what motivates your intended users and to tailor your dissemination to those motivations. There are also specific strategies that you can use to help users to overcome resistance to change. The information in this guide was drawn in large part from A Review of the Literature on Dissemination and Knowledge Utilization, a report developed by the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research. This literature review, which includes an extensive bibliography, is available upon request. Knowledge Utilization Program, Pennsylvania College of Optometry, 1991.