Impact Validity as a Framework for Advocacy-Based Research

This issue introduces a new framework for thinking about research from the standpoint of usable knowledge. Impact Validity is the extent to which research has the potential to play a role in social and political change or is useful as a tool for advocacy or activism. A series of articles have been collected for this issue that exemplify the intersection of science, activism / advocacy, and social change. These articles highlight the ways in which others have strategically grounded their research in the advocacy needs of the social/political issue they are trying to influence, and the various decisions throughout the research process that have had a bearing on its potential to be useful in addressing social problems. These decisions, which rarely receive systematic attention, take central stage.

INTRODUCTION
Introducing “Impact Validity”
Sean G. Massey and Ricardo E. Barreras 615

SECTION I: ADVOCACY AND GOOD SCIENCE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

Application of Empirical Research Findings in Public Health Advocacy:
Focus on Maternal, Child, and Reproductive Health
Diana Romero, Amy Kwan, and Wendy Chavkin 633

Pathways Housing First for Homeless Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities:
Program Innovation, Research, and Advocacy
Ronni Michelle Greenwood, Ana Stefancic, and Sam Tsemberis 645

Public Engagement, Knowledge Transfer, and Impact Validity
Gareth Hagger-Johnson, Peter Hegarty, Meg Barker, and Christina Richards 664

SECTION II: IMPACT IS MORE THAN GOOD DATA

Advocacy Research in Harm Reduction Drug Policies
Ernest Drucker 684

New York City’s Struggle over Syringe Exchange: A Case Study of the Intersection of Science, Activism, and Political Change
Ricardo E. Barreras and Rafael A. Torruella 694

Researching the War on Terror in Swat Valley, Pakistan: Grapplings with the Impact on Communities and the Transnational Knowledge Industry
Lubna N. Chaudhry 713

SECTION III: KNOWLEDGE USE AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

An Approach to Scholarly Impact through Strategic Engagement in
Community-Based Research 734
Paul W. Speer and Brian D. Christens

Memoscopio: Producing Usable and Collectively Owned Knowledge About the World March for Peace and Nonviolence
Carolina Munoz Proto, Antonia Devoto Lyon, Carolina Villar Castillo, and Marco Battistella 754

How Much Punishment is Enough? Designing Participatory Research on Parole Policies for Persons Convicted of Violent Crimes
Carla Marquez-Lewis, Michelle Fine, Kathy Boudin, William E. Waters, Mika’il DeVeaux, Felipe Vargas, Cheryl “Missy” Wilkins, Migdalia Martinez, Michael G. Pass, and Sharon White-Harrigan 771

SECTION IV: COMMENTARY

Impact Validity: A Politics of Possibilities
Damien W. Riggs 707

Dr. Massey earned his doctorate in social-personality psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is currently Associate Professor of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Binghamton University, SUNY. His research interests include sexual prejudice and multidimensional attitudes, the experiences of LGBTQ parents, queer theory in social science, positive beliefs about gay men and lesbians, self and identity in the context of social stigma, and sense of safety and community among LGBTQ people. Dr. Barreras earned his Doctorate in social-personality psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He was a postdoctoral fellow at NDRI from 2004 to 2007 and received a Soros Justice Fellowship in 2008. His research is concerned with the gap between research and empirical knowledge on the one hand and policy and practice on the other. Through his research projects, he aims to develop an understanding of approaches, strategies, and models for better using scientific data, discourses, and methods in social change efforts.