ABSTRACT
Anthropologists need to plan for eventual utilization from the onset of a project and need to recognize the importance of communicating research results to all types of experts as well as the public. Measuring the impact of scientific research and demonstrating its use are difficult steps in utilization studies in almost all fields. The chapter explores the impact of the research on the understanding of the infant mortality problem in Washington, D.C. The utilization of results by different audiences is explored using concepts from network analysis, which allowed examination of a diffuse process within and among many sectors of society. Black infant mortality in the United States is a public health problem whose sources are social and cultural. Awareness of the problem of infant mortality is essential for the general public, as well as for inner-city Black women at high risk of a poor pregnancy outcome and the people who work to help them.
