ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) expanding research programme in Asia with a focus on the contribution commissioned studies are making toward supporting effective programme implementation in the region. Drawing on utilization theory, it examines how two recent studies concerning the IB Learner Profile in India and Hong Kong and dual-language IB Diploma in Japan have provided the International Baccalaureate important opportunities for ‘instrumental’ and ‘enlightenment’ use of research findings (Weiss 1979, Patton, 2008). More specifically, the discussion highlights how applied education research gives the organisation important evidence that can be used to initiate action to support IB schools in Asia. Moreover, it examines how collectively, and interactively, research studies are more generally assisting IB to construct nuanced understandings of tensions between programme adherence and productive adaptation and factors that inhibit and facilitate implementation effectiveness.
