ABSTRACT
In the past twenty and more years there has been considerable progress in intervention theory and research. Early work synthesizing extant research on planned social change (Rothman 1974) presented the general contours of an approach to intervention research. Some of the later work on social R&D (Rothman, 1980a) elaborated this early approach, while others (e.g., Thomas 1984) extended it in useful ways. Intervention research has drawn heavily on knowledge utilization, a rapidly growing field in which a considerable body of literature has accumulated (see Glaser, Abelson, and Garrison 1983; Dunn and Holzner, 1988). In contrast to research on knowledge utilization, which often resembles a spectator sport in its largely passive approach to describing and explaining processes of knowledge transfer to policymakers and practitioners, intervention research employs an active or experimental approach to social problem solving (see, for example, Fairweather 1967; Fairweather and Tornatzky 1977). Here, the primary goal is not conducting research, per se, but utilizing research-based knowledge to design specific tools for improving practice and policy (Rothman 1974; 1980a; 1980b).
