ABSTRACT
The public health field is replete with examples of how governments have tended to renegotiate their relationship with scientific evidence depending on their perception of, the prevailing views of the public. Finding, generating, understanding and using evidence have become core dimensions of public health policy and practice and pose considerable challenges, not least of which is the time and skills necessary to engage with these processes. The Cochrane Collaboration Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group focuses on methods and processes for the synthesis of qualitative research as well as how qualitative research might be integrated with evidence from systematic reviews of effects. The idea of evidence-based policy and practice has permeated many other fields including social welfare, criminal justice, education, sport development and public health. The rhetoric of evidence-based policy and practice signals a shift away from a reliance on everyday observation and experience towards evaluation and the use of objective and robust empirical research data.
