A Dialogue between Treatment Integrity Research and Design-Based Implementation Research

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

A growing body of research has focused on implementing innovative practices and designs in educational settings. One field regarding this issue is treatment integrity research under implementation science, in which researchers explore issues around implementing educational practices with fidelity. Another field is design-based implementation research (DBIR). In DBIR, designs and theories are engineered into educational contexts, which are tested and refined through iterative process. Each field has its own advancement as well as challenges. While researchers in both fields endeavor to bridge the gap between research and practice, there are only few discussions between treatment integrity research and DBIR. In this project, overviews about aspects, underlying assumptions, and challenges in these two fields are supplied. Based on the overviews, a comparison is made between treatment integrity research and DBIR. The discussions about the similarities and differences between these research fields further create a platform for a dialogue, which suggests more conversations to foster development in these research fields.