National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Long Range Plan for Fiscal Years 1999-2003

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Capacity-building for Research and Training Next: Enhancing NIDRR's Management of Research NIDRR’s capacity-building is multidimensional and involves training those who participate in all aspects of the disability research field, including scientists, service providers, and consumers. NIDRR’s principal statutory mandate for training is to support advanced instruction for researchers and service providers. NIDRR also has an implied mandate, strengthened in the 1992 Rehabilitation Act amendments, to train consumers to apply new research knowledge and to use assistive technology. To advance the disability and rehabilitation research field, NIDRR will expand the scope of its capacity-building activities as follows: raise the level of rigorous qualitative and quantitative research and increase the use of state-of-the-art methodologies by providing advanced training in disability-related research for scientists, including those with disabilities and those from minority backgrounds; develop the capacity of researchers to conduct research that explains disability as a contextual phenomenon; prepare researchers to conduct disability studies that are holistic, interdisciplinary, and cognizant of the cultural context of disability; develop the capacity of researchers to conduct studies in new settings (e.g., homes, workplaces, schools, recreational facilities, community-based organizations); train rehabilitation practitioners in the application of research-generated knowledge and new techniques; and train consumers, family members, and advocates in the use of research findings, in part to facilitate participatory research. Enhancing NIDRR's Management of Research Top