National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR)
The SEDL operates the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR) through funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The NCDDR scope of work responds directly to NIDRR's concern for increasing the effective use of NIDRR-sponsored research results in shaping new technologies, improving service delivery, and expanding decision-making options for people with disabilities and their families.
The NCDDR leverages resources through collaborative working relationships with experts in standards of evidence and systematic reviews, NIDRR-funded researchers, and agencies engaged in disseminating disability research results. Significant features of the NCDDR approach include:
- development of a Standards and Research Review Board that will use consensus-building strategies to develop standards of evidence for NIDRR-sponsored research;
- partnership with key representatives from the Campbell Collaboration to establish a Disability Research Coordinating Group that will provide an infrastructure for conducting and disseminating systematic reviews;
- partnership with the international Cochrane Collaboration to facilitate the participation of NIDRR grantees in Cochrane review activities;
- work with representatives from both the Campbell and Cochrane Collaborations, as well as other experts, to provide training and technical assistance for researchers who commit to conducting systematic reviews, and for grantees who are seeking to have their research included in systematic reviews;
- creation of registries of NIDRR-sponsored research and of evidence-based reviews addressing disability and rehabilitation research, to accomplish the twin goals of increasing consumer access to evidence-based knowledge and of making disability research more readily available for inclusion in systematic reviews;
- provision of technical assistance to NIDRR grantees and facilitation of discussions between NIDRR staff and experts in the field, to encourage the design and conduct of studies that lend themselves to inclusion in systematic reviews;
- support for communities of practice of NIDRR grantees on research quality and on outreach to diverse audiences;
- webcasts, to be conducted in partnership with Independent Living Research Utilization, and other strategies for linking producers and consumers of disability research to discuss issues of research quality, applicability to diverse audiences, relevance, and utility;
- production and dissemination of plain-language summaries and information digests of systematic reviews, for use by persons with disabilities, their families, and service providers; and
- provision of technical assistance and informational materials to assist people with disabilities, their families, and service providers in accessing, evaluating, and using evidence-based knowledge.
For more information see: