Research vs Evidence-Based Practice: Difference and Comparison

Research is a unique method where humans get creative to acquire and add more already existing knowledge. Research plays an important role in almost every field.

Without Research, we cannot find and discover new things. Evidence is something that needs to be believed in support of a proposition. Evidence works correctly when the proposition is found valid.

There are various types of practices, like research-based and evidence-based.

Key Takeaways

1. Research involves systematic investigation and collection of data to generate new knowledge, while evidence-based practice applies the best available research findings to inform decision-making in a specific context.
2. Research is essential for generating evidence, while evidence-based practice is critical for translating research findings into real-world applications.
3. Research can be either basic or applied, focusing on theoretical or practical problems, whereas evidence-based practice is inherently applied, aiming to improve outcomes in a specific field or setting.

Research vs Evidence-Based Practice

Research-based practice refers to using a scientific and experimental process to research as the foundation for clinical decision-making. Evidence-based practice involves integrating clinical expertise, patient values, and the best available research evidence to make clinical decisions.

Research involves all the systematic things like collecting, organising, and analysing data to get new information to increase the understanding of a topic or subject.

Research practice can also be done on previous research as well to explore the plethora of new information. The validity of Research is tested by using various kinds of instruments, experiments, procedures etc.

The main function of Research is to discover, interpret, document and then carry out the proper research and development of systems and methods.

Evidence-Based Practice(EBP) is entirely based on the scientific evidence produced. EBP, because of its desirable nature, seems to be very controversial.

EBP was first used as a method in the year 1992 when there was the introduction of evidence-based medicine.

EBP has spread to a variety of fields ranging from management, law, public policy, allied health professions, education, architecture, and other fields.

EBP also takes the help of Research to acquire the evidence. When Research is done into an EBP, then it is called a meta-science.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Research-Based Practice	Evidence-Based Practice
Abstract	Organised and planned	Organised in the manner of evidence.
Problem	Research Hypothesis	EBP hypothesis
Data Collection	Surveys, Observations, Questionnaires, Interviews etc.	Relies on existing data.
Contribution	Understanding the world.	Bring changes in the practice
Methodology	Research approach	Designed strategy for acquiring other evidence.

What is Research-Based Practice?

‘Research’ is derived from a French word meaning to seek or search. The earliest use of the word is known to be found in the year 1577.

Research has many definitions, and everybody defines them according to their understanding and findings. It has more than one meaning. It is very difficult to encompass the word Research into a single definition.

The most basic understanding of Research is inquiry or experimentation. There are various forms of Research like Ordinary Research, Scientific Research, historical Research, documentary research, artistic Research etc.

There are different ways according to which Research should be performed.

First, a researcher needs to identify the research problem, and then he has to do a Literature Review, then find the specific purpose of the Research, determine the research questions, set a hypothesis methodology, data collection, verify data, analyse and interpret, report, evaluate and then coming to the outcomes.

There are three types of main Research, i.e. Empirical, exploratory and Qualitative.

There are various research ethics, like taking the consent of the person before taking his ideas or findings for use. Research integrity should be maintained without making any fraud, plagiarism or fabrication of data.

There are various problems in the Research, like it is biased like research is mostly conducted in the language that is preferred in the location where the researcher is conducting the Research.

Often while conducting the research sample is generalized, which may create problems sometimes because of the narrow scope. Research teams are also made to incorporate the multidisciplinary approach and find something original.

What is Evidence-Based Practice?

The term evidence-based was first introduced in the year 1990 by Gordon Gyatt. The term was first published n the year 1992. Evidence-Based Practice is completely different from basic traditional practice.

EBP is conducted on a large level of population. So various critics said that it might not be beneficial at the individualised level. So it can sometimes fail to provide the best results for an individual.

EBP is based on scientific evidence. This practice has spread to various fields as well, from education, management, law, allied health professions, public policy, architecture, and other fields.

Evidence-Based Practice encourages professionals to pay more attention to the evidence while making decisions.

The motto of Evidence-based Practice is to remove all the outdated practices so that new effective approaches can be added while making the decision rather than having an unscientific grounded approach.

Evaluating evidence-based practices is very difficult in comparison to tradition. The process of carrying out EBP research can be simplified by making a hierarchy of evidence.

Various applications of EBP can be found, like in the field of medicine, where it is used to optimize decision-making from well-conducted Research. In metascience also, EBP is conducted in Scientific Research to address the replication crisis.

Applying evidence-based practices to Research is itself a metascience that helps enhance scientific research quality. When evidence-based practice is used in education, it is called Evidence-based intervention.

Main Differences Between Research and Evidence-Based Practice

1. In Research, everything is organised and planned for investigation. In Evidence-Based Practice, everything is organised in the manner of evidence.
2. The problem of Research is a Research Hypothesis. The problem of evidence-based practice is the EBP hypothesis.
3. Data collection in Research is done by methods like Surveys, Observations, Questionnaires, Interviews etc. Data collection in EBP relies on existing data. If no data is there, then it needs to be collected.
4. The contribution of Research gives an understanding of the world. The contribution of EBP brings changes in the practice.
5. The methodology used in Research practice is the Research approach. The methodology used in EBP is a designed strategy for acquiring other evidence.

References

1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YbReVadfwkwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=+Research+and+Evidence-Based+Practice&ots=7kj8Ki7MVK&sig=S481z5i0oP6-AkaR6cJXJtEIi7s
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001440290507100204