The USC School of Social Work and USC Rossier School of Education, in collaboration with Peking University's Institute of Population Research, organized the first international conference on evidence-based practice and policymaking for the social sciences in Beijing.

More than 100 Chinese scholars and government officials attended the two-day conference and workshop March 17-18, which represented the initial step of providing a framework for establishing a Chinese center on evidence-based practice in the social sciences at Peking University, the first of its kind in Asia.

"Such a center would enable Chinese and U.S. researchers to more effectively collaborate, using internationally recognized approaches to scientific documentation," said Dan Hester, director of international programs at the USC School of Social Work. "It would significantly contribute to joint research and impact policymaking and professional interventions, particularly on vital social policy issues that impact the well-being of citizens in both our nations."

Evidence-based practice refers to the use of scientific research findings to make better and more informed decisions that affect people's lives.

In the context of human services, having access to information on what works allows practitioners to select treatments that are most likely to be helpful and least likely to be harmful, rather than relying on rules, single observations or tradition.

The ideology has become a major driving force impacting clinical practice education, policymaking and scientific research.

"The Chinese are very interested in what generates and constitutes high-quality scientific evidence," Hester said. "The workshop offered the introductory methodology pieces of evidence-based practice to help them get their minds around what all of this is."

Professors Haluk Soydan, USC School of Social Work; Robert Boruch, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; and Youping Li, director of the Chinese Cochrane Center in Chengdu, China, led workshop sessions that described how "clearinghouses" around the world compile, assess and disseminate reliable information in specific fields such as social work and education; how systematic research reviews are produced and how the utilization of reviews can be adopted for use in China.

Soydan, a frequent lecturer on the subject, also talked about the Campbell Collaboration, an organization he co-founded that brings together international scholars who contribute to making reliable research information available and accessible to policymakers, practitioners and the public.

The researchers conduct rigorous systematic reviews of research to make sense of large, fragmented and sometimes conflicting knowledge in an effort to identify what works and what does not.

The organization's eventual goal is to build a comprehensive database that will enable people who are reviewing the effectiveness of interventions to weigh a thorough body of evidence.

Soydan believes that optimistic Chinese social scientists will embrace the idea of translating evidence into their clinical practice and policymaking based on the experiences of the Chinese Cochrane Center, a sister organization dedicated to evidence-based health care.

"I am personally dedicated to this endeavor and eager to see it move forward," Soydan said. "We begin meeting with Peking University this summer about how to develop a feasible infrastructure in China that will support interdisciplinary projects from all areas of the university and across multiple professions."

Financial support for the Beijing conference and workshop was provided by the USC School of Social Work, USC U.S.-China Institute and Peking University's Institute of Population Research.