Connecting the Dots Between Research and Real-World Advocacy
Cast’s Research and Policy teams have a new paper out!
Cast’s Research and Policy teams just released a new publication focused on research accessibility in the anti-trafficking field. The study explores how to better connect survivor advocacy work and mixed-methods research to help service providers stay informed and support human trafficking survivors more effectively.
Unfortunately, barriers still hinder research accessibility for frontline anti-trafficking and anti-violence practitioners:
- Paywalls: Peer-reviewed journal articles are often expensive and usually behind paywalls, making them hard to access.
- Writing styles and accessibility: Academic papers are sometimes written with jargon that can be difficult for potential readers to understand, even if those readers are experts on the subject.
- Time Constraints: Research papers are often time-consuming to read, which can be a challenge for advocates facing time constraints due to high caseloads, training and outreach goals, and other job demands.
- Differences in Priorities: Sometimes, the questions that interest researchers the most don’t match the questions that matter most for practitioners.
Cast’s new paper is a case study on sharing research with anti-trafficking practitioners. We talk about our work on the Provider Perspectives Study, which explored anti-violence advocates’ insights on policy issues affecting survivors of human trafficking, sexual violence, and domestic violence. We share our experiences in addressing barriers to research engagement, including what went well and what we hope to do differently in the future.
This paper was published as part of Sage’s Research Methods Case Studies series on Data and Research Literacy.
Want to learn how to make research more accessible for survivor advocacy work?
Read our full case study on bridging the gap between anti-trafficking research and real-world practice—now available via Sage Publishing.
