The Campbell Collaboration and American Institutes for Research Join Forces

Washington, D.C. – The international Campbell Collaboration (C2) and the American Institutes for Research (AIR), both nonprofit organizations, are joining forces in a relationship designed to expand the depth of reliable research knowledge available to experts and the public.

AIR will provide support for the collaboration that will improve and expand its ability to make information available on a timely basis.

AIR, founded in 1946, is a nationally recognized leader in the behavioral and social sciences, and is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit research organizations. The decision to create the Campbell Collaboration was begun in 1999 during an exploratory meeting at the University College London and formally established the following year at the University of Pennsylvania by 80 individuals representing 12 nations. It is an international organization devoted to helping people make well-informed decisions about the effects of research interventions in the social, behavioral and educational arenas and promotes access to information about intervention trials.

“This is a natural relationship,” said AIR President and CEO Sol H. Pelavin. “We share a mutual respect and appreciation. The mission of AIR matches the objectives of The Campbell Collaboration. We are honored to be affiliated with such a respected group whose work is recognized around the world.”

Dr. Haluk Soydan, Co-director of the Hamovitch Research Center at the University of Southern California School of Social Work and co-chair of the C2 Steering Group, welcomed the affiliation with AIR. “We believe this strengthens our efforts to enhance the collaboration’s intellectual assets and high scientific standards, as well as its international profile,” said Soydan, who is a senior advisor to the Institute for Evidence-Based Social Work Practice, which is part of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.

The International Steering Group for the collaboration is responsible for the its intellectual direction and includes representatives from Canada, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom among other countries. Its members include representatives from each of the disciplinary and methodological areas to which Campbell pays special attention.

The Campbell Collaboration is recognized around the world for its effort to conduct rigorous systematic reviews of research to establish high quality evidence on “what works” in social and behavioral interventions and public policy, including education, criminal justice, and social welfare. The scientific research synthesis conducted by C2 sifts through the vast quantity of studies in the literature, selects those eligible for inclusion on the basis of strict criteria, and draws conclusions about the direction of the evidence and the circumstances under which a given intervention may or may not be effective.

The Campbell Collaboration’s activity is being reported on web sites in a various languages, including Japanese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and English.

It maintains two databases, a Social, Psychological, Education, and Criminological Trials Registry and a database covering C2 Reviews of Interventions and Policy Evaluations. The information is collected by international experts within the Campbell Education, Social Welfare, Crime and Justice, and Methods Coordinating Groups. This global network prepares, updates and disseminates systematic reviews of high-quality research to discover what works, what is promising, or what does not work or produces harm.

The annual Campbell Collaboration Colloquium attracts leading research scientists, practitioners, and policy makers from around the world. The Sixth Annual Colloquium will be held in Los Angeles on February 22-24, 2006, hosted by the University of Southern California School of Social Work.

AIR has been expanding its efforts nationally and internationally to ensure that the knowledge obtained through research is used to improve daily life. AIR’s pioneering effort in international development has involved more than 80 countries throughout Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Asia. AIR experts are engaged in an effort to improve educational opportunities, combat child labor, and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Additional information about AIR and C2 is available at their web sites, www.air.org and www.campbellcollaboration.org.

About AIR

The American Institutes for Research, founded in 1946, is a leader in the behavioral and social sciences. AIR is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization engaged in domestic and international research, development, evaluation, analysis, product development, training and technical assistance and assessment.

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