Beyond “misery research”-- new opportunities for implementation research, policy and practice1

Reflecting on a litany of failed expectations, dashed hopes and misjudged implementation processes, Swedish scholar Bo Rothstein dubbed the first quarter century of implementation research as “misery research, a pathology of social sciences.”2 The complex and multi-faceted nature of the policy implementation process now is a taken-for-granted among researchers, policymakers and practitioners. However, although complaints that “change is hard ” and “change takes time ” today produce rolled-eyed responses from policy analysts and policy makers alike, these responses were not anticipated in the early 1970s, when policy was expected to be more or less self-implementing, given necessary resources, regulation and resolve. This paper first takes a look at the domains of “misery research ” generally and in education in particular to draw lessons from the experiences of researchers, policymakers and practitioners during the 25 year period from approximately 1970-1995. It then looks beyond misery research to consider how the lessons of that period offer new opportunities to better understand implementation and the process of change in education, and how that understanding might lead to more effective education policies and practices