59: Evidence-Based Practice with Professor Rob Briner

In this podcast, Rob Briner shares his expertise and insights on
evidence-based practice. Rob became interested in evidence-based
research early in his academic career when he realised how much
knowledge and assumed facts lacked convincing evidence. Simon
converses with Rob from the position of a sceptic, having
experienced evidence-based practice in healthcare and human
resources settings when poorly delivered. Rob offers a
fascinating insight into how evidence-based practice can be
useful if delivered in a thoughtful and rigorous way.  He
shares the importance of collecting evidence from multiple
sources and different perspectives. In a healthcare setting for
example, this would include gathering opinions from patients and
families, getting expert views from professionals, gathering data
from the context such as healthcare outcomes, and finally looking
at scientific data to search for the best knowledge/evidence
available to apply to the situation. 

Evidence-based research can be distorted to produce ‘magical
numbers’ and Rob emphasises the need to critically examine what
these numbers do and do not mean, and how they are used and
misused. Critical thinking is also necessary to reflect on
assumptions and biases that can lead to ‘evidence-based’
findings, produced to convince people to follow a particular path
that was pre-ordained. Rob also points to the need for a more
ground-up approach, to really think about what the challenge or
problem is, and then design an evidence-based research
study,  rather than  designing a study that will
produce findings desired by a particular power group.  This
podcast is a must listen for all who wish to deepen their
understanding of evidence-based practice.  

Bio

Rob is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Queen Mary,
University of London and is co-founder and Scientific Director of
the Center for Evidence-Based Management. He is also a Visiting
Professor of Evidence-Based HRM at Birkbeck (University of
London) and Professor at Oslo Nye Høyskole. He has held positions
at the Institute for Employment Studies, London School of
Economics, Kings’s College (University of London), Bath
University and University of Edinburgh. His research has focused
on several topics including well-being, emotions, stress,
ethnicity, the psychological contract, organizational culture and
climate, absence from work, motivation, work-nonwork and everyday
work behaviour. Beyond academic research and teaching, Rob helps
practitioners and organizations make better use of evidence,
including research evidence in decision-making as well as
encouraging academics to make scientific research more
accessible. He has received several awards for his work in this
area including the British Psychological Society Division of
Occupational Psychology Academic Contribution to Practice Award
in 2014, topped HR Magazine’s Most Influential Thinker list in
2016, received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and was
admitted to HR Magazine’s Hall of
Fame.
Contact Rob: r.briner@gmail.com