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. 2020 Nov 5;5:54. doi: 10.1186/s41235-020-00255-0

Table 2.

Summary of recommendations for getting started with implementation science

To get started Explanation Role of use-inspired basic cognitive science
Instructors as scientist–educators Promote a scientist–educator model for instructors to encourage scholarly teaching Working knowledge of cognitive science and scientific literacy is essential for educators; role for cognitive scientists as consultants
Design pragmatic-controlled trials Use random assignment and blinded procedures to test the effectiveness of interventions in real college classrooms with an emphasis on generalizability Use-inspired cognitive scientists needed to identify essential components; role for cognitive scientists as consultants
Use a planning and evaluation framework

Before conducting research, use a planning and evaluation framework to highlight naturally occurring moderator variables to examine within the research design

If research has already been conducted, use a planning and evaluation framework to assess the extent to which the study design matched real-world settings

Cognitive scientists can collaborate with educators to identify potential moderators and design ways to measure them
Expand reporting of research Systematically document issues related to exclusion/inclusion of settings (e.g., classrooms or universities), instructors, and students, reasons for exclusion/inclusion, and extended monitoring of the intervention after the project ends Provides basic researchers, practice-based researchers, and scholarly instructors with shared terminology and standards, making research interpretable across settings and goals (e.g., were color-blind participants included?)