---
title: "Evidence-based practice"
chunk: 2/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_practice"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:15:38.733240+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Evaluating scientific research is extremely complex. The process can be greatly simplified with the use of a heuristic that ranks the relative strengths of results obtained from scientific research, which is called a hierarchy of evidence. The design of the study and the endpoints measured (such as survival or quality of life) affect the strength of the evidence. Typically, systematic reviews and meta-analysis rank at the top of the hierarchy while randomized controlled trials rank above observational studies, and expert opinion and case reports rank at the bottom. There is broad agreement on the relative strength of the different types of studies, but there is no single, universally-accepted hierarchy of evidence. More than 80 different hierarchies have been proposed for assessing medical evidence.

== Applications ==

=== Medicine ===

Evidence-based medicine is an approach to medical practice intended to optimize decision-making by emphasizing the use of evidence from well-designed and well-conducted research. Although all medicine based on science has some degree of empirical support, evidence-based medicine goes further, classifying evidence by its epistemologic strength and requiring that only the strongest types (coming from meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and randomized controlled trials) can yield strong recommendations; weaker types (such as from case-control studies) can yield only weak recommendations. The term was originally used to describe an approach to teaching the practice of medicine and improving decisions by individual physicians about individual patients. Use of the term rapidly expanded to include a previously described approach that emphasized the use of evidence in the design of guidelines and policies that apply to groups of patients and populations ("evidence-based practice policies").
Whether applied to medical education, decisions about individuals, guidelines and policies applied to populations, or administration of health services in general, evidence-based medicine advocates that to the greatest extent possible, decisions and policies should be based on evidence, not just the beliefs of practitioners, experts, or administrators. It thus tries to ensure that a clinician's opinion, which may be limited by knowledge gaps or biases, is supplemented with all available knowledge from the scientific literature so that best practice can be determined and applied. It promotes the use of formal, explicit methods to analyze evidence and makes it available to decision makers. It promotes programs to teach the methods to medical students, practitioners, and policymakers.
A process has been specified that provides a standardised route for those seeking to produce evidence of the effectiveness of interventions. Originally developed to establish processes for the production of evidence in the housing sector, the standard is general in nature and is applicable across a variety of practice areas and potential outcomes of interest.

=== Mental health ===
To improve the dissemination of evidence-based practices, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP, Division 53 of the American Psychological Association) maintain updated information on their websites on evidence-based practices in psychology for practitioners and the general public. An evidence-based practice consensus statement was developed at a summit on mental healthcare in 2018. As of June 23, 2019, this statement has been endorsed by 36 organizations.

=== Metascience ===

There has since been a movement for the use of evidence-based practice in conducting scientific research in an attempt to address the replication crisis and other major issues affecting scientific research. The application of evidence-based practices to research itself is called metascience, which seeks to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing waste. It is also known as "research on research" and "the science of science", as it uses research methods to study how research is done and where improvements can be made. The five main areas of research in metascience are methodology, reporting, reproducibility, evaluation, and incentives. Metascience has produced a number of reforms in science such as the use of study pre-registration and the implementation of reporting guidelines with the goal of bettering scientific research practices.

=== Education ===

Evidence-based education (EBE), also known as evidence-based interventions, is a model in which policy-makers and educators use empirical evidence to make informed decisions about education interventions (policies, practices, and programs). In other words, decisions are based on scientific evidence rather than opinion.
EBE has gained attention since English author David H. Hargreaves suggested in 1996 that education would be more effective if teaching, like medicine, was a "research-based profession".
Since 2000, studies in Australia, England, Scotland and the US have supported the use of research to improve educational practices in teaching reading.
In 1997, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development convened a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. The resulting National Reading Panel examined quantitative research studies on many areas of reading instruction, including phonics and whole language. In 2000 it published a report entitled Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and its Implications for Reading Instruction that provided a comprehensive review of what was known about best practices in reading instruction in the U.S.
This occurred around the same time as such international studies as the Programme for International Student Assessment  in 2000 and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in 2001.
Subsequently, evidence-based practice in education (also known as Scientifically based research), came into prominence in the U.S. under the No child left behind act of 2001, replace in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act.
In 2002 the U.S. Department of Education founded the Institute of Education Sciences to provide scientific evidence to guide education practice and policy .
English author Ben Goldacre advocated in 2013 for systemic change and more randomized controlled trials to assess the effects of educational interventions. In 2014 the National Foundation for Educational Research, Berkshire, England published a report entitled Using Evidence in the Classroom: What Works and Why. In 2014 the British Educational Research Association and the Royal Society of Arts advocated for a closer working partnership between teacher-researchers and the wider academic research community.