Abstract
Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become a general gatekeeping discourse in psychology (as elsewhere), a designation that confers legitimacy on the policies and practices that can claim it. The various political negotiations that establish such legitimacy also deploy, contest, and, to some degree, stabilize the notion of “evidence”, and so become the ideological and material arbiters of the concept. In this chapter, we discuss this social production of “evidence”, focusing on the American Psychological Association task force on EBP as a case study. Drawing on archival materials from the task force proceedings, original interviews with task force participants (collected by the first author), as well as on the published report and other related materials, we trace how the category of “evidence” is shaped through the negotiation of epistemic, political, practical, and interpersonal considerations. This analysis highlights what has always been true in both psychology and science more generally—namely, that what evidence “is” cannot be separated from how it is deployed within the networks of influence that both arbitrate and are arbitrated by it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
To be fair, what scientists or philosophers of science mean by “evidence” is not clear nor universally agreed upon either.
- 2.
A discussion of these broader debates in Psychology is beyond the scope of the current paper but the reader is pointed to debates between actuarial vs. clinical judgment based assessment, psychoanalysis vs. behaviorism, idiographic vs nomothetic approaches to assessment and treatment and projective vs. objective assessment methods.
- 3.
Throughout this chapter, we contrast a methodologically pluralistic approach to evidence—that is, an approach where different methods and the different kinds of evidence these produce are understood to be complementary and parallel—with a methodologically hierarchical approach to evidence—that is, an approach where certain methods and the evidencethey produce (principally RCTs) are considered superior to other kinds.
References
American Psychological Association. (2004). Presidential task force on evidence based practice task force charge. Unpublished document.
American Psychological Association. (2005a). Council item: Policy recommendation and position paper of the 2005 presidential task force on evidence-based practice. Unpublished document.
American Psychological Association. (2005b). Spring consolidated meeting agenda item. Unpublished document.
American Psychological Association. (2006a). Policy statement on evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist, 61, 271–285.
American Psychological Association. (2006b). Guidelines and principles for accreditation of programs in professional psychology (G&P). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/policies/guiding-principles.pdf.
Bearman, S. K., Wadkins, M., Bailin, A., & Doctoroff, G. (2015). Pre-practicum training in professional psychology to close the research-practice gap: Changing attitudes toward evidence-based practice. Training and Education in Professional Psychology,9(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000052.
Beck, J. G., Castonguay, L. G., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Klonsky, E. D., McGinn, L. K., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2014). Principles for training in evidence-based psychology: Recommendations for the graduate curricula in clinical psychology. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,21(4), 410–424. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12079.
Canadian Psychological Association. (2011). Accreditation standards and procedures for doctoral programmes and internships in professional psychology (Fifth revision). Retrieved from https://www.cpa.ca/docs/File/Accreditation/Accreditation_2011.pdf.
Canadian Psychological Association. (2012). Evidence-based practice of psychological treatments: A Canadian perspective. Retrieved from https://cpa.ca/docs/File/Practice/Report_of_the_EBP_Task_Force_FINAL_Board_Approved_2012.pdf.
Chambless, D. L., Sanderson, W. C., Shoham, V., Bennett Johnson, S., Pope, K. S., Crits-Christoph, P., … McCurry, S. (1996). An update on empirically validated therapies. The Clinical Psychologist, 49, 5–18.
Dobson, K. S. (2016). Clinical psychology in Canada: Challenges and opportunities. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne,57(3), 211–219. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000061.
Eddy, D. M. (2005). Evidence-based medicine: A unified approach. Health Affairs (Project Hope),24(1), 9–17.
Forman, E. M., Gaudiano, B. A., & Herbert, J. D. (2016). Pragmatic recommendations to address challenges in disseminating evidenced-based treatment guidelines. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne,57(3), 160–171. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000054.
Foster, E. (2015). Rivals or roomates? The relationship between evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence in studies of Anorexia Nervosa. Counselling Psychology Review, 30(4), 34–42.
Guyatt, G. H., Oxman, A. D., Vist, G. E., Kunz, R., Falck-Ytter, Y., Alonso-Coello, P., … The GRADE Working Group. (2008). GRADE: An emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. British Medical Journal, 336, 924–926. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39489.470347.
La Roche, M. J., & Christopher, M. S. (2009). Changing paradigms from empirically supported treatment to evidence-based practice: A cultural perspective. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,40(4), 396–402.
Levant, R. F. (2005). Evidence-based practice in psychology. Monitor on Psychology,26(2), 5.
Levant, R. F., & Hasan, N. T. (2008). Evidence-based practice in psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,39(6), 658–662.
Levant, R. F., & Sperry, H. A. (2016). Components of evidence-based practice in psychology. In N. Zane, G. Bernal, F. L. Leong, N. Zane, G. Bernal, & F. L. Leong (Eds.), Evidence-based psychological practice with ethnic minorities: Culturally informed research and clinical strategies (pp. 15–29). Washington, DC, USA: American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14940-002.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Ritschel, L. A., Lynn, S. J., Cautin, R. L., & Latzman, R. D. (2013). Why many clinical psychologists are resistant to evidence-based practice: Root causes and constructive remedies. Clinical Psychology Review,33(7), 883–900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.008.
Meehl, P. E. (1954). Clinical versus statistical prediction: A theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. Minneapolis, USA: University of Minnesota Press.
Messer, S. (2004). Evidence-based practice: Beyond empirically supported treatments. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,35(6), 580–588.
McGrew, J. H., Ruble, L. A., & Smith, I. M. (2016). Autism spectrum disorder and evidence-based practice in psychology. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,23(3), 239–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12160.
Rousseau, D. M., & Gunia, B. C. (2016). Evidence-based practice: The psychology of EBP implementation. Annual Review of Psychology, 67667–67692. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033336.
Sackett, D. L. (2000). Evidence‐based medicine. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online.
Stewart, R. E., Chambless, D. L., & Stirman, S. W. (2018). Decision making and the use of evidence-based practice: Is the three-legged stool balanced? Practice Innovations,3(1), 56–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000063.
Thomason, T. C. (2010). The trend toward evidence-based practice and the future of psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy,64(1), 29–38.
Wampold, B. E., Goodheart, C. D., & Levant, R. (2007). Clarification and elaboration on evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist,62, 616–618.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lovasz, N., Clegg, J.W. (2019). The Social Production of Evidence in Psychology: A Case Study of the APA Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice. In: O’Doherty, K.C., Osbeck, L.M., Schraube, E., Yen, J. (eds) Psychological Studies of Science and Technology. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25308-0_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25308-0_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25307-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25308-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)