Kinds of Knowledge Applications Available Here.
Applications and tools are based on the systematic collection, evaluation, and synthesis of existing original research combined with syntheses of knowledge learned by practitioners through their work with fire and people. Our summaries of the best available fire social science are intended to support Evidence-based wildland fire management. We use narrative reviews and systematic reviews in the social sciences together with the best experiential knowledge to develop recommended applications & tools.
Evidence-Based Fire Management.
Evidence-Based Fire Management Evidence-based management combines the highest quality scientific research results and theory with the practical experience of fire managers to produce best practices for use by wildland fire planners, managers, and policy makers. This project brings together researchers and managers in a common setting where they can communicate and collaborate to develop actions that will resolve problems and take advantage of opportunities wherever people are part of the wildland fire management equation.
Experiential Knowledge
Lessons Learned. Practitioners have learned a great deal through experience with fire management. Often the lessons learned from working with fire and people have been summarized and are available through the Lessons Learned Center or elsewhere.
Experiential Knowledge Syntheses. These are the experiential equivalent of systematic research reviews. Facts and principles in the human dimensions of fire management are collected from highly experienced fire managers recognized as experts by their peers. Qualitative research methods such as nominal groups, Delphi techniques, and ethnographic interviews are used to gather and refine valuable experiential knowledge that would not otherwise be available.
Science Reviews and Syntheses
Narrative Literature Reviews - collect relevant research, evaluate the studies included, and synthesize the results into scientific principles applied to management problems. Narrative reviews typically do not try to find all the research on a topic and may select only those studies that the reviewer judges to be of highest quality.
Systematic Reviews - are the most rigorous and complete of literature reviews. They focus on specific management problems. They attempt to find all the research on a particular topic, establish explicit criteria to include or exclude studies, evaluate the quality of the studies, and systematically combine findings, often using quantitative or qualitative meta analysis methods.
Bibliographies - Bibliographies range from simple lists of publications and the necessary information to acquire them to more elaborate annotated bibliographies and reading lists.
Applications and Tools
Practical Guidelines - apply the best scientific knowledge available to specific fire management problems. For example, a guideline explains "How Fatigue Affects Situational Awareness and How to Compensate." Another describes "Opinion Leader Influence on Community Adoption of Hazard Mitigation and How to Work with Them."
Quick Reference Guides - are check lists and reminders of the things to do or steps to take when tackling a problem. For example, a Quick Reference Guide summarizes "Signs of Fatigue Effects on Situational Awareness." and another lists "Steps in Finding Neighborhood Opinion Leaders"
Social Science Updates - are brief descriptions of new fire social science tools, training, and research findings available as pod casts, video clips, and brief written articles that can be found at the HDFSS site or sent regularly to your email.
