A cross-sectional study of the number and frequency of terms used to refer to knowledge translation in a body of health literature in 2006: a Tower of Babel?

McKibbon, K Ann; Lokker, Cynthia; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Ciliska, Donna; Dobbins, Maureen; Davis, David A; Haynes, R Brian; Straus, Sharon E

doi:10.1186/1748-5908-5-16

Implementation Science

Table 4 KT terms and frequency of use by authors of KT articles.

From: A cross-sectional study of the number and frequency of terms used to refer to knowledge translation in a body of health literature in 2006: a Tower of Babel?

		All KT articles		KT application articles		KT Theory articles
Term tested	Total times used in database	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	no
		N = 579	N = 2,015	N = 210	N = 2,203	N = 152	N = 2,442
Use:	1,000	*31.0	40.7	*55.7	37.1	**49.3	37.9
Change:	359	15.7	13.3	*32.3	12.3	*27.0	13.0
Information	317	12.3	12.2	*22.4	11.4	***17.8	11.9
Change	197	**10.4	6.8	*22.4	6.4	*19.7	6.8
Policy	165	7.9	5.9	**11.9	5.9	*15.8	5.8
Evaluation	131	7.6	4.3	*15.9	4.2	13.2	4.5
Communication	84	2.8	3.4	5.5	3.0	4.6	3.2
Policies	67	3.6	2.3	**5.5	2.3	4.60	2.5
Implementation	63	*5.4	1.6	*11.4	1.7	*9.2	2.0
Utili(z/s)ation	52	***3.3	1.6	*5.5	1.7	*6.6	1.7
Adoption	31	*2.0	0.7	*6.0	0.8	4.6	1.0
Validation	19	0.3	0.8	0	0.8	1.3	0.7
Organi(z/s)ational innovation	19	**1.6	0.5	1.0	0.7	*3.3	0.6
Spread	18	0.3	0.8	1.0	0.7	1.3	0.7
Innovation	18	**1.6	0.4	***2.0	0.6	*3.9	0.5
Quality improvement	13	*1.2	0.1	*4.5	0.2	0	0.5
Dissemination	10	*1.2	0.1	*1.5	0.3	1.3	0.3
Diffusion	10	***0.9	0.2	1.0	0.3	*2.6	0.3
Best practice:	10	**1.0	0.2	**1.5	0.3	**2.0	0.3
Transfer	9	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.7	0.3
Patient safety	9	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.3	0	0.4
Best practice	8	0.7	0.2	**1.5	0.2	***1.3	0.2
Translation	7	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.7	0.2
Continuing education	7	0.5	0.2	1.5	0.2	0	0.3
Complex intervention:	6	*0.9	0.05	*2.0	0.09	*2.0	0.1
Total quality management	5	***0.2	0.1	0.5	0.2	**1.3	0.1
Sustainability	5	0.1	0.1	0.5	0.2	0	0.2
Implementation (w/3)research	4	*0.7	0	**1.0	0.087	*2.6	0
Complex intervention	4	*0.7	0	1.5	0.04	*2.0	0.04
Research utili(z/s)ation	3	0.5	0	0	0.1	*2.0	0
Institutionali(z/s)ation	3	**0.5	0	*1.0	0.04	0	0.1
Diffusion of innovation:	3	**0.5	0	0.5	0.087	*2.0	0
Action research	3	0.2	0.1	0.5	0.09	***0.7	0.08
Translational research	2	**0.3	0	0	0.087	**0.7	0.04
Quality assurance	2	2.2	0	0	0.087	**0.7	0.04
Participatory research	2	0	0.1	0	0.087	0	0.08
Participatory action research	2	0.2	0.05	***0.5	0.04	**0.7	0.04
Knowledge management	2	0.2	0.05	***0.5	0.04	0	0.08
Communities of Practice	2	0.2	0.05	***0.5	0.04	0	0.08
Capacity building	2	0	0.1	0	0.087	0	0.08
Technology transfer	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	0	0.04
Sociology of Knowledge	1	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.04
Service Innovation	1	0	0.05	**0.5	0	0	0.04
Research capacity	1	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.04
Policy Research	1	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.04
Opinion leader:	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	*0.7	0
Linkage and exchange	1	0.2	0	**0.5	0	0	0.04
Knowledge transfer	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	*0.7	0
Knowledge diffusion	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	*0.7	0
Knowledge (w/3)utili(z/s)ation	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	*0.7	0
Knowledge (w/3)synthesis	1	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.04
Knowledge (w/3)dissemination	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	0	0.04
Information Science	1	0.2	0	0	0.04	0	0.04
Effectiveness (w/3) research	1	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.04

All terms include various spelling and forms, e.g., utilization or utilisation and complex intervention or complex interventions. Data are provided in percentages of use of the term in the KT articles compared with the rest of the articles in the database. Statistical significance was tested with Chi-square analyses. Some terms are represented by more than one variation of the term, e.g., best practice and best practice: (truncated to get multiple endings).
* = highly significant p < 0.001
**moderately significant p = 0.001 to p < 0.01
***slightly significant p = 0.01 to p < 0.05

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ISSN: 1748-5908

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