An Applied Research Model for the Sport Sciences :

The physiological factors that relate to 20-km performance were studied in eight competitive racewalkers. The racewalking velocity at the blood lactate threshold (LT) during steady-state exercise was highly correlated to racewalking pace (r = 0.94) and predicted performance times to within 0.6%, which agrees with previous observations on runners. The two factors that contribute to velocity at LT are O2 uptake at LT (VO2 at LT) and submaximal racewalking economy (measured as the VO2 at a standard velocity). Oxygen uptake at LT was significantly correlated (r = 0.89) to performance in the racewalkers in the present investigation, which agrees with previous observations of runners. Submaximal economy was significantly correlated to performance in the racewalkers (r = -0.82). Maximal oxygen uptake measured during racewalking was not significantly correlated (r = 0.62) to performance. These data indicate that the velocity at LT correlates closely to performance in racewalkers and that the factor of submaximal economy, which partly determines velocity at LT, is related more to performance ability in racewalking than was previously observed in running.

To summarize and analyze the focus and methodologies of the Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) projects funded in 1999-2000 by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). An analysis of the successful applications for the TRIP I and II requests for applications in 1999 and 2000 was produced from the data collected. The following items were abstracted from each of the successful applications: provider focus, patient population, vulnerable populations, methodologies, interventions for change, outcomes measured, and conceptual framework used. AHRQ funded 27 TRIP grants in 1999 and 2000. A wide variety of health care providers, settings, and patients were the target of the grants. The most common study design was a randomized controlled trial. The most common TRIP interventions were educational and the most common frameworks were either adult learning theory or organizational theory. More than half of the projects planned to use information technology and half the projects had a focus on reducing errors. The TRIP projects encompass a broad range of providers, environments, patients, and interventions. The field of applied research and quality improvements should be considerably enhanced by these research projects.