‘‘Shielding’’ the Knowledge Transfer Process in Human Service Research Gretchen L. Gano Yale University Jocelyn Elise Crowley Rutgers University David Guston Arizona State University ABSTRACT Knowledge utilization studies aim to understand the pathways whereby research moves from a specific set of producers to a specific set of consumers. Broadly speaking, two sets of explanations exist: (1) the engineering model, which focuses on the inevitability of science in advancing knowledge, and (2) the socio-organizational model, which stresses the impor- tance of communication between and among groups as the critical factor in promoting utilization. This study asks both research managers at the Department of Health and Human Services and representatives from a particular set of consumer organizations to elaborate on the qualities of the research process that make knowledge most useful to them. We find that the qualities valued in both communities signal convergence around a novel third approach—the shield model—in which aspects of the original two models reinforce a power- ful professional norm of objectivity that shelters the knowledge production and transmission process from external political pressures. Given the increase in social science scholarship that attempts to affect public policy, it is not surprising that there has been a concomitant growth in work that aims to understand the ways in which such knowledge crosses the boundary between producer and consumer. Knowledge utilization studies aim to map out the conditions under which research findings move from the institutional setting in which they are created to another in which they are reduced to practice or utilized. This movement often occurs from academia to government agencies, from agencies to street-level practitioners, and from all of these to policymakers This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES 0322505. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors would like to thank Barry Bozeman, M. B. Crowley, the various employees of the Department of Health and Human Services and the downstream organizations who generously gave of their time and expertise, and the anonymous reviewers who helped improve the quality of the manuscript. All remaining errors are our own. Kindly address correspondence to Jocelyn Elise Crowley at jocelync@rci.rutgers.edu. doi:10.1093/jopart/muj013 Advance Access publication on April 26, 2006 ª The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. JPART 17:39–60