Just Science

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Evan Marie Lowder, Associate Professor at George Mason University, Dr. Eric Grommon, Applied Criminologist and Associate Professor at Indiana University Indianapolis, and Dr. Brad Ray, Senior Researcher at RTI International, to discuss their evaluation of the Indianapolis police and mental health co-response team program described in the previous episode. To evaluate the Indianapolis co-response program, a randomized controlled study of 911 calls for service was utilized to help ensure that any positive or negative outcomes were a direct result of the program rather than other factors. When conducted outside of a laboratory setting, this type of study requires extensive planning, coordination, and trust-building between researchers and practitioners. Listen along as Dr. Lowder, Dr. Grommon, and Dr. Ray describe the moving parts that facilitate real-world randomized controlled trials, the importance of directly comparing outcomes from co-response