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by Dr. Dwayne Simpson, S. B. Sells Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Addiction Research

The Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) was established in 1962 by Saul B. Sells to conduct research on personality structure, personnel selection, social interactions, and organizational functioning.  This work included pioneering research using first-generation computers for integrating personality theories through large-scale factor analysis, development of performance-based criterion selection strategies for airline pilots, and formulation of personal distance needs for humans during long-duration space missions.  In 1968, the IBR was selected to develop and conduct the first federally-funded national evaluation of the newly formed community-based system for treating heroin addiction in the U.S.  This work helped define methodological standards for addiction treatment process and follow-up outcome studies in natural field settings, and the IBR has participated in three major national treatment effectiveness studies funded by the National Institutes of Health.  Conceptual frameworks emerging from this research for evaluating treatment dynamics, outcomes, and change—both at the individual client and organizational functioning levels— have yielded assessment and intervention resources as well as implementation strategies now being used internationally.
  

Texas Christian University (TCU)

TCU was founded in 1873 as an independent and self-governing institution and is located on 268 acres five miles from downtown Fort Worth.  It is associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from which it receives a commitment to open-minded inquiry into all scientific and intellectual issues, with students and faculty representing Christian as well as Jewish and Muslim faiths.  Research conducted at TCU is not bound by any code of religious perspectives or principles in its pursuit of knowledge and applications that address world needs.   The University enrolls over 7,300 undergraduate students in 102 majors and over 1250 graduate students in 20 fields (12 doctoral programs).  It employs approximately 1750 faculty and staff and has an annual operating budget of almost $300 million.  Additional information about TCU is available at www.tcu.edu.

The IBR functions as a separate academic unit of the University, but through common research training goals and interests it is closely affiliated with the Department of Psychology.  Research Scientists in the IBR function much like other University faculty members; they may hold Adjunct Professor and Graduate Faculty appointments, serve on student thesis and dissertation committees, and teach formal courses when time and opportunities permit.  Their special skills in advanced data management and multivariate analytic techniques provide the foundation for graduate training in health services evaluation research at TCU.

IBR Mission and Focus

To evaluate and improve the effectiveness of programs for reducing drug abuse and related problems.  

For many years, research staff at the IBR have given special attention to addictions and the evaluation of cognitive and behavioral interventions provided by community-based programs.  Emphasis has been on the use of natural designs for studies in real-world settings and the use of advanced multivariate methodologies.  Research interests in recent years have broadened to include related areas of significant public concern—especially addiction treatments for criminal justice populations as well as the spread of AIDS and related infections among drug users.  Other major areas of interest include organizational functioning and process research for improving field-based implementation strategies of science-based innovations.

 
IBR Objectives and Research Strategy

Research conducted at the IBR is intended to (1) generate and disseminate knowledge that impacts state and national policy decisions in the addictions field, (2) provide critical methodological and substantive research training for graduate students, (3) help IBR scientists achieve their highest scholarly potential, and (4) raise the research reputation and visibility of Texas Christian University (TCU) through scientific and public health contributions.

Science is intended to be programmatic and incremental, thereby requiring a strategy to help maintain focus and build a systematized knowledge base. In the addiction treatment field, the emphasis on “evidence-based” interventions and procedures for quality control and improvement dictate scientific discipline—both in the short- and long-run—when seeking grants and publishing findings.  The IBR therefore strives to be strategic and deliberate, emphasizing its heritage in evaluation research, staff strengths, and knowledge gaps that need to be filled.  A key operational principle has been to be scientifically selective in requests and commitments for research funding.  The IBR scientific strategy is organized around conceptual frameworks synthesized from existing knowledge and represented by the TCU treatment process and outcome model and the TCU program change model.  These frameworks help staff visualize the foundations of our treatment and organizational research protocols, identify emerging issues that deserve attention, and integrate new findings with existing knowledge.

Implementation of field-based studies and the innovations they produce relies on establishing reliable partnerships with treatment systems and honoring commitments to address their needs.  Providing useful and valid feedback to research partners, funding agencies, policy makers, and other researchers is an important element of science.  In particular, scientific publications are strategically planned at the IBR, integrated with other studies from the appropriate literature, and structured to effectively communicate salient findings.  Finally, “products” from funded research—including intervention manuals, assessments, presentations, and integrative summaries—are expected to be prepared in a user-friendly format and made available without cost to treatment providers, interested researchers, and the general public.  Dissemination and sustained implementation of scientific-supported innovations deserve as much attention as “discovery.”

IBR History and Scientific Contributions

Following establishment of the IBR in 1962 (PDF: 263KB / 5 pages), Dr. Saul B. Sells served as its Director until his retirement from this role 20 years later.  He was a 1936 Ph.D. from Columbia University who trained under Robert S. Woodworth and Edward L. Thorndike.  Robert I. Watson and Phillip H. Dubois served as members of his first IBR Advisory Council (PDF: 1.4MB / 11 pages).  Dr. D. Dwayne Simpson, a student of Dr. Sells beginning in 1966 and a member of the IBR faculty since 1970, became IBR Director in 1982 when he temporarily moved the Institute to Texas A&M University.  Reestablished at TCU in 1989, the IBR’s mission and role in the University has remained essentially unchanged since it was founded.  In 1996, it was designated as a “Center of Excellence” at TCU and has provided valuable training opportunities in graduate and postgraduate education, contributing to the professional success of many former students and staff members in academic and applied research leadership positions.

After Dr. Sells joined the TCU Department of Psychology in 1958 he began to formulate plans for establishing a center for applied behavioral research.  His paper on “interactive psychology” (PDF, 672KB; American Psychologist, 1963, 18(11), pp. 696-702) foretold his commitments to merging interests in personality profiles, selection techniques that could predict performance outcomes, and organizational functioning with real-world applications.  Sells admonished fellow scientists “to consider more seriously the dimensional nature of the behavior repertoire and the measurement characteristics of his apparatus, as well as the dimensions of the environments in which the behavior occurs” within multivariate analytic process models (p.698).  He soon began drawing leading applied scientists to visit Texas and consult with him and his growing research team.  His long-time drug treatment research affiliations with Robert Demaree, Dwayne Simpson, George Joe, and Don Dansereau were established in 1966-69, followed by a cadre of young scientists who came to work and train in the IBR. 

As the IBR approaches its 50th anniversary, several prominent scientists and policy makers – especially from the program evaluation and addiction treatment fields – have reflected on their years of experiences with Sells and the heritage he left.  Robert DuPont and Karst Besteman (the first Director and Deputy Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse) recall the pioneering role and impact of Saul Sells and his associates in conducting the first large-scale national evaluation of community-based substance abuse treatment in the U.S.  Barry Brown (University of North Carolina at Wilmington), Carl Leukefeld (University of Kentucky), and George De Leon (New York University School of Medicine) note the IBR contributions in moving treatment research beyond large-scale effectiveness evaluations into key issues of therapeutic process and field implementation of innovations.  More…

Graduate Student Training Opportunities

Research training is an integral part of the Institute’s commitment to conducting quality behavioral research.  Graduate and postgraduate training is carried out in close collaboration with the Department of Psychology and other departments at TCU.  Since IBR does not award academic degrees, its students must meet all requirements of the department in which an advanced degree is to be awarded.  A limited number of stipends are awarded on a competitive basis.

IBR’s training program emphasizes:

• Health services research, especially evaluation of drug abuse interventions
• Formulating original research plans and appropriate data collection instrumentation
• Collecting and editing data, and management of large data systems
• Use of sophisticated analytic techniques, and publication of findings
• Combining theory with practice, and communicating applications of results

Interested students are encouraged to contact the “Graduate Program” at TCU’s Department of Psychology for application information.   The applications are available in PDF format (for the Department of Psychology and the School of Science and Engineering) and can be downloaded.  Specific interest in the IBR and its emphasis on applied evaluation research in the drug abuse field should be noted at the time of the contact.  Based on this information, the IBR Director and faculty will be notified of the application and its status. 
(Texas Christian University does not discriminate on the basis of personal status, individual characteristics or group affiliation, including but not limited to classes protected under state and federal law.)

Download the IBR Annual Report

Adobe Reader is required to download IBR’s Annual Report.  Information for downloading the Reader application is available at the Adobe site.

Our 2008 Annual Report is available in Adobe(R) PDF format.  The report is designed as an electronic document.  It features “Web markers” to sections in the IBR Web site and internal links that download specific IBR Web resources, such as intervention manuals and evaluation assessments.

Download the 2008 IBR Annual Report file: (PDF; 586KB / 32 pages)

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