both the practice and research worlds. In the CBO, the bridge person is the "antenna" of the research endeavor, identifying potential research opportunities in patient trends, service delivery system barriers, and practice needs. In the research setting the bridge person can help ensure that research hypotheses are not too partialized to be relevant to practice, and can facilitate research designs that integrate, not interfere, with the work flow. With the benefit of understanding the treatment context, this person (or two or more people sharing this role) may also help with interpreting findings and facilitating the introduction and adoption of evidence-based approaches to treatment.

Clinical professionals, because of their practical experience, have significant knowledge to bring to the formulation stage of the research endeavor. Research professionals, on the other hand, bring significant knowledge to the design phase of research. Data collection lends itself to both domains, while analysis tends to be the domain of the researcher. When it comes to the critical stage of adoption of findings and dissemination for practice, greater involvement of practitioners and consumers is essential for success.

Thus, the particular role of the treatment program is defined by the requirements of the research, the experience with research activities, and the clinical circumstances. For example, a passive role might be appropriate when the research design is highly controlled and narrowly focused on a treatment variable such as a new drug that is outside of the expertise of the program and its staff. In other cases program staff may become collaborators in the investigation, including being responsible for specific and subcontracted duties. Finally, a treatment provider could be a principal in the research and share responsibility for all aspects of the study. And some may take the path of Arapahoe House and become full and permanent partners with research organizations or develop professional research components within their own organizations. In all cases, the treatment program should expect to receive appropriate recognition and publication credit for their role in the research project.

Community-based drug and alcohol treatment organizations vary in management complexity and the development of management and clinical systems (see Box 4.4). Most organizations begin with relatively simple organizational structures. Management functions and service or production functions are not strongly differentiated. Over time roles and responsibilities become more defined and more complex. This discussion of factors affecting research collaboration includes an examination of the stages of