Translating Science into Policy and Legislation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Differential Outcomes ◽  
Heterogeneous Variables

Evidence-informed policy is a deliberate process that features analysis of evidence as a necessary step to reaching a public policy decision. Risk is inherent in policy decisions, and decision-makers must often balance consideration of costs; social, economic, and environmental impacts; differential outcomes for various stakeholders; and political considerations. Policymakers rely on evidence to help reduce uncertainty and mitigate these risks. This chapter considers the policymaking process as infrastructure and takes a constructivist approach to the development of evidence. It highlights the reflexivity between the demand for, and supply of, evidence and issues of power, authority, expertise, and inclusion. Finally, the chapter addresses the challenges of applying evidence to complex problems where multiple, heterogeneous variables affect outcomes and concludes with a call for further research to examine the decisions, values, and norms embedded in the design and development of the technical architectures and processes used in policy analysis and decision support.

Public Policy Making and Public Policy Analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee S. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Policy Analysis ◽  
Professional Class ◽  
The Many

This chapter reviews the development and growth of the policy-analytic profession. Historically, government decision makers have often called upon those with expertise to assist them in reaching their decisions. This chapter, however, concerns a new professional class of advisors that began developing during the 1950s in the United States. This new profession assists policy makers in understanding better their alternatives and relevant considerations for choosing among them. From here, the chapter offers some perspective on the research to date that has attempted to assess the effects of the profession—a perspective that emphasizes some important differences across the many types of governmental settings that utilize policy analysis, and the methodological difficulties that assessment efforts confront.

Advancing foreign policy analysis by studying leaders from the global South

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-421
Author(s):  
Klaus Brummer
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Global South ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Individual Decision

Abstract Using the concept of ‘context sensitivity’ as organizing theme, this article explores different avenues of advancing foreign policy analysis (FPA) scholarship based on insights from the global South. Since foreign policy decision-makers in the global South operate in (at times very) different political environments than their western counterparts, the applicability of FPA approaches cannot be taken as a given, which is why their context sensitivity (i.e., the extent to which core concepts and indicators contained in those approaches travel to non-western settings) needs to be explored. This article suggests that our understanding of the motives and behaviours of individual decision-makers can be advanced in three distinct ways based on insights from the global South. First, several of the FPA constructs that focus on individual decision makers have seen hardly any applications to non-western cases, which is why the latter contributes to ascertaining the analytical scope of those constructs. Second, taking more fully into account the differences in decision-making environments within which leaders from the global South operate can advance leader-oriented FPA approaches by helping to specify certain theoretical assumptions proposed by them. Finally, the aspiration to analyse leaders from the global South can advance FPA in terms of method by, for instance, developing non-English language coding schemes for profiling leaders based on speech acts that are cognizant of the specificities of individual languages, while at the same time allowing for measurement equivalence across different languages.

The argumentative turn in public policy inquiry: deliberative policy analysis for usable advice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Science ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Usable Knowledge ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Policy Inquiry ◽  
Policy Argumentation

The argumentation turn in policy analysis emerged in the late 1980s as a response to questions concerning social relevance and usable knowledge. Toward this end, it focused on an apparent gap between policy inquiry and real-world policymaking. Basic to the approach was a challenge to the ‘value free’ positivist orientation that has shaped the field of policy analysis, underscoring in particular the limits of the technocratic practices to which it gave rise. After tracing the political and academic debates that surrounded the uses of policy analysis, the chapter presents the alternative argumentative orientation and its post-positivist methodological perspective. The discussion emphasizes its language-based foundations and outlines the logic of a deliberative-analytic framework for the assessment of policy argumentation. It illustrates the ways that policy analysis needs to integrate empirical and normative inquiry. Policy findings and practical policy argumentation are interpreted by decision-makers and citizens in terms of their relations to the larger framework of norms and values that imbue them with social and political meanings. Moving beyond a narrow empirical assignment, the argumentative turn seeks to assist these actors by also drawing out these normative connections. It is, as such, an effort to make good on Harold Lasswell's call for a 'policy science' of democracy.

scholarly journals Relevance of Policy Analysis: Needs for Design, Implementation and Packaging

1994 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Jerry R. Skees
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Traditional Model ◽  
Policy Makers

AbstractThis article challenges the traditional model of the economist as a humble technocrat who simply provides analysis given the preferences of policy decision-makers. Since decision-makers rarely reveal their preferences, it is important that the would-be policy research/analyst know the political economy and be willing to identify potential performance goals for society. Researchers who are willing to incur the transaction cost associated with becoming involved in useful policy research must learn to work within the imperfect policy process. Policy research that considers the importance of implementation and that acknowledges the institutions and the history will have the highest chance of being useful to policy-makers.

scholarly journals Economic Science and Public Policy

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Minimal Degree ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
High Degree

In this article, research on the application of science to policy issues is reviewed and applied to economic science. Economists who want their professionally credentialed economic research to have an impact on public policy are advised to consult with policy decision-makers in framing their research questions and throughout the research process, thus assuring that the resulting findings will be relevant. A minimal degree of bias in framing, conducting, and presenting research complements a high degree of relevance for the results, allowing economic research to make a difference.

scholarly journals Poseidon—Decision Support Tool for Water Reuse

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Oertlé ◽  
Christoph Hugi ◽  
Thomas Wintgens ◽  
Christos Karavitis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Feasibility Studies ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Water Quality Standards ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Quality Water

In an era when many water systems worldwide are experiencing water stress regarding water quantity and quality, water reuse has received growing attention as one of the most promising integrated mitigating solutions. Nevertheless, the plethora of technologies and their combinations available, as well as social, economic, and environmental constraints, often make it complex for stakeholders and especially decision makers to elicit relevant information. The scope of the current study is to develop a decision support tool that supports pre-feasibility studies and aims at promoting water reuse and building capacities in the field. The tool developed currently encompasses 37 unit processes combined into 70 benchmark treatment trains. It also contains information on water quality standards and typical wastewater qualities. It estimates the removal performances for 12 parameters and the lifecycle costs including distribution. The tool and all underlying data are open access and under continuous development. The underlying systemic approach of the tool makes it intuitive also for users with limited prior knowledge in the field to identify most adequate solutions based on a multi-criteria assessment. This should help to promote water reuse and spearhead initiates for more detailed feasibility and design commissioning for implementation of water reuse schemes.

The Need for a New Class of Information to Aid Public Policy Decision-Makers

1987 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald P. Robin
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Potential Usefulness ◽  
New Class ◽  
Current Information ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Type Information

The purpose of this article is to suggest the need for a new class of marketing-type information in public policy decision-making. Justification for this need comes from analyzing the adequacy of current information and noting several important flaws. Marketing-type information is suggested as a partial solution to the problems created by these flaws, and an extended example of its potential usefulness is provided as an illustration.

An Empirical Analysis of Outcome Biases in Constituent Evaluations of Public Policy Decision Makers

1992 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Mowen ◽  
Thomas H. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Weak Form ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Decision Under Uncertainty ◽  
Exchange Relationship ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Outcome Bias ◽  
Outcome Biases

This research empirically investigated a phenomenon that may influence the exchange relationship between public policy makers and consumers—the tendency of consumers to exhibit an outcome bias in their evaluations of a public policy maker who makes a decision under uncertainty. An outcome bias occurs when evaluators assess performance based upon the outcome of the decision rather than upon the quality of the decision itself The results of the study revealed that outcome and decision appropriateness information interacted to influence the evaluation of a public policy decision maker, thereby supporting a “weak form” of the outcome bias phenomenon. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of public policy makers marketing their decisions by publicizing the process through which decisions are made.

EURRECA’s Approach for Estimating Micronutrient Requirements

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Matthys ◽  
Pieter van ‘t Veer ◽  
Lisette de Groot ◽  
Lee Hooper ◽  
Adriënne E.J.M. Cavelaars ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reference Values ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
The Body ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Nutrient Requirements ◽  
Factorial Approach ◽  
Dietary Reference Values ◽  
Health Policy Decision ◽  
Quantitative Integration

In Europe, micronutrient dietary reference values have been established by (inter)national committees of experts and are used by public health policy decision-makers to monitor and assess the adequacy of diets within population groups. The approaches used to derive dietary reference values (including average requirements) vary considerably across countries, and so far no evidence-based reason has been identified for this variation. Nutrient requirements are traditionally based on the minimum amount of a nutrient needed by an individual to avoid deficiency, and is defined by the body’s physiological needs. Alternatively the requirement can be defined as the intake at which health is optimal, including the prevention of chronic diet-related diseases. Both approaches are confronted with many challenges (e. g., bioavailability, inter and intra-individual variability). EURRECA has derived a transparent approach for the quantitative integration of evidence on Intake-Status-Health associations and/or Factorial approach (including bioavailability) estimates. To facilitate the derivation of dietary reference values, EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA) is developing a process flow chart to guide nutrient requirement-setting bodies through the process of setting dietary reference values, which aims to facilitate the scientific alignment of deriving these values.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document