Can Citizen Science Seriously Contribute to Policy Development?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1726-1741
Author(s):  
Colin Chapman ◽  
Crona Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Data Gaps

This chapter considers the potential for citizen science to contribute to policy development. A background to evidence-based policy making is given, and the requirement for data to be robust, reliable and, increasingly, cost-effective is noted. The potential for the use of ‘co-design' strategies with stakeholders, to add value to their engagement as well as provide more meaningful data that can contribute to policy development, is presented and discussed. Barriers to uptake can be institutional and the quality of data used in evidence-based policy making will always need to be fully assured. Data must be appropriate to the decision making process at hand and there is potential for citizen science to fill important, existing data-gaps.

Can Citizen Science Seriously Contribute to Policy Development?

2017 ◽  
pp. 246-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Chapman ◽  
Crona Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Data Gaps

This chapter considers the potential for citizen science to contribute to policy development. A background to evidence-based policy making is given, and the requirement for data to be robust, reliable and, increasingly, cost-effective is noted. The potential for the use of ‘co-design' strategies with stakeholders, to add value to their engagement as well as provide more meaningful data that can contribute to policy development, is presented and discussed. Barriers to uptake can be institutional and the quality of data used in evidence-based policy making will always need to be fully assured. Data must be appropriate to the decision making process at hand and there is potential for citizen science to fill important, existing data-gaps.

scholarly journals Can citizen science complement official data sources that serve as evidence-base for policies and practice to improve water quality?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ariane König ◽  
Karl Pickar ◽  
Jacek Stankiewicz ◽  
Kristina Hondrila
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Data Production ◽  
Official Data

Addressing environmental issues in policy making requires recognising these issues as part of a complex socio-ecological system. The evidence base for such policies and associated monitoring and implementation measures, as well as related official indicators, statistics and environmental accounts are receiving increasing attention. This paper explores the potential of citizen science as a non-traditional source of data to complement the current data production process for evidence-based policy-making, using pollution of surface waters and its effect on associated ecosystems as an example. The paper develops a framework that helps to explore the official data production process in relation to different purposes of environmental policies. This highlights different challenges that the current official data production process sees itself confronted with in relation to the different purposes of the policies and associated monitoring regimes. These questions are explored with reference to the case of evidence-based policy making on water quality of surface freshwater in the EU, with a focus on Luxembourg. The analysis is based on extensive documentary analysis and literature review, as well as a series of interviews and participatory workshops with various stakeholders, and first results of a pilot project work with engaged citizen volunteers to solicit data on water quality with a focus on its nutrient content. On this basis, this paper argues that citizen science has the clear potential to meaningfully contribute both to the evidence base for policy and practice, as well as to an improved governance process.

scholarly journals Use of evidence in policy making in South Africa: An exploratory study of attitudes of senior government officials

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Paine Cronin ◽  
Mastoera Sadan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Evidence Use ◽  
High Resource ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
The Uk

This paper outlines a 2011 study commissioned by the Presidency’s Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD) which promotes evidence-based policy making (EBPM) in South Africa. EBPM refers to norms, initiatives and methods aimed at improving evidence-based policy in countries from which South Africa traditionally borrows public service reforms, particularly the UK and Canada. The study provides a descriptive snapshot of attitudes to evidence-use in policy making. All 54 senior government officials interviewed felt that evidence-use is too limited to ensure relevant, effective policy responses. This includes policies on which complex results depend and those with long-term and high-resource implications. Although all respondents regarded EBPM as self-evidently desirable, there were different views on practical application. Examples provided suggest that, where evidence was used, it was very often related to a borrowed international policy without a prior evidencedrivenanalysis of successes and failures or its relevance and feasibility in terms of local issuesand context. Policy makers generally know they should be making optimal use of availableevidence, but highlighted systemic barriers beyond the influence of individual managersto resolve. The study suggests that improved use of evidence throughout the policy cycle,particularly in analysing problems and needs, is a requirement for learning through evidencebased policy development. It suggests that political and administrative leadership will need to agree on norms, ways of dealing with the barriers to effective use of evidence and on the role of each throughout the policy cycle in ensuring appropriate evidence is available and used.

scholarly journals Evidence-based policy making: how cost-effective are disease management programs in the Netherlands?

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos Tsiachristas ◽  
Jane Cramm ◽  
Anna P. Nieboer ◽  
Maureen P.M.H. Rutten-van Mölken
Keyword(s):  
Disease Management ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Disease Management Programs ◽  
Evidence Based Policy

Can Complexity Move UK Policy beyond ‘Evidence-Based Policy Making’ and the ‘Audit Culture’? Applying a ‘Complexity Cascade’ to Education and Health Policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Audit Culture ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
The Uk

For much of the twentieth century UK public policy has been based on a strong centralist, rationalist and managerialist framework. This orientation was significantly amplified by New Labour in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to the development of ‘evidence-based policy making’ (EBPM) and the ‘audit culture’ – a trend that looks set to continue under the current government. Substantial criticisms have been raised against the targeting/audit strategies of the audit culture and other forms of EBPM, particularly in complex policy areas. This article accepts these criticisms and argues that in order to move beyond these problems one must not only look at the basic foundation of policy strategies, but also develop practical alternatives to those strategies. To that end, the article examines one of the most basic and common tools of the targeting/audit culture, the aggregate linear X-Y graph, and shows that when it has been applied to UK education policy, it leads to: (1) an extrapolation tendency; (2) a fluctuating ‘crisis–success' policy response process; and (3) an intensifying targeting/auditing trend. To move beyond these problems, one needs a visual metaphor which combines an ability to see the direction of policy travel with an aspect of continual openness that undermines the extrapolation tendency, crisis–success policy response and targeting/auditing trend. Using a general complexity approach, and building on the work of Geyer and Rihani, this article will attempt to show that a ‘complexity cascade’ tool can be used to overcome these weaknesses and avoid their negative effects in both education and health policy in the UK.

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