Evidence-Based Policy

After reading this article, the author gave readers a bunch of ideas about the public policy field. The author illustrated the definition of public policy clearly, explained specifically the broad field of public policy, and absolutely brought out reliable theories. It is a very useful chapter for the novice of public policy or public administration. By all means, this article provides multidimensional fashions to analyze or determine the

The policy cycle suggested by Althaus, Bridgman and Davis consists of a continuous wheel which nominally begins with the task of 'identifying issues ' and progresses through 'policy analysis ', 'policy instruments ', consultation ', 'coordination ', 'decision ', 'implementation ' and 'evaluation ' before beginning the cycle again (Althaus et al 2013: 37-40). The authors admit that policy rarely actually follows this model sequentially in the steps outlined above and is really meant as more of a guide to good policy, rather than an evaluation of actual practice (Althaus et al 2013: 40-42).

This paper is a review of chapter’s one (1), two (2) and three (3) in Thomas A. Birklands (2016) fourth edition regarding policy process. The reading attempts to define and show what is meant by policy process, how government, politics and the public are intertwined, problems that are associated with the policy process and how we address the problems. Current day events as well as past history are applied to the practice of policy process which assists in defining the process and highlighting its connection and importance. Thomas A. Birklands refers to the Clinton administration, the Obama administration and the George W. Bush administration, the DARE Program, World War II, and the Vietnam War, in the chapters and leads us down a path discussing

Therefore, they are considering the public’s opinion, and gathering information based on these studies which is unbiased. The quality of the article is very organized. It has subtitles for each section, charts and tables to show statistics, and a conclusion of the studies.

“Policy research puts the spotlight on the variables that indicate relationships of social problems and other variables that public policy can manoeuvre” (Weimer and Vining, 2011, p. 25). Therefore, it is understandable that a better-educated and informed public that is present nowadays is more concerned about governments doing ‘the right thing’. Likewise, there is more and more scepticism about government interventions, especially when they inherit monetary spending (Davies et al., 2000, pp. 1–2). These are only a few reasons why in the field of policy making evidence became a substantial part. According to the vast amount of literature and the importance assigned to this topic from governments globally, one could think we have arrived in a “scientifically guided society” (Lindblom, 1990, pp. 213–214), (Nutley and Webb, 2000, p. 13). The purpose of this essay is to answer the question, if the barriers to evidence-based policy making are much smaller than most critics suggest. For this reason, a short introduction and the current debate about evidence-based policy will be given in the first instance. Secondly, known barriers of evidence-based policy making like timing or resources and ways to overcome them, will be presented. Based on these findings a concept that explains the claim that the barriers of evidence-based policymaking (EBP) are much smaller

Having analyzed the historical background of the need to identify policy alternatives, it is then critical to have an overview of the stakeholders and policy networks involved in the formulation and identification of policy

Rethinking government is the most revolutionary idea. it can govern in the true sense of the word, where the government wants every agency to immediately define its performance objective, quality objective, and their cost objective. This should be followed by the adoption of the formal processes of continuous improvement and benchmarking. All agencies and their policy, program, activity, should be confronted with these questions: “What is your mission?” “Is it still the right mission?”, “Is it still worth doing?” “If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?” This questioning has been done often enough, in all kinds of organizations—businesses, hospitals, churches, and even local governments. Government should cut taxes and improve

In their work, the researchers do not clearly indicate their forecast but only explain the basis on which they built their investigation. They follow a prior released survey that validates employment of research by Australian policy makers at work, attributable to that, the four University of Queensland researchers successfully explain in tables how highly rating public servants were in the use of internal sources. They also show the policy makers score averagely with external sources leaving only think tanks and local governments below

AbouZahr C, Adjei S and Kanchanachitra C (2007) From data to policy: good practices and cautionary tales. The Lancet 2007; 369: 1039–46

The skill of effective research based policy is not truly understood, but the growing research on the linkages between research and policy has identified a number of factors. These important factors are the credible, high quality research, and intent to shape policy, understanding and factoring in the sociopolitical context in which the research will capture, identify, and networking with key actors in government, civil society, and organizations (Jones, Tefera, and Woldehanna, 2008). However, to monitor and possibly hold national and international policy makers liable to their official commitments to improve the conditions of those children living in poverty, researchers and activists must recognize the important of quantifiable indicators

The scarcity of resources is on contributing factor to ethical dilemmas in deciding who is on the receiving end of these resources and who is going to be the one to foot the bill. Given scarcity of resources, how can rational decision be made for public policies, which involves making trade-offs between conflicting demands and priorities? Evidence-based policy is public policy that is informed by scientific studies that identify programs and practices that best solve public problems. Wanting to do away with the use of ideology as a basis for policy decision making, the Blair government in the United Kingdom popularized the use of evidence-based policy.

In spite of the policy cycle tool, it is not as easy to develop or implement new policy as there are many factors influencing it. The process of policy development involves many participants and individual stake holders. It also involves various areas which will be affected due to the new policy development and implementation. According to Hardee, Feranil, Boezwinkle and Clark (2004) policy circle involves six different stages and involves various parties who are working together for the new policy development. However, it is

Reflectively, if policy makers have invested their own funds and time, or the cause or goals are more in line with that of their own ideology, then clearly they will have to pay much more attention to the data before making their decisions. The finger-pointing reveals the miscommunication between researchers and policy makers, and is a major dilemma in the fragmentation of research effort. To further their own agenda, sometimes political entities higher influential “synthesizers” to carry out their own research in order to promote what their organizations deemed important (p. 77). As Petrilli states, the synthesizers put together the “High Qualified” research, package it into something that is ideologically suitable for their own agenda and pass it down to policy makers. The user-friendly language, same ideology and compelling evidence why policy makers should embrace the definition of HQ will ultimately help policy makers to make their decision. Education field as a whole, whether it is academic, research, structures, management or a combination of them all is a complex entity and full of political, social, economical and ideological agendas tangled deeply within it.

This paper is a review of Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in Patton, Sawicki, and Clark, (2012) third edition, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning. Chapter 1 discusses problem review, the analysis of difficult problems, the complexity of problems and how the decision makers will make their decisions (Patton, 2012, p. 2, 3). Chapter 2 examines the policy analysis process, the types of policy analysis, the role of the analyst and ethical considerations. Chapter 3 discusses the gathering of data, interviewing, statistical analysis and communicating results. This paper contains (1) an overview of the chapters, (2) summarize the key points, (3) summary of the reading, and (4) underscore some implications/applications for policy and practice at a local, state or national context.

Bason,C (2010) uses the term public sector innovation to refer to “the process of creating new ideas and turning them into value for society” .(Bason,2010) then goes on to discuss about the value public sector innovation holds and asserts that the public sector has four major components: productive, service experience, results and democracy. (Bason, 2010, p.34)