Evidence-Based Policymaking : Insights from Policy-Minded Researchers and Research-Minded Policymakers

by Bogenschneider; Karen

• ISBN13: 9780415805841
• ISBN10: 0415805848
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book is for those who believe that good government should be based on hard evidence, and that research and policy ought to go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, no such bond exists. Rather, there is a substantial gap, some say chasm, between the production of knowledge and its utilization. Despite much contrary evidence, the authors propose there is a way of doing public policy in a more reflective manner, and that a hunger for evidence and objectivity does exist. This book examines ways to enhance evidence-based policymaking, striking a balance between theory and practice. The attention to theory builds a greater understanding of why miscommunication and mistrust occur. Until we better appreciate the forces that divide researchers and policymakers, we cannot effectively construct strategies for bringing them together. The book is pragmatic, drawing on advice from some of the best and brightest informants from both the research and policy communities. In their own voices, researchers provide incisive analysis about how to bridge the research/policy divide, and policymakers provide insights about why they use research, what kind is most useful, where they seek it, and how they screen its quality. The book breaks through stereotypes about what policymakers are like, and provides an insider's view of how the policy process really works. Readers will learn what knowledge, skills, approaches, and attitudes are needed to take research findings from the laboratory to lawmaking bodies, and how to evaluate one's success in doing so. The authors review the latest empirical and theoretical work. However, nothing substitutes for their extensive experience working at the interface of research and policy, between the worlds of analysis and action. The book reflects their passion for the way public policy is done and their vision for the way it might be done. The book's practical examples and pragmatic advice will appeal to students in graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in family studies and family policy, educational policy, law, political science, public administration, public health, social work, and sociology. This book will also be of interest to researchers who want to bring their ideas into policy debate and to those who work with policymakers to advance an evidence-based policy agenda.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Foreword	p. xv
Exploring the Disconnect Between Research and Policy	p. 1
Reflections on What We Mean by Policy and Evidence-Based Policymaking	p. 3
A Promise Unfulfilled: A Historical Perspective	p. 4
What Went Wrong: Rounding Up the "Usual Suspects"	p. 7
What Makes Understanding the Science-Policy Connection So Challenging?	p. 16
Summary	p. 22
Do Policymakers Want Evidence? Insights From Research-Minded Policymakers	p. 25
Why Are Policymakers Interested in Receiving Research From Professionals?	p. 26
What Kinds of Information Are Most Useful to Policymakers?	p. 32
Where Do Policymakers Go to Get Information?	p. 41
How Do Policymakers Like to Get Information?	p. 44
Summary	p. 52
When Researchers Delivered Evidence to Policymakers	p. 55
The Wisconsin Idea	p. 56
Models for Bringing Research to the Policy Process	p. 63
Summary	p. 74
Who Are These Knowledge Producers and Knowledge Consumers Anyway?	p. 75
Evolution of a Theoretical Perspective	p. 76
Stumbling on the Importance of "Culture" to Explain Communication Breakdowns	p. 79
Toward a Multicommunity Theory of Cultural Influences	p. 91
Summary	p. 97
Why Research Is Underutilized in Policymaking: Community Dissonance Theory	p. 99
Exploring the Character of Community Dissonance	p. 100
Various Meanings of Research Use	p. 104
Some Elemental Concepts: Erecting the Building Blocks of a Theory of Community Dissonance	p. 108
Toward a Conceptual Framework for Thinking About Community Dissonance	p. 114
Summary	p. 125
Breaking Through Stereotypes of Policymakers	p. 129
Researchers' Initial Impressions of Policymakers and How They Changed Over Time	p. 130
Unpacking How Policymakers Differ From Each Other and How Knowledge Brokers Can Leverage These Differences to Their Advantage	p. 135
Summary	p. 146
What Knowledge Producers Should Know About the Policymaking Process	p. 149
Prominent Conceptualizations of the Policy Process	p. 150
When Research Meets the Policy Process: Welfare Reform and Science	p. 151
Nine Observations of the Policy Process: Obvious to Insiders, Surprising to Outsiders	p. 153
Summary	p. 171
Barriers to and Rewards of Cross-Cultural Communication	p. 175
Milk for Poor Kids: An Improbable Policy Victory	p. 176
Researchers' Initial Impressions of Barriers to Working With Policymakers	p. 181
The Rewards of Relaying Research to Policymakers	p. 188
Summary	p. 191
Authors' Note	p. 192
Communicating With Policymakers: Insights From Policy-Minded Researchers	p. 193
What Advice Can Researchers Offer About Communicating Research to Policymakers?	p. 194
Summary	p. 222
Authors' Note	p. 226
Approaching Policymakers: Moving Beyond "What" to "How"	p. 227
Differentiating the Advocacy and Education Approaches for Working With Policymakers	p. 228
Advocacy and Education Across the Ages	p. 229
Which Approach Is the Most Effective When Researchers Wade Into the Policy Community?	p. 233
Why Is the Education Approach Effective?	p. 237
Some Prominent Objections to the Education Approach	p. 247
How Can Educators Establish and Maintain a Nonpartisan Reputation?	p. 249
Summary	p. 250
Endnote	p. 252
Generating Evidence on Disseminating Evidence to Policymakers	p. 253
What Is Known and Unknown About Disseminating Research to Policymakers	p. 254
Baby Steps for Evaluating Efforts to Disseminate Evidence to Policymakers	p. 266
The Family Policy Education Theory of Change	p. 268
Summary	p. 286
Where Do We Go From Here?	p. 291
This Book-A Small Step Forward in a Long Journey	p. 292
What Researchers Could Do and Why It Is So Hard	p. 295
Next Steps: Exploring an Action Agenda	p. 298
Summary	p. 309
Appendix: Methodological Notes	p. 313
The Exploratory Researcher Study	p. 316
The Exploratory Policymaker and Policy Administrator Study	p. 319
References	p. 327
Author Index	p. 339
Subject Index	p. 343
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