Session Information
23 SES 02 A, Research/Evidence-based Approaches to Policy Making (Part 1)
Paper Session continued in 23 SES 03 A
Contribution
Since the 1970s, there has been considerable focus on the impact of research on the production of social, health and educational policy, particularly in the European context (e.g., Caplan 1979; Cooper, Levin & Campbell, 2009; Edwards, Sebba & Rickinson, 2007; James & Pollard, 2011; Majone, 1989; Moat, Lavis, Wilson, Rottingen & Bärnighausen, 2013; Nutley, Walter & Davis, 2003, 2009; Stone, 2002; Rosenblatt & Tseng, 2010; Weiss, 1979; Yohalem & Tseng, 2015). While social science researchers perceive their raison d’être to be connected to the development of sound public policy, the impact of research-based knowledge on education policy is limited (Honig & Coburn, 2008; Ince, 2008; Levin, 2004a; Reimer & McGinn, 1997).It has become widely accepted that educational research has improved in volume and quality, but difficulties with effective dissemination and integration into practice, and underutilization by policy elites remain vexed problems (Cooper, 2013; 2014; Honig & Coburn, 2008; Qi & Levin, 2013; Yohalem & Tseng, 2015). As Cooper et al. (2009) have observed, after all of the activity related to knowledge mobilization, very little is known about how governments, schools and school systems, find, share and use research.
The analysis presented here attempts to address some of these blank spots by comparing the findings from research on the decision-making practices of two groups of education policy elites, situated in different contexts – provincial education ministries (Author 1, 2006) and school districts (Author 2, et al, 2013). The research questions are: (1) what are the factors and influences that drive policy decision-making in Canadian education ministries as compared with school districts, and (2) to what extent is education research valued as ‘authentic’ policy evidence?
This work is grounded in the theoretical orientations of Beck (1994; 1997), Majone (1989), Kingdon (1995) and Stone (2002), all of whom conceptualize public policy-making as divergent, uncertain and risky – driven by personal, political, and experiential influences. Our findings support earlier work that theorizes research utilization as a social process: “that unfolds within a complex ecology of relationships, organizations and political and policy contexts” (Yohalem & Tseng 2015). Our work emphasizes the importance of trust and confidence thatnhas been discussed elsewhere in the literature (Nutley et al, 2009; Tseng, 2012). Our work is also consistent with Rosenblatt and Tseng (2010) who emphasize the need to understand the importance of the demand side of research-policy equation, including user perspectives, and the political, economic and social contexts of policy decisions.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Beck, U. (1994). The reinvention of politics: Towards a theory of reflexive modernization. In U. Beck, A. Giddens and S. Lash, (Eds.), Reflexive modernization: Politics, tradition, aesthetics in the modern social order. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Beck, U. (1997). The reinvention of politics: Rethinking modernity in the global social order. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers Inc. Caplan, N. (1979). The two-communities theory and knowledge utilization. American Behavioral Scientist, 22(3), 459-470. Cooper, A. (2014). The use of online strategies and social media for research Dissemination in Education. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(88), 1-26. Cooper, A., Levin, B., & Campbell, C. (2009). The growing (but still limited) importance of evidence in education policy and practice. Journal of Educational Change, 10(2-3), 159-171. Edwards, A., Sebba, J,. & Rickinson, M. (2007). Working with users: some implications for educational research. British Educational Research Journal, 33(5), 647-661. Honig, M., & Coburn, C. (2008). Evidence-based decision-making in school district central offices: Toward a policy and research agenda. Journal of Educational Policy, 22(4), 578-608. James, M., & Pollard, A. (2011). TLRP’s ten principles for effective pedagogy: rationale, development, evidence, argument and impact. Research Papers in Education, 26(3), 275-328. Kingdon, J. (1995). Agendas, alternatives and public policy (2nd ed.). Boston: Little, Brown. (Original work published 1984). Landry, R., Amara, N., & Lamari, M. (2001). Utilization of social science research knowledge in Canada. Research Policy, 30(2), 333-349. Lavis, J., Lomas, J., Hamid, M., & Sewankambod, N. (2006). Assessing country-level efforts to link research to action. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 84, 620-628. Nutley, S., Walter, I., & Davies, H. T. O. (2003). From Knowing to doing: A framework for understanding the evidence-into-practice agenda. Evaluation, 9(2), 125-148. Nutley, S., Walter, I., & Davies, H. T. O. (2009). Promoting evidence- based practice: Models and mechanisms from cross-sector review. Research on Social Work Practice, 19(5), 552-559. Rosenblatt, A., & Tseng, V. The demand side: Uses of research in child and adolescent mental health services. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 37(1-2), 201-204. Stone, D. (2002). The policy paradox: The art of political decision-making. New York, NewYork: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Tseng, V. (2012). The uses of research in policy and practice. SRCD Social Policy Report, 26, 3-16. Weiss, C. (1979), The many meanings of research utilization, Public Administration Review, September-October. Yohalem, N., & Tseng, V. (2015). Commentary: Moving from practice to research and back. Applied Developmental Science, 19(2), 117-120.
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