How Research Can Transform Policy Nancy Reynolds President and CEO Alberta Centre for Child, Family...

How Research CanTransform PolicyNancy ReynoldsPresident and CEOAlberta Centre for Child, Familyand Community Research

From Research to Policy:A long and winding road

Travel Description

• Not a planned, straight forward movement from problem definition to policy impact

• Takes longer than planned• Lots of detours and stops and starts, heading in

basically same direction• Success depends a lot on guides and fellow

travellers, many of whom you meet along the way

… policy research capacity building in today’s world requires that people behave differently; act more horizontally and collaboratively; share research information; be comfortable with approximations and fluidity rather than definitive research results; and relate to a variety of communities, ethnicities, points of view, researchers from a large variety institutions, citizens and elected decision-makers.

-TGN (The Governance Network) 1 p.5

Politics, as well as management, is often considered the art of making decisions without sufficient information.

Why are people resisting the idea? Are decision makers paralyzed, because of conflicting points of view? Are they unable to imagine the potential of an idea, because of their institutional biases? Because of their inability to access proper data? Because they have invested too much in a definition of the problem and are unable to abandon older conceptual models? Because they perceive opposition from certain powerful groups in society?

Nathalie Des Rosiers, PresidentLaw Commission of Canada

Horizons, Volume 6 Number 1

The journey from research to policy is marked by attempts to diminish such resistance. It may be about overcoming institutional biases, acquiring new data, critically examining current conceptual frameworks, dispelling myths or measuring the costs of doing nothing.

Nathalie Des Rosiers, PresidentLaw Commission of Canada

Horizons, Volume 6 Number 1

Evidence and Policy Decision MakingInfluencing Factors

Political Influences

Stakeholders•NGO•Delivery Partners•Lobby Groups•Business Organizations

Public

Media

Evidence

Personal Preferences

Traditional Practices

Types ofEvidence

Policy Stages

Initial Creating Developing Implementing DefendingAwareness (Rationale) (Appraisal) (Monitoring) & Justifying

Policy Decision

Policy Levels

• Government– National– Provincial– Regional– Municipal

• Administrative• Clinical

Policy Maker’s Activities

• Agenda Setting

• Policy Formulation

• Policy implementation

The Relationship between Research

and Public Policy

• Policy making is an art rather than a science; policy decisions are not purely rational and the paths followed to develop public policies are unpredictable.

• Knowledge production through research is not a linear activity, but an interactive one with the potential users of the findings increasingly involved in formulating the research objectives and providing feedback during the research process


and Public Policy

• “Instrumental”, “Political”, “Enlightenment” – “Instrumental” refers to the direct use of research

findings to design a policy– “Political” refers to the use of research to justify a

course of action already decided on– “Enlightenment” refers to research findings leading to

a gradual change in the framing and understanding of an issue.

Most investigators will agree that it is impossible to demonstrate a causal link between the presentation of research results and a policy decision. Yet most also agree that research can play a very important role in changing the way policy issues are understood and addressed. This has been called the “enlightenment” role of research

The Relationship between Research and Public Policy

“Enlightenment”

Part of the “enlightenment” function of research is getting people to seenew problems or to see old ones in new ways. This is challenging … itis a major conceptual and political accomplishment. It requires multipleskills as well as good judgement.

Enlightenment Role:

• Identifying and bringing new issues to public attention;

• Reframing old issues in new ways;• Bringing different stakeholders into the

search for solutions; and• Showing how other countries or agencies

have addressed similar issues.

Elements in the public policy process.

Methods of involvement in the process (Note: While all methods of involvement may happen at any element in the public policy process, some methods are more prominent than others during certain elements in the process.)

Diagram of the Public Policy

Process

Issue Identificatio

n

Agenda Setting

Impact Assessmen

t

Policy Design

Monitoring Implementation

Environmental Scanning

Polling

Research

Political Processes

Advocacy

Feedback

ConsultationRefinement

Policy Lenses

EngagementAnalysis


and Public Policy

• Researchers and policy makers do not live in completely different worlds, but are connected through intermediary organizations such as think tanks and policy networks

• Research which ignores a society’s values will likely not be used

• Timing is important; knowledge which appears uninteresting one day suddenly becomes timely and relevant another day

Questions Policy Makers Ask:

• What is the problem?

• What does it matter?

• What can and should be done about it?

• How should we do something?

• How will we know it worked?

• What should we stop doing?

Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice

Policy Relevance

RESEARCH POLICY

Defining the Gap

Why research findings are not used:1. The research is not there

2. Many managers are not ‘knowledgeable’

3. Public sector does not act as a product champion of knowledge

4. Change is more difficult than expected

Attention is paid to research when:

• The research is timely, the evidence is clear and relevant and the methods are uncontested

• The results are consistent with past practices, values or needs. The evidence is an important counter-balance to expert opinion.

• Users are partners in the generation of evidence.

• Research findings have strong advocates.

• The results are robust in implementation and adaptable to day-to-day work.

• There is little requirement for additional visible resources.

- Irving Rootman and Gord Miller

10 Building Blocks1. Get to know each other2. Be patient3. Be respectful4. Embrace diversity5. Scientific knowledge is nothing without

practical knowledge – and vice versa6. Foster a clear, mutual frame of reference7. Build the partnership incrementally8. Ensure broad institutional buy-in9. Equal commitments to the partnership10. Allow for mistakes

There is a trade-off among time, cost, and quality – one can usually have two of the elements, but rarely all three.

Characteristics Researchers Policymakers Policy Implementers Information Needs

Kind of Information Focus on what we don’t know; prefer questions.

Focus on what we do know; prefer answers.

Focus on what we need to know to implement policies; prefer asking questions to get answers.

Level of Detail More detail on narrow topics. Comprehensive overviews which emphasize malleable factors policy can influence.

Like some detail, but on pragmatic procedures and best practices for operationalizing policies and programs.

Source of Data Focus is representative samples that produce knowledge that can be generalized.

Focus is often comparison of how a policymaker’s constituency stacks up to a similar city, country, state or region.

Focus is local and how program models and best practices can be adapted to different circumstances.

Differences in the Information Needs, Work Culture and Writing Preferences Among the Three Communities of Researchers, Policy Makers and Policy Implementers

Taken from: Connecting Research and Policymaking: Implications for Theory and Practice from the Family Impact Seminars, Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies. 2000., Vol. 49, No. 3

Characteristics Researchers Policymakers Policy Implementers Work Culture

Approach and Timing

Cautious: skeptical; tentative; reflective; progress in research can take years to achieve.

Reactive: to enhance reelection chances, must respond quickly in a fast-paced, fluid environment; progress can occur within weeks.

Action-oriented and pragmatic; often required to respond despite incomplete information and insufficient resources.

Criteria for Decision Making

Statistical probability; sound research methods and designs; publication in peer-reviewed journals.

What is possible through negotiation and compromise; persuasive rhetoric and single anecdote can be powerful.

Combination of a decent knowledge base with clinical judgement, observation and the experience of reputable sources.

Views of Ambiguity and Complexity

Excited by ambiguity and complexity. Counterproductive to embrace complexity because you have to take firm positions on issues.

Energized by complexity but still have to simplify enough to make decisions.


Characteristics Researchers Policymakers Policy Implementers Writing Preferences

Emphasis An emphasis on sample, methods and analysis to improve the quality of future research.

Little attention to sample, methods and analysis because scholars can be trusted to review only high quality studies.

An emphasis on sample to assess similarity to the local context and on methods to allow for replication and adaptation.

Organization Building in a logical progression to the conclusion at the end.

Placing the most important conclusions for policy at the beginning.

Placing the most important conclusions for practice at the beginning.

Writing In-depth discussions with discipline-specific terminology and technical graphs and illustrations

Concise, easy-to-read reports with accessible language, active voice, short sentences, frequent paragraphing and simple graphs and illustrations.

Reports of moderate length with some technical language and illustrations to allow communicating with researchers and demonstrating accountability to policymakers.


Key Strategies for Interaction

• Face-to-face exchange (consultation, regular meetings) between decision makers and researchers

• Education sessions for decision makers• Networks and communities of practice• Facilitated meetings between decision makers

and researchersMilton et al 2007

What factors contribute to knowledge translation?

• Add to reservoir of knowledge and allow for sleeper effect

• Clinical and managerial champions who value evidence as tool for change

• Receptive policy makers who can influence political process

• Willingness on part of researchers to play multiple roles

Critical Success Factors Include:

• The involvement of stakeholders – of researchers and students, as well as of development practitioners and counterparts.

• Harnessing momentum, to enhance active commitment beyond the core group of a partnership.

• Show results to stakeholders of the partnership.

What Should Success Look Like?

• Take account of new knowledge to modify their priorities and agendas;

• Consider different ways of tackling persistent issues being brought to their attention; and

• Look for ways to address them

That policy-makers will:

Indicators• The time that senior officials and business

leaders repeatedly devote to the network’s activities;

• Signs of opposition from decision-makers who feel threatened by different ways of approaching familiar problems; and

• Sustained willingness by new groups of stakeholders to engage in policy discussions facilitated by the network.

Learning to be Humble

Evidence informed not evidence based

Research and policy making as social processes

“the art of the possible” often involves making tradeoffs in dynamic, contentious and non-rational environments

Waddell et al 2002

Good Advice• Build long term relationships

• Involve policy makers early

• Be persistent but patientMarten & Roos 2005

• Expect problems – learn from them

• Be adventurous and willing to go off the beaten path

How Research Can Transform Policy Nancy Reynolds President and CEO Alberta Centre for Child, Family...

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