Toward More Evidence-Informed Policy Making?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Head, Brian W.
• 署名单位: University of Queensland
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12475
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 472-U22
• 关键词: health-policy; presidential-address; research knowledge; systems-thinking; decision-making; CHALLENGES; science; GOVERNMENT; capacity; exchange

摘要

The quality of public decision making depends significantly on the quality of analysis and advice provided through public organizations. Champions of evidence-informed policy making claim that rigorous evaluation practices can significantly improve attainment of cost-effective outcomes. After decades of experience, performance information is more sophisticated, but evaluation practices and capabilities vary enormously. Public agencies gather and process vast amounts of information, but there has been little analysis of how this information is actually utilized for policy and program improvement. This article examines how government agencies use evidence about policy and program effectiveness, with attention to four themes: ( 1) the prospects for improving evidence-informed policy making, ( 2) the diversity of practices concerning evidence utilization and evaluation across types of public agencies and policy arenas, ( 3) recent attempts to institutionalize evaluation as a core feature of policy development and budget approval, and ( 4) the relationships between public agencies and nongovernmental sources of expertise.