Understanding Public Policy How to Maximise the Use

Understanding Public Policy: How to Maximise the Use of Evidence (5 steps) Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics and Public Policy p. a. cairney@stir. ac. uk @Cairneypaul https: //paulcairney. wordpress. com/

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1. Decide what evidence counts & what ‘evidence-informed’ means

2. Respond to policymaker psychology: Reduce uncertainty and cognitive load: be concise Reduce ambiguity: frame, persuade, tell stories

3. Reject simple models of policymaking

4. Think about ‘good’ policymaking There are many models of good governance (beyond EBPM) There are many models for engaging with evidence

Political choices combine: evidence and governance Implementation science Story telling Improvement method How should you Hierarchy & gather evidence? RCTs Practitioner knowledge Service user feedback Mix of evidence & experimentation How should you Uniform model ‘scale up’ from Fidelity best practice? Tell stories, invite people to learn If it’s working, keep doing it. What aim should Active ingredient you prioritise? Governance principles Training & feedback

5. Decide how far you’ll go Which of the following options sounds ethical and/ or feasible?

Option 1 for individuals: adapt to complex policymaking environments: Find out where the action is Learn the rules Learn the language/ currency Build trust and form alliances Exploit ‘events’ and ‘windows of opportunity’

2. Teamwork & Knowledge management organisations European Commission Joint Research Centre

Option 3. The ‘eyes on the prize’ approach

3 a. tell effective stories

3 b. be an entrepreneur, and exploit windows of opportunity (Multiple Streams Analysis)

3 c. romanticise, demonise, or be a broker (Advocacy Coalition Framework)

3 d. frame issues to (1) increase attention (2) limit participation (Punctuated equilibrium)

3 e. exploit stereotypes cherry-pick evidence reward and punish skew citizenship (Social construction and policy design):

Why Maximise the Use of Evidence? How Far Should You Go?

THANK YOU Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics and Public Policy p. a. cairney@stir. ac. uk @Cairneypaul https: //paulcairney. wordpress. com/