Case 1: ‘Policy analysis: different types, perspectives, disciplines
See lecture how evidence-informed is policy analysis
Learning goals and answers:
1. What is policy analysis?
Literature Dunn (2017) Public Policy Analysis – chapter 1 (The Process of Policy Analysis):
Policy analysis is a process of multidisciplinary inquiry aiming at the creation, critical assessment, and
communication of policy-relevant knowledge. As a problem-solving discipline, it draws on social
science methods, theories, and substantive findings to solve practical problems.
Methodology of policy inquiry
The methodology of policy inquiry refers to the critical investigation of potential solutions to practical
problems.
Multidisciplinary policy analysis
Policy analysis is partly descriptive. It relies on traditional social science disciplines to describe and
explain the causes and consequences of policies. But it is also normative, a term that refers to value
judgements about what ought to be, in contrast to descriptive statements about what it is.
Policy-relevant knowledge
Policy analysis is designed to provide policy-relevant knowledge about five types of questions:
- Policy problems (what is the problem for which a potential solution is sought?)
o Policy problems are representations of problem situations, which are diffuse sets of
worries, inchoate signs of stress, or surprises for which there is no apparent solution.
- Expected policy outcomes
o Expected policy outcomes are likely consequences of adopting one or more policy
alternatives designed to solve a problem.
- Preferred policies (which policy should be chosen?)
o A preferred policy is a potential solution to a problem.
- Observed policy outcomes (what policy outcomes are observed, as distinguished from the
outcomes expected before the adoption of a preferred policy?)
o An observed policy outcome is a present or past consequence of implementing a
preferred policy.
- Policy performance
o Policy performance is the degree to which an observed policy outcome contributes
to the solution of a problem.
,Policy-analytic methods
The five types of policy-relevant knowledge are produced and transformed by using policy-analytic
methods, which are the vehicles driving the production and transformation of knowledge. Methods
involve judgments of different kinds: judgements to accept or reject an explanation, to affirm or
dispute the rightness or wrongness of a preferred policy, to prescribe or not to prescribe a preferred
policy, to accept or reject a prediction about an expected outcome, to formulate a problem in one
way rather than another.
In policy analysis, these methods have special names:
- Problem structuring – problem-structuring methods are employed to produce knowledge
about what problem to solve (influence diagram, decision tree, and argument mapping).
- Forecasting – forecasting methods are used to produce knowledge about expected policy
outcomes (scorecards).
- Prescription – methods of prescription are employed to create knowledge about preferred
policies (spreadsheet).
- Monitoring – methods of monitoring are employed to produce knowledge about observed
policy outcomes (scorecards).
- Evaluation – evaluation methods are used to produce knowledge about the value or utility of
observed policy outcomes and their contributions to policy performance (spreadsheet).
Forms of policy analysis
Relationships among types of knowledge and methods provide a basis for contrasting different forms
of policy analysis.
- Prospective and retrospective analysis
o Prospective policy analysis involves the production and transformation of knowledge
before prescriptions are made.
o Retrospective policy analysis, a potential solution, involves the production and
transformation of knowledge after policies have been implemented. Retrospective
analysis characterizes the operating styles of several groups of analysts:
Discipline-oriented analysts;
Problem-oriented analysts;
Applications-oriented analysts.
- Descriptive and normative analysis
o Descriptive policy analysis parallels descriptive decision theory, which refers to a set
of logically consistent propositions that describe or explain action.
, o Normative policy analysis parallels normative decision theory, which refers to a set of
logically consistent propositions that evaluate or prescribe action.
- Problem structuring and problem solving
o Procedures of problem structuring are designed to identify elements that go into the
definition of a problem, but not to identify solutions (conceptual).
o Problem-solving methods are designed to solve rather than structure a problem
(technical).
- Integrated and segmented analysis
o Integrated policy analysis bridges the several main segments of multidisciplinary
policy analysis.
The practice of policy analysis
Reconstructed Logic versus Logic-in-Use
The process of integrated policy analysis is a logical reconstruction. The process of actually doing
policy analysis never conforms exactly to this reconstruction, because all logical reconstructions are
abstractions of behaviours and not literal descriptions of them. This lack of conformity is captured by
the term logic-in-use, which refers to the way practicing analysts actually do their work. Notably, that
work departs significantly from the methodological ‘best practices’ mandated by logical
reconstructions. Variation from best practices depends on a number of factors including the personal
characteristics of analysts, their professional socialization, and the institutional settings in which they
work.
- Cognitive styles – the personal cognitive styles of analysts predispose them toward different
modes of acquiring, interpreting, and using knowledge.
- Analytic roles – in agency settings, most analysts are relatively insulated from politics.
- Institutional incentive systems
- Institutional time constraints – analysts working in governmental settings are often subject to
tight institutional time constraints.
- Professional socialization – different disciplines and professions socialize their members into
different norms and values.
- Multidisciplinary teamwork
Critical thinking and public policy
Policy analysis is complex. Analysts must sift through large volumes of available data, evaluate
sources of these data, select appropriate methods of analysis, and employ effective strategies for
communicating the results. This challenge requires critical thinking, which involves the organization,
synthesis and evaluation of different reasons and bodies of evidence offered to support contending
claims. One method available for this purpose is the analysis of policy arguments. By analysing policy
arguments, we can identify and probe the assumptions underlying competing policy claims,
recognize and evaluate objections to these claims, and synthesize knowledge from different sources.
The structure of a policy argument can be represented as a set of seven elements
- Policy claim (C) – a policy claim is the conclusion of a policy argument. Policy claims are of
different types. Some are normative and some are descriptive. Still others are evaluative, and
some are definitional.
- Policy-relevant knowledge (K) – policy-relevant knowledge provides the grounds for a policy
claim. These grounds may be statistical data, experimental findings, expert testimony, or
common sense.
- Warrant (W) – the warrant is a reason to support a claim. Warrants may be economic
theories, ethical principles, political ideas, or professional authority.
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