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Evidence-Based Policy Making in the Social Sciences: Methods That Matter

Online ISBN:
9781447329480
Print ISBN:
9781447329367
Publisher:
Policy Press
Book

Evidence-Based Policy Making in the Social Sciences: Methods That Matter

Gerry Stoker (ed.),
Gerry Stoker
(ed.)
University of Southampton
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Mark Evans (ed.)
Mark Evans
(ed.)
University of Canberra
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Published:
29 September 2016
Online ISBN:
9781447329480
Print ISBN:
9781447329367
Publisher:
Policy Press

Abstract

The purpose of this edited book is to make the case for why the social sciences are more relevant than ever before in helping governments solve the wicked problems of public policy. It does this through a critical showcase of new forms of discovery for policy-making drawing on the insights of some of the world’s leading authorities in public policy analysis. The authors have brought together an expert group of social scientists who can showcase their chosen method or approach to policy makers and practitioners. These methods include making more use of Systematic Reviews, Random Controlled Trials, the analysis of Big Data, deliberative tools for decision-making, design thinking, qualitative techniques for comparison using Boolean and fuzzy set logic, citizen science, narrative from policy makers and citizens, policy visualisation, spatial mapping, simulation modelling and various forms of statistical analysis that draw from beyond the established tools. Of course some of the methods the book refers to have been on the shelves for a number of decades but the authors would argue that it is only over the last decade or so that increased efforts have been made to apply these methods across a range of policy arenas. Other methods such as the use of analysis of Big Data or new fuzzy set comparative tools are relatively more novel within social science but again they have been selected for attention as there are growing examples of their application in the context of policy making.

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