PAD 520 week 3 discussion 1 Policy Making Process

POLICY MAKING PROCESS

Name

Course

Instructor

Date

Policy Making Process

A policy is an idea that is made to be influential on the major decisions and activities into which there are set limits to be followed. Policy making is the act of establishing or developing the courses of action with the aim of working on the agenda issues. Policies are majorly used around the world by different nations to govern and even to keep order. However, there are ways in which research can be put into use in the process of making policies as below.

Research can be essential in the process of policy making because it directs the people concerned on the areas in which a great potential of improvement is in it. Moreover, it can be used to examine the exact problems or issues. Through research, the main issues to be addressed will easily be identified. There are many different types of policy making processes including surveys, where opinions from the community or individuals are identified through administration of questionnaires. Conducting case studies by analyzing the nearest organization’s and community’s experiences in general. It also includes field experiments, qualitative methods, secondary analysis, policy research, cost-benefit research and of research reviews (Buxton, 2009).

Information in policy making processes is mostly attained from sources like official statistics-considering date from aspects of societal politics and economics (Lindblom, 2010) Media –from radio, Newspapers, internet and television. Specialized policy unit which involves the government and its planning sectors. Knowledge attained from the tradition, majorly involves accumulated knowledge transferred from generation to generation through a period of time. Important information can also be obtained from the academic community referring to higher educational institutions like universities. All this gives implications that research is a fundamental factor on the policy making processes because it aids in gathering information and generally in acquiring the knowledge needed.

References

Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, C. (Eds.). (2014). Theories of the policy process. Westview Press.

Hirschman, A. O., & Lindblom, C. E. (2010) Economic development, research and development, policy making: some converging views. Behavioral science, 7(2), 211-222.

Hanney, S. R., Gonzalez-Block, M. A., Buxton, M. J., & Kogan, M. (2009). The utilisation of health research in policy-making: concepts, examples and methods of assessment. Health research policy and systems, 1(1), 2.