Evidence‐Based Policy and Practice: key challenges for improvement

Cherney, Adrian; Head, Brian

doi:10.1002/j.1839-4655.2010.tb00195.x

Cited by 23 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Evidence-based policy (EBP) has become a prominent topic for public consideration and debate in Australia and overseas in recent years (Banks, 2009;Kay, 2011;Cherney & Head 2010;Nutley et al, 2007). EBP highlights the systematic problem-solving of policy issues drawing on a variety of evidence, including research and evaluation studies.…”

Section: A Growing Emphasis On Evidence-based Policy and Research Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EBP involves not only instrumentalist applications of research evidence, where research directly underpins decision-making, but indirect applications where research shapes how problems are framed and understood -referred to as the conceptual use of research (Nutley et al, 2007). However, as Cherney and Head (2010) highlight there are a number of areas where the adoption and application of EBP have been, and continue to be, contested -including the political and ideological aspects of how problems are framed, what counts as reliable evidence and how evidence-based approaches should be applied across policy contexts.…”

Section: A Growing Emphasis On Evidence-based Policy and Research Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knowledge brokering roles or functions are often referred to in the literature using a range of alternative terms -these include intermediaries (Levin, 2004;Sin, 2008), policy entrepreneurs (Edwards 2004), boundary spanner (Ward et al, 2009a), research translators (Ward et al 2009a), champions (Cherney & Head, 2010), boundary objects (Kimble et al, 2010), liaison officers (Tetroe et al, 2008), third space professionals (Whitchurch, 2009), innovation broker (Horne 2008), boundary organisations (Crona & Parker, 2011), diffusion fellows (Rowley, 2012), and knowledge exchange professionals (Knight & Lightowler, 2010).…”

Section: Research Utilisation As a Social Process -Mobilising Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…

AbstractThe notion that policymaking should be informed by evidence has been an attractive one to both government decision-makers and the community alike in recent years (Banks, 2009;Cherney & Head 2010;Nutley et al, 2007). The pursuit of "more" and/or "better" relationships has consistently been championed as an important strategy to improve the use of a research evidence base for social policy and practice (Nutley et al, 2007;Lavis, 2010;Bogenschneider & Corbett, 2010;Ross, 2011;Shergold, 2011).

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Connecting research and policy: how linkages support the use of research evidence in social policymaking

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The notion that policymaking should be informed by evidence has been an attractive one to both government decision-makers and the community alike in recent years (Banks, 2009;Cherney & Head 2010;Nutley et al, 2007). The pursuit of "more" and/or "better" relationships has consistently been championed as an important strategy to improve the use of a research evidence base for social policy and practice (Nutley et al, 2007;Lavis, 2010;Bogenschneider & Corbett, 2010;Ross, 2011;Shergold, 2011). These relationships are often referred to as "linkages" in the literature, and it is recognised they can be diverse in form (Nutley et al, 2007;Weiss, 1995).A strong association between linkages and research utilisation has been found by a number of empirical studies reported in the literature (for example, Landry et al, 2001aLandry et al, , 2001bLandry et al, 2003;Cherney & McGee, 2011). Many more studies identify linkages as a facilitator for research use or report that a lack of linkages is a key barrier to research uptake (Innvaer et al, 2002;Helmsley-Brown, 2004;Mitton et al, 2007;Oliver et al, 2014). However, very little work has been undertaken to systematically identify how linkages between university academics and social policy-makers shape key processes associated with evidence-based policy-making.This PhD research project used a mixed methods approach, drawing on data gathered via large-scale survey and interview processes with Australian social scientist academics and public servant policymakers, to investigate:• the types of linkages are predominant between academics and policymakers;• the key barriers to and facilitators for developing and sustaining linkages;• how linkages relate to a capacity for research utilisation in policy making contexts; and• how linkages can be enhanced to support the policy uptake of social research evidence.A wide range of linkage arrangements were identified from the data sources. The character and scope of participation in linkage relationships was shaped by a range of interacting, context-dependent factors, including the political environment, dominant paradigms about the role of government in shaping policy and program provision within a sector, differences [ii] in infrastructure and resourcing between policy sectors and departments, and the culture, norms and values within policymaking organisations.The findings of multiple linear regression models applied to academic and policy official survey data revealed a strong association between participation in linkage activities and research utilisation.Linkages were found to build academic and policy official capacities separately, by enhancing individual and organisational knowledge, skills and approaches for research production and use. However, linkages were also found to underpin the development of important new joint capacities, such as the capacity to efficiently and effectively co-produce research. Importantly, both policy officials and academics highlighted the value of linkages for creating the mutual trust, respect ...

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Section: A Growing Emphasis On Evidence-based Policy and Research Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Growing Emphasis On Evidence-based Policy and Research Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Utilisation As a Social Process -Mobilising Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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“…These include education, economics, anthropology, sociology, criminology, geography, political science, social work and psychology. 5 For further critical discussions and overviews of the debate on evidence-based policy see, for example, Banks (2009a); Cherney and Head (2010); Clarence (2002); Greenhalgh and Russell (2009);Hammersley (2005); Head (2010aHead ( , 2010b; Head (2015); Levin (2004); Majone (1989); Marston and Watts (2003); Maynard (2007); Nutley, Walter, and Davies (2008); Sanderson (2011); Solesbury (2002).…”

Section: Scientists To Help To Determine What Work and Why And Whatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge Brokering: Bridging the gap between academia and policy making in Australia?

Bell¹

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Knowledge brokering is showing significant potential as a means of increasing the use of research in policy making. Using research to inform policy making is critical to achieving policies that are 'evidence-based' and result in policy outcomes that have greater potential to address the 'wicked' social problems that governments are facing. Research provides governments with the knowledge to make sense of policy problems, develop policy solutions and evaluate their effectiveness. Despite extensive attention given to better understanding the barriers and facilitators to research utilisation, the use of research to inform policy decisions remains elusive.Advocates of a close relationship between the 'two communities' of policy makers and researchers believe this relationship is the key to effective policy formulation based on sound research.Knowledge brokering is emerging as a promising means of linking, and facilitating exchange, to form effective relationships between the 'two communities' of academics and policy makers, building on interactive models of the policy making process. More specifically, knowledge brokering is the human component of knowledge mobilisation, using relationships to move knowledge between policy makers and academics. In doing so, knowledge brokering works to overcome the barriers that hinder research utilisation.While there has been an increased interest in the past decade in understanding and defining the activities of knowledge brokering, the role and effectiveness of knowledge brokering in moving research into the policy making process is unclear. Furthermore, much of the focus in the literature to date is on knowledge brokering activities carried out by individuals, but the dependence of these knowledge brokering activities on the organisational context in which these individuals operate has largely been ignored in the literature. Hence, the study of knowledge brokering organisations may be very important in understanding how knowledge can be effectively transferred between knowledge producers and users.To address the research problem, two separate yet related research components were undertaken, and these research components are described across three core sections of this thesis. Part A of the thesis provides the essential conceptualisation and operationalisation of the research questions based on current debates within the extant literature on knowledge mobilisation and knowledge brokering. Part B of the thesis analyses surveys and in-depth interviews with policy officials and social scientists to make conclusions on the perceived need for, and existence of, knowledge brokering roles and activities in the movement of knowledge into the policy making process in ii Australia. A typology of organisations that operate in a knowledge brokering capacity in Australia has been developed. Part C adopts a multiple-case study design to investigate one type of entity operating in a knowledge brokering role within key public policy areas in Australia -researchfocused intermediary organi...

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Problematising Australia's Nanny Pilot Program as evidence‐based policy: A reconstruction of the problem of childcare

Fenech

Sweller

2017

Aust J Social Issues

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In a notable departure from long-standing childcare policy in Australia, in January 2016 fee relief was extended to nannies providing in-home care in a 2-year pilot program. This policy is significant as fee relief is not tied to the meeting of regulatory requirements designed to ensure quality early learning and care for young children. Drawing on Carol Bacchi's approach to policy analysis, this paper extends previous problematising of evidence-based policy by highlighting the value of first considering how a policy 'problem' has been constructed.We propose that the nanny pilot is an ideologically driven policy that has emanated from a construction of childcare that is adult (parent)-centred and marginalises the needs and interests of young children. Accordingly, certain evidence is privileged while other evidence is ignored, with the ensuing policy focused on economic imperatives rather than quality early learning and care experiences for young children. We draw on an analysis of parent, peak body and researcher submissions to the Productivity Commission's 2013-2014 childcare inquiry, nanny-focused research, and data from three national surveys to explore the limitations of such a policy approach. The utility of problem reconstruction as a means of disrupting policy-informed evidence and the legitimisation of purported evidence-based policy is considered.

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Evidence‐Based Policy and Practice: key challenges for improvement

Cited by 23 publications

References 45 publications

Connecting research and policy: how linkages support the use of research evidence in social policymaking

Connecting research and policy: how linkages support the use of research evidence in social policymaking

Knowledge Brokering: Bridging the gap between academia and policy making in Australia?

Problematising Australia's Nanny Pilot Program as evidence‐based policy: A reconstruction of the problem of childcare

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