Patterns of Communication and Miscommunication between Research and Policy

El-Khawas, Elaine

doi:10.1007/0-306-47662-2_4

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It falls outside the scope of this chapter to consider in detail the complexities and nuances of the (lack of) impact of institutional research. It may be sufficient to refer to El-Khawas (2000) who indicates that the impact (or lack of) is not necessarily owing to a lack of political will or ability, but should be understood against the backdrop of the need of managers and policy makers for practical, simple, and elegant solutions aligned to political and operational agendas and networks. Whether institutional research is called an "art" (Kogan & Henkel 2000:25), "science" or "profession" (Neave 2000), there is some concern about the lack of take-up and "non-receptivity of policy-makers" (Kogan & Henkel 2000:25).…”

Section: Scoping the Identity Skills And Roles Of The Data Scientistmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…institutional researcher", consultants and/ or evaluators and "reflective practitioners." In this chapter I broadly differentiate between researchers often scattered throughout the institution in disparate departments doing institutional research as one of their performance foci (whether occasionally, continuously or theme-based or as consultant or reflective practitioner), and institutional researchers located in (administrative or professional) dedicated units with the specific mandate and expertise to do (mostly) commissioned research to inform policy and institutional strategy (El-Khawas 2000;Kehm 2015;Teichler 2000). I therefore use the term 'institutional research' as an umbrella term referring to a variety of institutional research actors and practices (see Scott 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Some Provocations for a Future of Institutional Research: Evidence-Based Decision Making as Séance

Prinsloo¹

2016

Institutional Research in South African Higher Education - Intersecting Contexts and Practices

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Scoping the Identity Skills And Roles Of The Data Scientistmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Provocations for a Future of Institutional Research: Evidence-Based Decision Making as Séance

Prinsloo¹

2016

Institutional Research in South African Higher Education - Intersecting Contexts and Practices

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We need to recognise that the relations between these domains change over time and vary between different countries; for example, in the US they have usually been regarded as stronger than in Europe (El-Khawas, 2000a). So, we need to analyse the nexus in the context of particular policy initiatives, specific changes in practice and the research findings utilised.…”

Section: Higher Education Research: the Dilemma Of Relevance And Rigourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Higher education research itself is fragmented, between academic research searching for general explanations, policy-research identifying policy options for particular issues and action research seeking context-specific solutions to institutional problems (El-Khawas, 2000a). …”

Section: Against Linksmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reconnecting the Research–Policy–Practice Nexus in Higher Education: ‘Evidence-Based Policy’ in Practice in National and International Contexts

Locke

2009

High Educ Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

(154 words)It is often claimed that research on higher education has had little or no impact on HE policymaking, which is regarded as being largely driven by political ideology and the media and reinforced by little more than management consultancy. Recent higher education policy, it has been argued, is 'a research-free zone' or at best 'policy based evidence'. Yet, 'evidencebased policy' remains a key term in government rhetoric, and education ministries and higher education policy bodies continue to commission research of various kinds. This paper argues that dichotomous approaches to the research-policy-practice nexus may have adopted an unnecessarily restrictive conception of 'research' and an idealised view of policy-making and implementation as a rational and linear process. It argues that new approaches to building relations between the three domains are needed if the various communities are to develop a forward-looking perspective on the needs for research on higher education in the next ten to twenty years.

show abstract

Three Decades of Implementation Research in Higher Education: Limitations and Prospects of Theory Development

Kohoutek

2012

Higher Education Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article adopts a comparative approach to review three periods of theory development in research into higher education policy implementation. Given the conceptual affinity between Cerych and Sabatier's 1986 seminal study into higher education policy implementation and public policy implementation theory, the field of public policy is chosen for reference and comparison. The article argues, first, that the underlying characteristics of higher education research such as sector‐isolatedness, application drift and sensitivity to political agendas hindered the development of sector‐specific theories of policy implementation. Second, this gap in theory formation started to be narrowed from the late 1990s onwards, due to critical reappraisal of the 1986 study and due to limited utilisation of mid‐range theory concepts conceived within or related to the public policy field. It is through the utilisation of such public policy theory that higher education implementation research may reach a more mature stage.

show abstract

Patterns of Communication and Miscommunication between Research and Policy

Cited by 6 publications

References 8 publications

Some Provocations for a Future of Institutional Research: Evidence-Based Decision Making as Séance

Some Provocations for a Future of Institutional Research: Evidence-Based Decision Making as Séance

Reconnecting the Research–Policy–Practice Nexus in Higher Education: ‘Evidence-Based Policy’ in Practice in National and International Contexts

Three Decades of Implementation Research in Higher Education: Limitations and Prospects of Theory Development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About