Bridging Research and Policy: Insights from 50 Case Studies
SummaryText
This report provides a comparative analysis of 50 case studies aimed at
answering the question: Why are some ideas that circulate in the research/policy arenas
picked up and acted on, while others are ignored and disappear?
The case studies were collected and analysed by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as part of the first phase of the 3-year Global Development Network (GDN) Bridging Research and Policy project. This paper, according to the authors, "reports on the process, findings and implications of the case studies work. The case studies were designed to capture existing experiences, and relate them to streams in the literature and to identify specific hypotheses for further investigation in the second phase of the project.
The 50 cases individually represent a range of evidence and experience about research policy links from around the world. They include examples of a wide range of types of research undertaken by a variety of organisations. A few cases describe situations where research had an immediate and direct impact on policy, though in most cases, the impact was less direct and took some time, and required strenuous advocacy efforts. The cases also illustrate different types of policy impact. Some resulted in clear changes in public policy, others in changes in policy implementation, and a few describe how action-research caused substantial change on the ground with little change in public policy."
The case studies are analysed and discussed in terms of four themes: Context, Evidence, Links and External Influences. Below is an abbreviated excerpt of the authors findings:
Context: This emerged as the most important domain in affecting the degree to which research has an impact on policy. Key issues concern prevailing narratives and discourse among policy-makers; the extent of demand for new ideas (by policy-makers and society more generally); and the degree of political contestation.
Evidence: The key issue affecting uptake was whether research provided a solution to a problem. Policy influence was also affected by research relevance (in terms of topic and, as important, operational usefulness) and credibility (in terms of research approach and method of communication).
Links: The extent of links and feedback processes between researchers and policy-makers were found to be important, with the significance of the role of communicators and translators supported by the case studies.
External influences: External forces and donor funding were found to contribute to enabling research to have an impact on policy. Broad incentives, such as European Union (EU) access or the poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) process are particularly noted as having substantial impact.
Click here to learn more about this resource.
The case studies were collected and analysed by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as part of the first phase of the 3-year Global Development Network (GDN) Bridging Research and Policy project. This paper, according to the authors, "reports on the process, findings and implications of the case studies work. The case studies were designed to capture existing experiences, and relate them to streams in the literature and to identify specific hypotheses for further investigation in the second phase of the project.
The 50 cases individually represent a range of evidence and experience about research policy links from around the world. They include examples of a wide range of types of research undertaken by a variety of organisations. A few cases describe situations where research had an immediate and direct impact on policy, though in most cases, the impact was less direct and took some time, and required strenuous advocacy efforts. The cases also illustrate different types of policy impact. Some resulted in clear changes in public policy, others in changes in policy implementation, and a few describe how action-research caused substantial change on the ground with little change in public policy."
The case studies are analysed and discussed in terms of four themes: Context, Evidence, Links and External Influences. Below is an abbreviated excerpt of the authors findings:
Context: This emerged as the most important domain in affecting the degree to which research has an impact on policy. Key issues concern prevailing narratives and discourse among policy-makers; the extent of demand for new ideas (by policy-makers and society more generally); and the degree of political contestation.
Evidence: The key issue affecting uptake was whether research provided a solution to a problem. Policy influence was also affected by research relevance (in terms of topic and, as important, operational usefulness) and credibility (in terms of research approach and method of communication).
Links: The extent of links and feedback processes between researchers and policy-makers were found to be important, with the significance of the role of communicators and translators supported by the case studies.
External influences: External forces and donor funding were found to contribute to enabling research to have an impact on policy. Broad incentives, such as European Union (EU) access or the poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) process are particularly noted as having substantial impact.
Click here to learn more about this resource.
Publishers
Number of Pages
46
Source
Overseas Development
Institute website; and email from Fiona Drysdale to The Communication Initiative on February 16 2007.
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