Assignments

Which of the statements below are true?

Please answer the statements below. For each statement, the correct answer is described and justified.

Yes. Policy-maker’s job role determines the type of research knowledge they find useful or in which situations they can use research knowledge. Furthermore, some policymakers perceive research as a key element of their work, while others are reluctant to use it. Of course, regardless of their role, policym-akers can learn from research knowledge and change their mindsets.

Yes. Policy-maker’s job role determines the type of research knowledge they find useful or in which situations they can use research knowledge. Furthermore, some policymakers perceive research as a key element of their work, while others are reluctant to use it. Of course, regardless of their role, policym-akers can learn from research knowledge and change their mindsets.

Yes. Different phases of policymaking processes require different types of support from research. In the early phases of drafting a law, civil servants may need general descriptions of what research can tell us about topics related to the law, such as nature conservation and its status. Later in the process, civil servants may need research on different solutions and their impacts, or research that reveals weaknesses in the proposed legislation.

Yes. Different phases of policymaking processes require different types of support from research. In the early phases of drafting a law, civil servants may need general descriptions of what research can tell us about topics related to the law, such as nature conservation and its status. Later in the process, civil servants may need research on different solutions and their impacts, or research that reveals weaknesses in the proposed legislation.

No. Researchers can choose the channels they prefer, there are a variety of them. Statements and consultations are a good way to enhance impact of research, but so is communicating research to political parties at the agenda-setting phase, for example through direct contacts, cooperation with NGOs and news articles. Policymakers are also many times open to new forms of dialogue with researchers.

No. Researchers can choose the channels they prefer, there are a variety of them. Statements and consultations are a good way to enhance impact of research, but so is communicating research to political parties at the agenda-setting phase, for example through direct contacts, cooperation with NGOs and news articles. Policymakers are also many times open to new forms of dialogue with researchers.

Write a short reflective text

Use your observations and views to write a text following the assignment. 

Write: how you would like to interact with policymakers and how your efforts relate to policymakers at different levels, phases of policymaking and longer-term impact, for example through public discussion. 

Read article and write a short text

Complement the things you learned from the course material with contents of an article. 

Read: Sanderson, I. (2009). Intelligent policy making for a complex world: pragmatism, evidence and learning. Political Studies, 57, 699-719. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2009.00791.x The article describes the role of research in policymaking and outlines new approaches to linking them. Sanderson challenges the traditional idea of evidence-based policymaking, where the importance of research is reduced to the fact that research solves problems for policymakers. Sanderson presents and combines ideas from complexity theory and pragmatist philosophy to produce a new vision of intelligent policymaking in which research plays more multifaceted role. Sanderson’s article is long, the important thing is to understand the main arguments of the article (complexity theory and Dewey’s pragmatism are interesting but not essential to understand in order to get the overarching point). 

Write: a short text describing what Sanderson (2009) argues to be central to the role and impact of research in policymaking. What changes in thinking does he suggest? What do you think of Sanderson’s arguments? 

Literature and further reading 

Finlex (no date.) Legislative Drafting Process Guide. http://lainvalmistelu.finlex.fi/en/ 

Cairney, P. (2016). The role of evidence in theories of the policy process. Teoksessa Cairney, P. (toim.) The Politics of Evidence-Based Policy Making, s. 13-50. Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-51781-4_2 

Muhonen, R., Benneworth, P. & Olmos-Penuela, J. (2020). From productive interactions to impact pathways: Understanding the key dimensions in developing SSH research societal impact. Research Evaluation, 29:1, 34-47. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvz003 

Newman, J., Cherney, A., & Head, B. (2015). Do policy makers use academic research? Reexamining the “two communities” theory of research utilization. Public Administration Review, 76:1, 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12464 

Parkuhurst, J. (2016). The politics of evidence: From evidence-based policy to the good governance of evidence. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315675008 

Thune, T., Reymert, I., Guldbrandsen, M. & Simensen, E. (2023). Populating the science-policy co-production space: academic and policymaker perspectives on knowledge exchange. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2187772