There are a number of sources policy-makers use to gather evidence, including (in order of importance):
- Scientific research
- Think tanks
- Professional associations
- Lobbyists
- Pressure groups
- Ideologues (belief-based organisations)
- Media
- The Internet
To develop policies which can realistically be implemented, it is important for policy-makers to understand how to use scientific research effectively.
Evidence should be used to not only support a political position, which is commonly the case, but also to impartially examine a problem, understand why it exists, and what can be done to intervene.
There are several stages involved in the policy-making and implementation process, and evidence is needed at each of these stages.
Some examples of research evidence include:
- Research synthesis (drawing together what is already known about the problem);
- Descriptive and experimental evidence;
- Statistics, surveys and qualitative research;
- Experimental/quasi-experimental evidence;
- Case studies;
- Cost-benefit, cost effectiveness and cost-utility analysis.
When using evidence, it is important to critically analyse the quality of the research. But policy-makers are often faced with challenges when using research effectively for EBPM, including:
- The volume of research is overwhelming;
- Access to research is haphazard and often biased;
- The design and quality of research varies widely;
- Many studies are too small.
To evaluate the research quality and address these challenges, PSPPD is supporting the use of two tools:
Systematic Reviews and Rapid Evidence Assessments (REAs).
These are systematic and peer-reviewed assessments of all the literature on a defined subject, reviewing the quality of the evidence, and drawing out findings across all the studies.
In addition to using these tools, policy-makers should also ask these research questions when formulating policies:
- What is already known about this problem?
- What are the nature, size and dynamics of the problem?
- What interventions have been shown to work elsewhere?
- What are the cost, benefit and effectiveness of such interventions?
- What are the ethical implications of the policy?
Because policy-makers often need questions answered quickly, it is a good idea for them to build up a store of strong evidence.
They sometimes also have to commission topical and focused research synthesis or primary research so it is important to build their evaluative capacity as well (relating to content and process).
This should not only be undertaken after interventions occur, but also prior to them, and during the different policy-making stages to evaluate the lessons and impacts of particular situations or choices.
Evaluations should then be made systematic and widely available.