Description
Book SynopsisIn this important new book, Ray Pawson examines the recent spread of evidence-based policy making across the Western world. Few major public initiatives are mounted these days in the absence of a sustained attempt to evaluate them. Programmes are tried, tried and tried again and researched, researched and researched again. And yet it is often difficult to know which interventions, and which inquiries, will withstand the test of time. The evident solution, going by the name of evidence-based policy, is to take the longer view. Rather than relying on one-off studies, it is wiser to look to the 'weight of evidence'. Accordingly, it is now widely agreed the most useful data to support policy decisions will be culled from systematic reviews of all the existing research in particular policy domains.
This is the consensual starting point for Ray Pawson's latest foray into the world of evaluative research. But this is social science after all and harmony prevails only in the firs
Trade Review
"This book is an excellent resource for evaluators who wish to inform policy decisions with collective insights gained from diverse threads of relevant literature...This book is timely in its emphasis on the complex, multifaceted nexus between evidence and policy." -- Chris Milne
Table of Contents
Evidence-Based Policy The Promise of Systematic Review Realist Methodology The Building Blocks of Evidence Systematic Obfuscation A Critical Analysis of the Meta-Analytic Approach Realist Synthesis New Protocols For Systematic Review Reviewing Implementation Processes Megan′s Law Reviewing Inner Mechanisms Youth Mentoring Reviewing Outer Contexts Naming and Shaming Conclusion Flying `The Tattered Flag of Enlightenment′
