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Summary
Pages 1-6

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From page 1...
... Privatesector organizations -- university centers and institutes, think tanks, survey houses, and for-profit consulting firms -- rapidly expanded in numbers and scope, as did graduate-level schools to prepare professionals for careers in public policy. The federal statistical system made available its significant information base for policy analysis in these nongovernmental settings.
From page 2...
... Knowledge from all the sciences is relevant to policy choices: the physical sciences inform energy policy on renewable efficiencies; the biological sciences inform public health policy on infectious diseases; the engineering sciences inform national defense policy on weapon design; the social sciences inform economic policy on international trade trends. Under standing whether, why, and how this scientific knowledge is used, however, is uniquely suited to the methods and theories of the social sciences.
From page 3...
... If more than three decades of worrying about science use in public policy has not produced satisfactory explanations, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong place -- for a coherent typology of use or ways to bridge the gap between two communities. The committee turned its attention to a research framework that draws on recent developments in social science perhaps better suited to explaining the use of science in public policy.
From page 4...
... Our research framework argues for more careful study of policy argumentation, as well as for increased roles for the psychology of decision making and for systems perspectives. The social sciences offer important knowledge about how mental models, belief systems, organizational rules, societal norms, and other factors influence the behavior of decision makers.
From page 5...
... The social sciences bring a variety of approaches and methodologies to the study of complex systems. Examples of the use of systems thinking in the study of national security, obesity prevention, and the evaluation of complex social interventions illustrate its potential utility in policy making more broadly.
From page 6...
... They can recognize the limits of the persuasive power of scientific reasoning, the substantial institutional barriers and cultural resistance to new scientific knowledge, and the role of moral and ethical beliefs. For a century or more the social sciences have contributed to policy making in many ways, especially in informing policy design and evaluation.


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