Tools and tips
Evidence & Policy - A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice.
Ken Young Managing Editor
Evidence & Policy is the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated to comprehensive and critical treatment of the relationship between research evidence and the concerns of policy makers and practitioners. International in scope and interdisciplinary in focus, it addresses the needs of those who provide public services, and those who provide the research base for evaluation and development across a wide range of social and public policy issues – from social care to education, from public health to criminal justice.
The Journal is moving from three to four issues in 2006 reflecting an increase in high quality submissions from authors worldwide.
Further information:http://www.evidencenetwork.org/JournalOfResearch.html
PolicyPointers.org
Policypointers is an online facility created to enable those involved in government, academe and the media to gain rapid access to the research and conclusions of think tanks around the world. They believe policymakers and those who influence the policymaking function can frequently learn from the research done and the results achieved in countries other than their own. This belief is the rationale for creating the website.
Policypointers is independent of any government, political party, financial or other influence. Not every think tank whose work is accessible via this website will be similarly independent and so users are advised to check the “About Us” page on the think tank websites that they access, for clues as to the standpoint from which these organisations approach their work. Policypointers select reports and research for posting on the website according to the following criteria: that the work includes research or data and; that the findings or data within the work could have application outside the country in which it originates.
Website for this tool is: http://www.policypointers.org/
The Magenta Book - Guidance Notes for Policy Evaluation and Analysis
Cabinet Office, UK
The Magenta Bookis a set of guidance notes for policy evaluators and analysts, and people who use and commission policy evaluation. It has a strong focus on policy evaluation in government and is structured to meet the needs of government analysts and policy makers. It is hoped that it may also meet the needs of analysts and users of evaluation outside of government, and that it will stimulate dialogue and collaboration between the worlds of government, academia and the wider research and evaluation community. The book has been developed in the context of the demands of evidence-based policy making and the changing needs of analysis in and for government.
The Magenta Book endeavours to provide guidance on social research methods for policy evaluation in readable and understandable language. It provides examples of evaluations that have used the available methods appropriately and effectively, and it highlights what it is that is good about them.
The Magenta Book includes guidance on how to use summative and formative, quantitative and qualitative, experimental and experiential methods of policy evaluation appropriately and effectively. It is organised around a number of questions that are frequently asked about policy evaluation and analysis. It provides guidance on:
- How to refine a policy question to get a useful answer
- The main evaluation methods that are used to answer policy questions
- The strengths and weaknesses of different methods of evaluation
- The difficulties that arise in using different methods of evaluation
- The costs involved in using different methods of evaluation, and the benefits that are to be gained
- Where to go to find out more detailed information about policy evaluation and analysis
The Magenta Book is published electronically and in instalments until the complete set of evaluation questions that it addresses has been covered.
The current chapters are available at: http://www.policyhub.gov.uk/magenta_book/index.asp
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