IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v10y1991i4p633-656.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research utilization in policymaking: A tale of two series (of social experiments)

Author

Listed:
  • David H. Greenberg

    (Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

  • Marvin B. Mandell

    (Associate Professor in the Policy Sciences Graduate Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory attempt to view the role that social experiments in general, and the income maintenance experiments and work|welfare demonstrations in particular, have played in the policy process through the lens provided by the knowledge utilization literature. In addition to suggesting that the decision to conduct a social experiment is rarely, if ever, made according to an essentially rational paradigm, this framework helps highlight the range of uses to which findings from social experiments can be put and the circumstances under which various types of uses are more or less likely. Specifically, the knowledge utilization literature suggests that rather than having the dramatic, decisive effects on policy choices that their promoters have often envisioned, social experiments are more likely to affect policy in a variety of subtle ways.

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Greenberg & Marvin B. Mandell, 1991. "Research utilization in policymaking: A tale of two series (of social experiments)," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 633-656.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:10:y:1991:i:4:p:633-656
    DOI: 10.2307/3324989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/3324989
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2307/3324989?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David H. Greenberg & Philip K. Robins, 1986. "The changing role of social experiments in policy analysis," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 5(2), pages 340-362.
    2. Henry Mintzberg, 1971. "Managerial Work: Analysis from Observation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 97-110, October.
    3. Peter L. Szanton, 1991. "The remarkable quango: Knowledge, politics, and walfare reform," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 590-602.
    4. Laura C. Leviton & Edward F.X. Hughes, 1981. "Research On the Utilization of Evaluations," Evaluation Review, , vol. 5(4), pages 525-548, August.
    5. Erica B. Baum, 1991. "When the witch doctors agree: The family support act and social science research," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 603-615.
    6. Alicia H. Munnell, 1987. "Lessons from the income maintenance experiments: an overview," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue May, pages 32-45.
    7. Henry J. Aaron & Edward M. Gramlich & Eric A. Hanushek & James J. Heckman & Aaron Wildavsky, 1990. "Review: Social Science Research and Policy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(2), pages 275-311.
    8. Richard F. Elmore, 1986. "A political scientist's view of the income maintenance experiments," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, vol. 30, pages 206-217.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael J. Camasso, 2004. "Isolating the Family Cap Effect on Fertility Behavior: Evidence From New Jersey's Family Development Program Experiment," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(4), pages 453-467, October.
    2. Kerry A Waylen & Juliette Young, 2014. "Expectations and Experiences of Diverse Forms of Knowledge Use: The Case of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(2), pages 229-246, April.
    3. Jan Blustein, 2005. "Toward a more public discussion of the ethics of federal social program evaluation," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 824-846.
    4. Grant, Peter R., 1997. "The relocation of nursing home residents: An illustration of the advantages gained by planning a new program and designing an implementation evaluation together," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 507-516, November.
    5. John A. Hird, 2009. "The Study and Use of Policy Research in State Legislatures," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(4), pages 523-535, October.
    6. Michael Wiseman, 1991. "Research and policy: An afterword for the symposium on the family support act of 1988," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 657-666.
    7. David Greenberg & Marvin Mandell & Matthew Onstott, 2000. "The dissemination and utilization of welfare-to-work experiments in state policymaking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(3), pages 367-382.
    8. Li, Kathy K. & Abelson, Julia & Giacomini, Mita & Contandriopoulos, Damien, 2015. "Conceptualizing the use of public involvement in health policy decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 14-21.
    9. Carol Harvey & Michael J. Camasso & Radha Jagannathan, 2000. "Evaluating Welfare Reform Waivers under Section 1115," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 165-188, Fall.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. DAVID H. Greenberg, 1992. "Conceptual Issues In Cost/Benefit Analysis Of Welfare‐To‐Work Programs," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 10(4), pages 51-64, October.
    2. Moffitt, Robert A., 2002. "Welfare programs and labor supply," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 34, pages 2393-2430, Elsevier.
    3. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Performance effects of international expansion processes: The moderating role of top management team experiences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 259-277.
    4. Lant Pritchett & Salimah Samji & Jeffrey S. Hammer, 2012. "It's All about MeE: Using Structured Experiential Learning ('e') to Crawl the Design Space," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-104, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Howard S. Bloom & Johannes M. Bos & Suk-Won Lee, 1999. "Using Cluster Random Assignment to Measure Program Impacts," Evaluation Review, , vol. 23(4), pages 445-469, August.
    6. Francois Bourguignon, 2010. "Toward an evaluation of evaluation methods: a commentary on the experimental approach in the fields of employment, work, and professional training," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 310-319.
    7. Stefano Dughera, 2022. "The evolution of workplace control leadership, obedience and organizational performance," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 399-421, April.
    8. Lawrence M. Mead, 2010. "Why we need work programs for fathers," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 610-616.
    9. Griesbach, David & Grand, Simon, 2013. "Managing as transcending: An ethnography," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-77.
    10. Manuela A. de Paz-Báñez & María José Asensio-Coto & Celia Sánchez-López & María-Teresa Aceytuno, 2020. "Is There Empirical Evidence on How the Implementation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) Affects Labour Supply? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-36, November.
    11. Cruz Barrios, S. & De Toledo Piza, A.F.R., 1989. "Functional mean field expansion for the many-body initial condition problem," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 159(3), pages 440-458.
    12. Konstantinos Giannakas & Murray Fulton & Tala Awada, 2017. "Hiring leaders: Inference and disagreement about the best person for the job," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-7, December.
    13. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Managerial services and complexity in a firm’s expansion process: An empirical study of the impact on the growth of the firm," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 137-151.
    14. Larry L. Orr & Daniel Gubits, 2023. "Some Lessons From 50 Years of Multiarm Public Policy Experiments," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(1), pages 43-70, February.
    15. John F. Boyer & Laura I. Langbein, 1991. "Factors Influencing the Use of Health Evaluation Research in Congress," Evaluation Review, , vol. 15(5), pages 507-532, October.
    16. Iván A. Montoya Restrepo, 2009. "La formación de la estrategia en Mintzberg y las posibilidades de su aportación para el futuro," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, December.
    17. Tromp, Alexander, 2017. "The Effects of a Hybrid Negative Income Tax on Poverty and Inequality: a Microsimulation on the UK and Italy," EUROMOD Working Papers EM15/17, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    18. repec:pri:rpdevs:hammer_its_all_about_me is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Robert Moffitt, 2002. "The role of randomized field trials in social science research: a perspective from evaluations of reforms of social welfare programs," CeMMAP working papers 23/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    20. Paula Kivimaa & Mikael Hildén & Dave Huitema & Andrew Jordan & Jens Newig, 2015. "Experiments in Climate Governance. Lessons from a Systematic Review of Case Studies in Transition Research," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-36, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    21. Middleton, John & Terry, James & Bloch, Deborah, 1989. "Building educational evaluation capacity in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 140, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:10:y:1991:i:4:p:633-656. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.