Social policy and the authority of evidence
By: NEYLAN, Julian
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ArticlePublisher: Richmond : Wiley-Blackwell, March 2008Australian Journal of Public Administration: AJPA 67, 1, p. 12-19Abstract: The growing call for social policy to be evidence-based implies that 'evidence' possesses an intrinsic authority. Much of the evidence used by governments to formulate or evaluate social policy is signified through statistics and the language of quantification. Evidence presented in this way has the appearance of certainty and a legitimacy that seems beyond challenge. Having an appreciation of the history and sociology of the 'science of the state', as statistics was originally defined, helps demystify the authority of social statistics. This enables policy-makers and program administrators to better discern the policy merit of numerical evidence.
The growing call for social policy to be evidence-based implies that 'evidence' possesses an intrinsic authority. Much of the evidence used by governments to formulate or evaluate social policy is signified through statistics and the language of quantification. Evidence presented in this way has the appearance of certainty and a legitimacy that seems beyond challenge. Having an appreciation of the history and sociology of the 'science of the state', as statistics was originally defined, helps demystify the authority of social statistics. This enables policy-makers and program administrators to better discern the policy merit of numerical evidence.
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