Can policy makers listen to researchers? An application of the design experiment methodology to a local drugs policy intervention
By: ASKEW, Rebecca
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Contributor(s): JOHN, Peter | LIU, Hanhua.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: UK : Policy Press, oct. 2010Subject(s): Dependência Química | Política de Saúde | Administração RegionalPolicy & Politics 38, 4, p. 583-598Abstract: This article reports the UK's first design experiment, a qualitative form of policy evaluation using feedback from intensive observations of an intervention to improve its implementation. The application presented in the article is a local authority programme of intensive support and diversionary activities for a small group of problematic substance users. The article discusses how the experiment took place and focuses on the reluctance of policy makers to use feedback from researchers, who found that advocacy and one-to-one support were more beneficial than diversionary activities. Nonetheless, in time the project's workers responded to these signals in their day-to-day decisions. To address the feedback gap, the conclusion stresses the importance of ensuring multiple information flows within design experiments
This article reports the UK's first design experiment, a qualitative form of policy evaluation using feedback from intensive observations of an intervention to improve its implementation. The application presented in the article is a local authority programme of intensive support and diversionary activities for a small group of problematic substance users. The article discusses how the experiment took place and focuses on the reluctance of policy makers to use feedback from researchers, who found that advocacy and one-to-one support were more beneficial than diversionary activities. Nonetheless, in time the project's workers responded to these signals in their day-to-day decisions. To address the feedback gap, the conclusion stresses the importance of ensuring multiple information flows within design experiments
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