George Mason faculty and administrators were well represented at a National Science Foundation-funded workshop, “A Relational Model for Understanding the Use of Research in the Policy Process,” held on November 20 and 21. The principal investigator for the NSF grant is Roberta Spalter-Roth, a senior fellow at Mason's Center for Social Science Research; Amy Best, chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, is a co-PI. Participants from Mason included Deborah Boehm-Davis, dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Catherine Gallagher, director, Cochrane Collaboration College for Policy, Connie McNeely, professor of public policy and co-director, Center for Science and Technology Policy, Michele Schwietz, associate dean for research, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Janine Wedel, professor, School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. Also attending were four sociology doctoral students: Marisa Allison, J.L. Johnson, Katie Kerstetter, and Randy Lynn.
The workshop convened a group of knowledgeable social scientists who make concerted efforts to contribute evidence-based research to bear on important policy issues and solutions involved with public policy-making. Representing the academy, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, participants provided and discussed case studies of the relationships, strategies, activities, networks, and processes that resulted, or failed to result, in the use of their research for a broad array of policy purposes.
The focus of the workshop is to conceptualize an approach that will help us to better understand how social science research informs the policy process. Specifically, the workshop seeks to refine a preliminary “relational” conceptual model, formulated by Patricia White, which posits that social science research informs public policy in multiple, but mostly nontransparent ways.
A final report that captures the substance that emerges from the workshop, including the case studies, content analysis, and additional background research, will be publicly available. The results will assist social scientists who actively disseminate their findings beyond the academic research community to better understand and more successfully engage the processes by which research can and does inform public policy and practice.
December 02, 2014
