1 / 14

Public Policy Research: Bridging Theory and Practice

This article explores the role of public policy research in addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. It discusses the importance of normative, instrumentalist research approaches and the need for both relevance and rigor in research design. The article also presents alternative forms of research questions and highlights the disciplinary core of information and systems.

joshuamartinez
Download Presentation

Public Policy Research: Bridging Theory and Practice

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Public Policy is Within-Scope Roger Clarke Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd Visiting Professor inComputer Science, ANU and in Cyberspace Law& Policy, UNSW Senior Scholars Forum – ICIS'1516 Dec 2015 http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/ICIS15-Pres. {html, pdf}

  2. A Missing Element of Research Design'Perspective' The view from the standpoint of a stakeholder in the phenomena that are under observation

  3. Perspectives in IS Research http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/EPinIS.html#Tab1

  4. The Dominant Perspective in IS Research http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/EPinIS.html#PD

  5. What's Public Policy? • A matter of regional or national significance • Has social, economic and environmental aspects • Requires negotiated Objectives and Principles • Steps to achieve the Objectives include: • Regulatory Measures • Resource Allocation • Conception, articulation and implementation of Programs of Action • Depends on multi-organisational cooperation across the public, private and voluntary sectors

  6. Features of Public Policy Research • TheDriver is desire to address a Problem of an economic, social and/or environmental nature • ThePurpose is to devise possible Solutions, evaluate them, articulate them, implement them • The mode is Normative, not merely descriptive, explanatory or predictive • The mind-set is Instrumentalist, not Pure (pursue knowledge) or Applied (of a tool) • Quality is essential, but Rigour is merely desirable

  7. Alternative Forms of Research Question • At a mid-to-high level on the economic dimension: Can {Tesla} disrupt the automotive industry?

  8. Alternative Forms of Research Question • From the system-sponsor perspective: What is the strategic impact on this organisation of { an IS intervention | a disruptive technology }? • At a mid-to-high level of the economic dimension: Can {Tesla} disrupt the automotive industry?

  9. Alternative Forms of Research Question • From the system-sponsor perspective: What are the strategic implications for this organisation of { an IS intervention | a disruptive technology }? • At a mid-to-high level of the economic dimension: Can {Tesla} disrupt the automotive industry? • Multi-perspective public policy research: What facets of the economy, society and the environment can {Tesla, ...} disrupt?

  10. Alternative Forms of Research Question • From the system-sponsor perspective: What are the strategic implications for this organisation of { an IS intervention | a disruptive technology }? • At a mid-to-high level of the economic dimension: Can {Tesla} disrupt the automotive industry? • Multi-perspective public policy research: What facets of the economy, society and the environment can {Tesla, ...} disrupt? • Instrumentalist public policy research: How can an intervention's impacts on all parties be managed, in order to achieve balanced goals?

  11. Public Policy is Within-Scope Roger Clarke Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd Visiting Professor inComputer Science, ANU and in Cyberspace Law& Policy, UNSW Senior Scholars Forum – ICIS'1516 Dec 2015 http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/ICIS15-Pres. {html, pdf}

  12. Contentions • Define Research Questions as being within-scope of the IS discipline that are: • From Broader Perspectives • Instrumentalist in Nature • Adopt Policy-Oriented Research Techniques: • Action Research • Delphi Rounds • Design Science, esp. Participative D.S. • Technology Assessment / Impact Assessment • Quasi-Empirical Scenario Analysis • Recover 'Information' and 'System' as the Disciplinary Core, not 'the IT artefact'

  13. Contentions aboutthe Rigour-Relevance Relationship • A Threshold Level of Rigour is essential • Relevance is the driver, Rigour is a constraint • Where more Rigour can be achieved without material compromise to Relevance, it is strongly desirable to do so • It is rarely justifiable to materially compromise Relevance in order to achieve greater Rigour One such case: Research whose purpose is to contribute to the discipline and not directly to the real world, e.g. to propose and test improvements in a research technique

More Related