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Risks and Rewards of Working with the Federal Government

Risks and Rewards of Working with the Federal Government. May 15, 2011 Israel Democracy Institute Conference, “What Do Think Tanks Do” Jerusalem. Daniel S. Gaylin Executive Vice President. Think Tanks and Knowledge Generation. NORC Core Principles. Excellence

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Risks and Rewards of Working with the Federal Government

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  1. Risks and Rewards of Working with the Federal Government May 15, 2011 Israel Democracy Institute Conference, “What Do Think Tanks Do” Jerusalem Daniel S. Gaylin Executive Vice President Think Tanks and Knowledge Generation

  2. NORC Core Principles Excellence • Highest academic and methodological standards • Ideological independence and transparency • Commitment to dissemination Broad array of stakeholders Long tradition of research in the public interest Non-partisan, objective, evidence based Collegiality • Collaborative and open partnerships • Interdisciplinary approach, learning culture • Public discourse Innovation • Leadership in methods and tools • Breakthrough technologies • Flexible business and funding models 2

  3. Close Affiliate of the University of Chicago 3

  4. Economics and Population Studies 4

  5. Violence, Criminal Justice and the Law 5

  6. Health and Health Care 6

  7. Early Childhood and Education 7

  8. Security, Energy, and the Environment 8

  9. International Development Ghana Impact Evaluation 9

  10. Academic Research Centers: “Yes but does that work in theory?”

  11. Think Tanks: Two Paths to Knowledge Generation Path1 : Focus on Private Funding

  12. Think Tanks: Two Paths to Knowledge Generation Path 2 : Focus on Federal Funding

  13. Path 2: Avoiding the Pitfalls FOIA is a key tool to preserve independence 13

  14. Data Knowledge Informed Decisions Key Research Areas, Central Core Conceptualization/Design 6 Data Collection 6 Advanced Methods & Analysis 6 Evaluation and Assessment 6 Policy Recommendations 6 Defining Knowledge Gaps 6 Knowledge and Discourse 6

  15. General Social Survey: Tracking the Public’s Attitudes on Key Social Issues for 40 Years 15

  16. Florida Ballots Project: All Branchesof Government…and the Press November 12, 2001 Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote By FORD FESSENDEN and JOHN M. BRODER A comprehensive review of the uncounted Florida ballots from last year's presidential election reveals that George W. Bush would have won even if the United States Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount of the votes that the Florida Supreme Court had ordered to go forward.

  17. Access to Information: Possibility Frontier

  18. Optimizing Information Access: Data Enclave • Access sensitive data per use agreement • Statistical software available for analysis • Interact with other researchers • Receive information from data producers • Perform computationally intensive tasks • Configure environment Customized Virtual Machine Collaborative Area Data Area Data Enclave Desktop(Windows Environment)

  19. Information Access: the Data Enclave as An Illustration of Think Tank Impact • Context: Commission investigates the causes, domestic and global, of the 2008 financial and economic crisis. • Issue: hedge fund data very sensitive, difficult to obtain: • risk of legal challenges • incomplete reporting. • funds given the “option”: enclave or subpoena • Challenge: How to preserve firms’ confidentiality while also providing analytically useful data and results? • Solution: Data Enclave becomes “honest broker” between private sector and government

  20. Advising (and learning from) Other Think Tanks 20

  21. Data Liberación!  (Inter)national Indicators for the General Public Source: State of the USA analysis of OECD data

  22. Assisting the Executive Branch in its Reports to the Legislative Branch

  23. Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Maximized Public Relevancy Global Dissemination STUDIES: High Social Value Objective, Non-Partisan Journalistic Impact Methodological/Scientific Rigor Deep Subject Matter Expertise

  24. Please get in touch: gaylin-dan@norc.org

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