116 - Policy and Research Workshop. Discovering How to Get Research Used in the Policy Process

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Abstract

How does evidence-based sociological research influence policy-making either directly or indirectly? A recent New York Times article remarking on the overall importance of social science research in the policy process noted, “most striking is the poor showing of sociology, whose relevance to policy makers appears to be minimal, even though it focuses on many of our most pressing problems, including families, crime, education, aging, religion, community, inequality and poverty.” According to the study cited in the article, over the last decade, economists were cited in the Congressional Record, 4.7 thousand times, historians 2.6 thousand times, psychologists 996 times, and sociologist 233 times. Despite this limited identified numerical indicator of the influence of sociologists in the policy realm, many sociologists conduct research that has direct policy relevance and are committed to using that research to inform solutions to societal problems. A 2014 National Science Foundation-sponsored Workshop on Social Science Research and Public Policy organized by George Mason and Drexel Universities explored the contexts, networks, and strategies that can result in the use of social science research in the policy arena. Workshop co-leaders will present a conceptual framework of research utilization and the relationships that facilitate social science research usage in both policy and practice. They will also discuss the pathways that lead to the use of social science research in the policy process, the conditions which enable and constrain the use of social science research, the networks that aid in policy use, and the dissemination strategies that are necessary. The intent of the workshop discussion is present a more realistic interactive model of research use by answering the following questions:
1. What are the usages of social science research in the policy process?
2. Through what strategies, relationships, contexts, or processes does social science research enter the public policy and practice?; and
3. Are there relational strategies that are effective in communicating policy-relevant findings?

Sub Unit

• Research/Policy Workshop

Session Organizer

• Patricia E. White, National Science Foundation

Co-Leaders

• Roberta M. Spalter-Roth, American Sociological Association

• Amy L. Best, George Mason University

• Kelly A. Joyce, Drexel University