An Integrated Framework (Introduction | Integrated | Politics | Networks | Evidence)

Introduction
Although many researchers have been driven by the aim to influence policy in the field of international development, research is often ignored, top-down, inaccurate or neglects the concerns of poor or marginalized people. A number of international development organisations have research programmes aimed at improving the links between research and policy, including the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Global Development Network (GDN). This research aims to increase understanding of linkages between development research, policy and practice and develop simple tools for researchers and policy makers to promote evidence-based policy that contributes to poverty reduction, alleviation of suffering or the saving of lives.

Research and policy defy neat separation but can be conceptually distinguished by their goals and methods; research produces knowledge (whether by, as examples, action-research or academic study); policy aims for continuity or change of a practice (stretching from the statements on intent to the development of policy in practice). In this paper we appraise current models of knowledge utilisation and policy making, as well as other literature that sheds light on the research/policy linkages, and offer an integrated approach to help investigate further.

An Integrated Approach
We argue that ideas percolate into development discourse and people learn about how the world is ordered through their practical experience of it. We have fused political interests, formations of actors, and discourses, taken account of the role played by wider civil society and ‘street bureaucrats’, and borrowed ideas from psychology and marketing, to create a three-dimensional approach – consisting of context, links and evidence - to assist the investigation into the impact of research on policy. We recommend an historical, contextual and comparative methodology, the aim of which would be to create a narrative of policy continuity and change and assess the impact of research on policy processes in particular areas. The similarities and differences between areas would shed light on: (a) how research has been shaped, used, ignored or reinterpreted by policy makers and (b) how researchers could more effectively contribute to evidence-based policy making. The following theoretical issues are likely to be important in the analysis:

Introduction / Next

These pages are taken from Bridging Research and Policy: Context, Evidence and Links. by Emma Crewe and John Young. ODI Working Paper No. 173, 2002, Overseas Development Institute, London, UK.