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Evidence-based Policy: Importance and Issues
Introduction
The idea of using evidence to inform policy is not new. As far
back as ancient Greece, Aristotle put forward the notion that different
kinds of knowledge should inform rulemaking. This would ideally
involve a combination of scientific knowledge, pragmatic knowledge
and value-led knowledge (Flyvbjerg, 2001; Ehrenberg, 1999). What
is new and interesting however, is the increasing emphasis that
has been placed on the concept over the last decade in the UK.
The current debates originated from the medical sector in the UK
in the early 1990s, which was promoting the use of evidence-based
medicine. Evidence-based policymaking (EBP) has gained political
currency since 1997 under the Blair administrations. This signified
the entry of a government with a reforming and modernising mandate,
which was committed to putting an end to ideologically-driven politics
and replacing it instead with rational decision making. They made
a bold commitment towards the use of evidence in policy decision
making with their White Paper in 1999, Modernising Government (Cabinet
Office, 1999). This noted that government must 'produce policies
that really deal with problems; that are forward looking and shaped
by the evidence rather than a response to short-term pressures;
that tackle causes not symptoms'.
EBP is an approach that 'helps people make well informed decisions
about policies, programmes and projects by putting the best available
evidence from research at the heart of policy development and implementation'
(Davies, 2004). The EBP discourse has become popular among a range
of policy communities, those within government departments, research
organisations and think-tanks. EBP is a discourse or set of methods
which informs the processes by which policies are formulated, rather
than aiming to affect the eventual goals of the policy. It advocates
a more rational, rigorous and systematic approach, and moves beyond
traditional notions of research to adopt a broader understanding.
In most discussions, the approach has also come to incorporate evidence-based
practices.
 Phil
Davies of the Cabinet Office calls it 'the integration of experience,
judgement and expertise with the best available external evidence
from systematic research', and notes that it involves a shift away
from opinion-based decision making towards decisions based on 'the
opinions and judgements of experts (that) constitute high quality
valid and reliable evidence' (see figure 1). As Davies (2004) notes
'The diagram shows a shift away from opinion based policies being
replaced by a more rigorous, rational approach that gathers, critically
appraises and uses high quality research evidence to inform policymaking
and professional practice.'
Why does EBP matter?
The pursuit of EBP is based on the premise that policy decisions
should be better informed by available evidence and should include
rational analysis. David Blunkett, former UK Education Secretary,
said in a speech to the ESRC 'Social science research evidence is
central to development and evaluation of policy…We need to
be able to rely on social sciences and social scientists to tell
us what works and why and what types of policy initiatives are likely
to be most effective' (Young et al, 2002). This is because policy
which is based on evidence is seen to produce better outcomes.
Shaxson (2005) argues that we need evidence to:
- Understand the policy environment and how it's changing.
- Appraise the likely effects of policy changes so we can choose
between different policy options and subsequently assess their
impacts.
- Demonstrate the links between strategic direction, intended
outcomes and policy objectives, to show that there are clear lines
of argument and evidence between what we are aiming for and what
we are doing now.
- Determine what we need to do to meet our strategic goals or
intermediate objectives.
- Influence others so that they help us achieve our policy goals
and take them through to delivery.
- Communicate the quality (breadth and depth) of our evidence
base to meet the open government agenda.
Why does EBP matter to developing
countries?
There is the view that EBP approaches have the potential to have
even greater impact on outcomes in developing countries, where better
use of evidence in policy and practice could dramatically help reduce
poverty and improve economic performance. This is because EBP tends
to be less well established in developing countries than in developed
ones, and policies are often not based on evidence. Two cases highlight
the value of EBP in developing countries - one where evidence transformed
lives; the other where the lack of an evidence-based response has
caused widespread misery and death. First, the Government of Tanzania
has implemented a process of health service reforms informed by
the results of household disease surveys - this contributed to over
40% reductions in infant mortality between 2000 and 2003 in two
pilot districts. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS crisis has deepened
in some countries because governments have ignored the evidence
of what causes the disease and how to prevent it spreading. Increasing
the use of evidence-based policy in developing countries does, however,
introduce new challenges. Economic, social and political environments
are more difficult, capacity is more limited to generate rigorous
evidence and to formulate policy. Also, resources are scarcer.
Although the UK Government is constantly seeking to improve its
use of EBP, this paper attempts to outline the ideas, issues and
tools already being used in the EBP approach in the UK and to assess
their relevance for developing countries. In order to do this we
first outline the central debates surrounding the concept of EBP.
Overall, the literature reveals a general consensus as to the benefits
of using evidence in policymaking. However, given the inherently
political nature of policymaking, this remains a formidable challenge.
This paper confronts this challenge by exploring the tools which
are currently used by the UK government, and the conditions that
facilitate EBP. It also looks at the issues which are likely to
arise when transferring these tools to LDCs. The issues, approaches
and tools presented here are primarily intended for policymakers
in developing countries, who are interested in utilising EBP. The
focus is on policymakers within the public sector, rather than those
working within the private sector or civil society.
This paper has been informed by a
literature review, a
workshop at ODI and a series of discussions, both face-to-face
and by e-mail. The contributors represent a cross-section through
government, other organisations concerned with the use of evidence
based policy, and academia.
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