Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
Step One: Define the Problem
Step Two: Assemble Some Evidence
Step Three: Construct the Alternatives
Step Four: Select the Criteria
Step Five: Project the Outcomes
Step Six: Confront the Trade-Offs
Step Seven: Stop, Focus, Narrow, Deepen, Decide!
Step Eight: Tell Your Story
PART II: ASSEMBLING EVIDENCE
Getting Started
Locating Relevant Sources
Gaining Access and Engaging Assistance
Conducting a Policy Research Interview
Using Language to Characterize and Calibrate
Protecting Credibility
Strategic Dilemmas of Policy Research
PART III: HANDLING A DESIGN PROBLEM
It’s a Production System
Crosswalks to the Eightfold Path
Define the Problem-- Focus on a Primary Outcome
Construct the Alternatives-- Configure the System’s Organizational Structure and Its Operating Processes
Select the Criteria-- Define the Objectives to Be Achieved
Project the Outcomes-- Test Whether It Will Work
Confront the Trade-Offs-- Examine the System from Multiple Perspectives
Design a Transition Strategy
PART V: “SMART (BEST) PRACTICES” RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING AND MAKING USE OF WHAT LOOK LIKE GOOD IDEAS FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE
Develop Realistic Expectations
Analyze Smart Practices
Observe the Practice
Describe Generic Vulnerabilities
But Will It Work Here?
Back to the Eightfold Path
APPENDIX A: THINGS GOVERNMENTS DO
I. Taxes
II. Regulation
III. Subsidies and Grants
IV. Service Provision
V. Agency Budgets
VI. Information
VII. The Structure of Private Rights
VIII. The Framework of Economic Activity
IX. Education and Consultation
X. Financing and Contracting
XI. Bureaucratic and Political Reforms
APPENDIX B: UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS: ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Mission
Environment
Performance Measurement
Technology
Production/Delivery Processes
Frontline Workers and Co-Producers
Partners and Other Outsiders
Centralization/Decentralization
Culture and Communications
Politics
Leadership
Leadership
APPENDIX C: STRATEGIC ADVICE ON THE DYNAMICS OF GATHERING POLITICAL SUPPORT
Sequencing
Timing
APPENDIX D: SUGGESTIONS FOR INCORPORATING “BIG DATA” AND RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE INTO POLICY ANALYSIS
References
Index

About the Author

Eugene Bardach has been teaching graduate-level policy analysis workshop classes since 1973 at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, in which time he has coached some five hundred projects. He is a broadly based political scientist with wide-ranging teaching and research interests. His focus is primarily on policy implementation and public management, and most recently on problems of facilitating better interorganizational collaboration in service delivery (e.g., in human services, environmental enforcement, fire prevention, and habitat preservation). He also maintains an interest in problems of homeland defense, as well as regulatory program design and execution, particularly in areas of health, safety, consumer protection, and equal opportunity. Bardach has developed novel teaching methods and materials at Berkeley, has directed and taught in residentially based training programs for higher-level public managers, and has worked for the Office of Policy Analysis at the US Department of the Interior. He is the recipient of the 1998 Donald T. Campbell Award of the Policy Studies Organization for creative contribution to the methodology of policy analysis, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This book is based on his experience teaching students the principles of policy analysis and then helping them to execute their project work.

Eric M. Patashnik is the Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy, a professor of political science, and chair of the Political Science Department at Brown University. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He previously served as director of Brown’s Master of Public Affairs program. Before coming to Brown, Patashnik held faculty positions at the University of Virginia (UVA), UCLA, and Yale University. During his time at UVA, he served as associate dean and acting dean at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Patashnik’s research focuses on the politics of American national policymaking, especially health policy, the welfare state, and the reform process. He is the author or editor of nine books. Patashnik has twice won the Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration and has also won the Don K. Price Award of the American Political Science Association. Patashnik received his master of public policy and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Earlier in his career, Patashnik was a legislative analyst for the US House Administration Subcommittee on Elections.