What counts? Policy evidence in public hearing testimonies: the case of single-payer healthcare in New York State

Choi, Y (通讯作者),SUNY Albany, Rockefeller Coll Publ Affairs & Policy, Dept Publ Adm & Policy, 135 Western Ave, Albany, NY 12222 USA.
2022-12
While few would advocate that policy decisions be based solely on interest group influence or political pandering, few would also agree that decisions be based solely on evidence from randomized trials devoid of context or attention to stakeholder concerns. Yet, this is the implicit tension that has emerged between scholars, who privilege rigorously established research evidence as the primary legitimate basis for policy decision-making, and their critics, who advocate for a broader evidence boundary. However, the policy literature has hitherto failed to suggest an appropriate means of processing various forms of evidence to inform the policy decision-making process. This challenge is especially apparent in public hearings, a frequently used participatory medium where a great variety of evidence is presented. In this paper, we aim to reevaluate the value of public hearings as a means of collecting evidence by exploring 189 testimonies across six public hearings on single-payer healthcare in New York State. At the same time, we evaluate and categorize the types of evidence invoked in public hearings and compare this against what might count as evidence from an EBP perspective. Results highlight nine types of evidence, along two dimensions: observation span and form of knowledge. We find that applying a narrow boundary of research evidence, only one of nine types of evidence fit that classification: problem-based research. We conclude by suggesting that policy scholars expand their consideration of what types of evidence claims are useful to policymakers.
POLICY SCIENCES
卷号:55|期号:4|页码:631-660
ISSN:0032-2687|收录类别:SSCI
语种
英语
来源机构
State University of New York (SUNY) System; State University of New York (SUNY) Albany
资助信息
This work was initiated as a term paper for Mitchel Y. Abolafia's Cultural Analysis of Organization course in the Spring 2019 and was developed for doctoral candidacy in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at University at Albany. We thank Erika G. Martin for her extensive efforts to review this paper several times and provide insightful comments. We thank the anonymous referees for their thorough reviews and constructive comments. Also, helpful comments from Mitchel Y. Abolafia, Luis Felipe Luna-Reyes, R. Karl Rethemeyer, Younhee Kim, Michael Ahn, Jinwoo Lee, Pirmin Bundi, Soohyun Park are gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Department of Public Administration and Policy at University at Albany and the Public Management Research Association (PMRA) via travel grants to attend academic conferences. The views and errors are all the authors' responsibility.
被引频次(WOS)
0
被引频次(其他)
0
180天使用计数
2
2013以来使用计数
2
EISSN
1573-0891
出版年
2022-12
DOI
10.1007/s11077-022-09475-1
关键词
Evidence-based policy Policy design Single-payer Public hearings Citizen participation Qualitative study
资助机构
Department of Public Administration and Policy at University at Albany Public Management Research Association (PMRA)
WOS学科分类
Public Administration Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
学科领域
循证管理学 循证社会科学-综合