Background: Timely access to relevant and trustworthy research findings is an important facilitator of research use. But the relational aspects of evidence generation, mobilisation and use have been insufficiently explored. Aims and objectives: Our aim is to describe the strategic communicative and relational work of two intermediary organisations…

Quantitative social science (QSS) has the potential to make an important contribution to public policy. However it also has a number of limitations. The aim of this paper is to explain these limitations to a non-specialist audience and to identify a number of ways in which QSS research could be improved to better inform public policy.

The need to justify public expenditure has increased the emphasis on impact of research. Identifying ways to maximise impact is a requirement of research funders and a concern of governments internationally. Researchers are expected to communicate findings clearly, make use of the media and influence politicians and administrators. Through an…

Rather than contributing to the clarification of social issues, current social science policy research efforts have led to more complicated views. Qualitative research can and should (1) restrict the problem definition, (2) isolate the levers of change, and (3) identify unintended consequences of policy decisions. (Author/GC)

Communication policy research has been defined as a response to the policy maker's increasing need for factual information in an environment of accelerating technological change. This definition presumed that the social researcher provided the policy maker with such information. Enough examples of contradition between research findings and policy…

Suggests that as the social science knowledge requirements of real situations are met, the theoretical knowledge has been found to be less useful for such purposes than most social scientists believed it would be. (Author/AM)

Reasons for underutilization of social research in public policy-making and the complexity of the concept of utilization are discussed. Among the factors affecting underutilization are the limitations of the social sciences and shortcomings of specific policy research. A common explanation of underutilization is the allegedly long-established…

This essay outlines the theoretical framework surrounding the debate on school desegregation and offers a reanalysis of the role of research in school desegregation. (Author/AM)

The social scientist has certain responsibilities in reporting the results and implications of research. S/he must consider: 1) the importance of the audience and the decisions they might make; 2) the complexity of the social findings; 3) the likelihood of practical impact of research findings; and 4) the possibility of harm to a distinct group in…

Discusses the use of social science knowledge about environmental stressors in the making of public policy. (EF)

This article presents some explanations for why social science research has been of limited value to the educational policy maker and makes some recommendations to both the policy analyst and the policy decision maker. (Author)

Develops a model for analyzing the behavior of commissions and discusses the role of social science in the model. Uses the model to examine Boston's Safe Schools Commission, with data on how social science was used by the commission being used to suggest several modifications to the model. (Author/JN)

Articles in this special issue discuss the utilization of social research by governmental commissions. How social science knowledge influences their decision making is examined. (RM)

Describes four stages of policy formulation (issue definition, deliberation on policy options, authoritative allocation, and performance oversight) and four types of policy-relevant social research (descriptive, explanatory, critical, and forecasting). Proposes a model showing the linkages among research types, policy-making stages, and policy…

The linkage between policy research and policy formation can be strengthened through the use of qualitative methods. Currently, the linkage between policy research and policy decision making is tenuous; there are differences in philosophy, function, self-definition, and criteria by which success is measured. Although research cannot dictate the…