Problem definition

Problem framing

The importance of thinking creatively

Types of data and sources

Conducting interviews

Evaluating data and information

Displaying information

Measures of significance

Data gathering

Bardach: 47 - 70

Patton & Sawicki: 74 - 185

Mintrom: 44 - 89

RES #3: Bardwell, Lisa V. 1991. Problem Framing: A Perspective on Environmental Problem-Solving. Environmental Management 15 (no. 5): 603 - 612.

RES #11: Dipak K. Gupta, 2001.  Analyzing Public Policy: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press. pages 176 - 199.

CQ Researcher: Future of Libraries: Can they Survive Budget Cuts and Digitization? July 29, 2011

Policy debates often involve "experts".  But what is an expert?  See this interesting article from the USA Today (7/18/05).

Read this essay about why science matters and why it is a way of life from the NY Times (6/1/08)

Sometimes trusting your gut instinct is the best strategy for making decisions  Download this interesting article from the U.K. Mail Online (8/11)

According the World Health Organization (WHO), cell phones can cause brain tumors and the press seems to agree (See this collection of news reports of the WHO finding).  But do they? See this critique of their finding and a news account from 2 weeks prior to the WHO meeting that said the researchers concluded that there was no clear link?  Also be sure to read page 5 of the WHO press release that describes what a group 2b finding is and think about what evidence is needed to reach that conclusion.  A statistical correlation is one thing but what about the substantive significance of their finding.  Understanding that would require first understanding the baseline risk of getting any type of brain cancer in the first place (See NIH fact sheet) and then understanding that gliomas are a subset of the various types of brain cancer and are relatively rare amount the different types.  Moreover, if cell phones did cause cancer, shouldn't there be some detectable increase in brain tumors considering they have been in widespread use for more than a decade?  There does not appear to be much evidence in the medical literature that this is the case. 

Read this thoughtful essay about the importance of language for managers and policy analysts from a recent issue of the PA Times (Nov/Dec 2010).

"Poverty" is an excellent example of problem definition and the role that changing values play.  See this chart and an article from the Washington Post (9/10) on rising poverty rates.  This chart from the New York Times also illustrates a variety of perspectives on poverty and unemployment around the country (9/11).  For an alternative perspective, see this article from National Review online and a report prepared by the Heritage Foundation (July 2011).

Is the growing national debt a problem?  See this recent article from the LA Times (8/23/11).  See this figure for the growth in the debt ceiling since 1980.  See this chart on increased government spending.  Are entitlements to blame or are big increases in government spending.  See this interesting perspective (8/11).   Is it because the rich are not paying there fair share in taxes?  See this article exploring how much could be raised by taxing the "rich" (8/11).

Policy analysts often have to think counter-intuitively because the world doesn't always work the way we think it does.  Give some thought to the problems identified in these articles.  Why are ICU deaths higher on the weekend (7/10)?  Why do heavy drinkers outlive non-drinkers (8/10)?  Why is weight loss toxic (9/10)? Are we doomed to repeat the collapse of the housing market in the life insurance industry by allowing the same risky investments (NY Times 9/09)?  Is the changing nature of work responsible for increasing obesity (NYT - 5/11)? Why do Black men live longer in prison (Reuters 7/11)?

Is it actually safer to be modestly overweight than underweight?  See this report in the JAMA on Obesity and Death (2005) and a related article about CDC linking risk of death to obesity (2005). 

While data and numbers are important, communicating these results effectively using tools like PowerPoint is critically important.  See this interesting article from Government Executive about how PowerPoint can be the enemy of thought (9/1/04). 

While numbers and data are important, it is also important to know where these numbers come from and what they mean.  See this interesting article about the fudging of crime statistics (2/10) in New York.  It is also important to realize if you are looking for something you never looked for before, you may find more of it but that doesn't mean there really is more of it.  See this interesting article from the USA Today on Mercury in the water (8/04)

It always important for policy analysts to remember that people (and politicians) are often bad judges of risk.  See this interesting article from the USA Today (8/06) on risk.  Yet it is common to read articles highlighting dangers that play on our inability to understand risk.  Are bear attacks a big danger (La Times - 8 /11)?  Are playgrounds too safe (NYT 7/11)?

Of course, sometimes there are extremely unlucky individuals.  See this interesting article about a man whose house has been struck by a meteorite 6 times (7/10).  If you lived next door to him would your chances of being hit by a meteorite increase or decrease?

However, sometimes your read statistics that just don't make sense.  How could it be more likely to be hit by a piece of a satellite (estimated at 1 in 3,200) (Download article) than by lightning in your lifetime (1 in 10,000).  I'm betting whomever did the math to produce the estimate reported in this article failed their statistics class.  Although I still wouldn't want to live next door to the man reported in the previous bullet when the satellite crashed to earth.

Sometimes efforts to solve one problem make other problems worse.  See this interesting article from the USA Today on the problems related to growing ethanol use (8/08).  Similarly, the policies implemented through no child left behind have led to wide spread instances of teacher cheating.  See this USA Today investigative report: Testing the System (Mar. '11), this set of articles on a widespread scandal in Atlanta as examples (7/11), and this story on problems in South Carolina (2008) 

Video Clip - Hans Rosling gives brilliant insight into the world’s explosively changing population, in its physical, economic and political health. To say nothing about his basic mission of teaching the use of statistical methodology.

Download as an adobe acrobat file

Figures - Data analysis

UNCW's Randall Library

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

NHTSA - Traffic Safety Facts 2005

NC Crash Data

Dery, David. 1984. Problem Definition in Policy Analysis. Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas.

Rochefort, David A. and Roger W. Cobb. 1994. The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda. Lawrence, KA: University of Kansas Press. 

Cook, Thomas D. And Donald T. Campbell. 1979. Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Denzin, Norman K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). 1998. Strategies for Qualitative Inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Denzin, Norman K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). 1998.Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Patton, Michael Quinn. 1990. Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Second Edition. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Rossi, Peter H. and Howard E. Freeman. 1993. Evaluation: A Systematic Approach. Fifth Edition. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Singleton, Royce A., Bruce C. Straits, Margaret Miller Straits. 1993. Approaches to Social Research. Second Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.