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Committee on the Use of Social Science
Knowledge in Public Policy
Kenneth Prewitt, Thomas A. Schwandt, and Miron L. Straf, Editors
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils
of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were
chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. SES-0630359 between the National Acad-
emy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation; by Contract No. 7275 with the
William T. Grant Foundation; by Contract No. 2006-7875 with the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation; and by Contract No. 20070001 with the Spencer Foundation.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or
agencies that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-26161-6
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-26161-9
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500
Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-
3313; http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2012). Using Science as Evidence in
Public Policy. Committee on the Use of Social Science Knowledge in Public Policy, K.
Prewitt, T.A. Schwandt, and M.L. Straf, Editors. Division of Behavioral and Social Sci-
ences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of
distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the
furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the
authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a man-
date that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters.
Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of
the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers.
It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with
the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government.
The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at
meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior
achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy
of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences
to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination
of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the
responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to
be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues
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Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in
1916 to a ssociate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's
purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in
accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become
the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and
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Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest
are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
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COMMITTEE ON THE USE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
KNOWLEDGE IN PUBLIC POLICY
Kenneth Prewitt (Chair), School of International and Public Affairs,
Columbia University, New York
George W. Bohrnstedt, American Institutes for Research (emeritus),
Palo Alto, CA
Norman M. Bradburn, National Opinion Research Center and Harris
Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
Alicia L. Carriquiry, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University
Nancy D. Cartwright, London School of Economics and Political
Science and Department of Philosophy, University of California,
San Diego
Harris Cooper, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke
University
Michael J. Farrell, New York City Police Department, New York
Stephen E. Fienberg, Department of Statistics and the Heinz College,
Carnegie Mellon University
Sheila S. Jasanoff, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University
Robert L. Jervis, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
Robert E. Litan, Bloomberg Government, Washington, DC
Ann Morning, Department of Sociology, New York University
Robert A. Pollak, John M. Olin School of Business, Washington
University
Stephen H. Schneider,* Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies,
Stanford University
Thomas A. Schwandt, Department of Educational Psychology,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sidney Verba, Department of Government, Harvard University
Miron L. Straf, Study Director
Melissa Lee Sands, Consultant
Jonathan R. Dolle, Research Associate
Mary Ann Kasper, Senior Program Assistant
*Died in July 2010.
v
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Preface
T
he Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
(DBASSE) of the National Research Council (NRC) in 2005
established a standing committee to consider questions of how to
strengthen the quality and use of social science research and to lay a foun-
dation for the continuous improvement in the conduct of social science
research and its applications to public policy. The standing committee was
to identify areas of significant interest to those in the policy, research, and
practitioner communities.
That committee convened a number of workshops and discussion
meetings and met with a variety of researchers engaged in research on
evidence for public policy, and it also consulted with policy makers about
the usefulness of social science research to their work. As a result of those
workshops and meetings, the committee concluded that it should give less
attention to how the social sciences produce knowledge about policy, and
focus, instead, on the settings and conditions that affect whether social
science knowledge is used in policy making. To carry out the task identi-
fied, the NRC in 2009 set up the Committee on the Use of Social Science
Knowledge in Public Policy.
This new committee decided to propose a framework for research on
how policy makers make use of scientific knowledge and how the results of
that research might lead to improved policy making and improved prepara-
tion of students in policy schools for careers in the policy world. This report
is the result of the work of the committee.
vii
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viii PREFACE
In acknowledging the many people who made our work possible, we
begin with thanks to members of the original standing committee (who are
not members of the present committee), whose insights contributed to the
work that followed: Thomas D. Cook, Northwestern University; Judith
Feder, Georgetown University; Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University; Michael
Peckham, University College, London; and Philip E. Tetlock, University of
Pennsylvania.
We also acknowledge with gratitude and sadness the contributions of
Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford University, who served on the standing
committee and on this committee until his death in 2010.
Many NRC staff helped to guide the work of the standing and author-
ing committees. We particularly acknowledge the leadership of Michael J.
Feuer, the former executive director of DBASSE, who guided the initial
development of our study. We also thank other staff who helped the
standing committee: Marty Orland and Catherine Freeman, initial study
directors; Tina Winters, senior program associate; and Dorothy Majewski,
administrative assistant.
As the co-editors drafted text for the report, one committee member,
Norman Bradburn, met frequently with us, offering invaluable advice.
Mary Ann Kasper served as our senior project assistant, and Viola Horek
provided important administrative support. Editorial assistance was pro-
vided by Eugenia Grohman, and Kirsten Sampson-Snyder marshaled our
report through review.
We also acknowledge the sponsors of this study: the U.S. National
Science Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for
their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with pro-
cedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose
of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that
will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible
and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity,
evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments
and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the
deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Robert F. Boruch, Graduate School of Education and Statistics, University
of Pennsylvania; David S. Cordray, Center for Evaluation Research and
Methodology, Institute for Public Policy Studies, Vanderbilt University;
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PREFACE ix
James E. Geringer, Policy and Public Sector Strategies, ESRI, Inc., Chey-
enne, Wyoming; Arthur Lupia, Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan; Robert A. Moffitt, Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins
University; William D. Nordhaus, Department of Economics, Yale Uni-
versity; Michael J. O'Grady, National Opinion Research Center, Bethesda,
Maryland; Lant Pritchett, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University;
Daniel R. Sarewitz, Center for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, Columbia
University; Bernard Silverman, Department of Statistics, Oxford Univer-
sity; and Laura Siminoff, Department of Social and Behavioral Health,
Virginia Commonwealth University.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive
comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions
or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before
its release. The review of this report was overseen by Lawrence D. Brown,
Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylva-
nia, and Richard J. Bonnie, Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy,
University of Virginia. Appointed by the National Research Council, they
were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of
this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and
that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the
final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and
the institution.
Kenneth Prewitt, Chair
Miron L. Straf, Study Director
Committee on the Use of Social Science
Knowledge in Public Policy
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Contents
Summary1
1 Introduction 7
Focus of the Report, 7
Audience, 9
Understanding the Social Sciences and Their Role, 10
The Role of Politics and Values in Understanding Use, 13
Policy Making in a Representative Democracy, 15
A Better Guide, Not a Better Policy, 19
Report Structure, 19
2 Why This Report Now 21
"Big" Social Science, 22
The Precursor to Big Social Science, 26
Changing Perceptions of Use, 28
Scope of Investment in the Policy Enterprise, 31
3 The Use of Research Knowledge: Current Scholarship 35
A Challenging Landscape, 35
Decisionism and Its Critique, 39
The Two Communities Metaphor, 42
Evidence-Based Policy and Practice, 50
Conclusion, 51
xi
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xii CONTENTS
4 Research on the Use of Science in Policy: A Framework 53
Policy Argumentation, 55
Psychological Processes in Decision Making, 57
A Systems Perspective, 60
Conclusion, 63
5 The Next Generation of Researchers and Practitioners 65
Established Scholars, 65
Ph.D. Training: An Entry Point, 69
Policy Education: What Is Needed, 71
A Concluding Thought, 76
References77
Appendixes
A Selected Major Social Science Research Methods: Overview 91
B Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff 103
