Xia
Bernard of Chartres once used the metaphor of dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants to express the meaning of “discovering truth by building on previous discoveries” (wiki). Although this metaphor has been used very often in natural science, it also has significant implication in social science. In this precis, I argue that a final and comprehensive policy is the joint effort of all the previous policy analysis. The standards to evaluate the role of policy analysis should not be based on whether it is adopted by policy makers, but how the process of policy analysis attracts the public and official attention to long forgotten but important public issues, whether it inspires the public to be more engaged in policy making process. Researchers should avoid the common ethical issues and follow the fundamental ethical guidelines to conduct a reliable and valid research in policy analysis.
Shulock (1999) in her article The Paradox of Policy Analysis: If It is Not Used, Why Do we Produce So Much of It expresses her view on the role of policy analysis. Different from the traditional view that policy analysis should be used by policymakers to make better policy decisions, she argues that policy analysis is more a tool of the democratic process than the problem-solving process (p 227). Her research findings suggest that public analysis is used extensively, especially when jurisdiction is competitive and public attentiveness is high. When I was a graduate student in Renmin University, I worked with my mentor on a project to evaluate the policy of “Sealed Management in ‘Villages in Cities’” in Beijing. The idea of “ Sealed management” was born in the village of Laosanyu during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when the government was eager to control its migrant population. After the Olympics, this management model was implemented in many ‘villages in Cities’ in Beijing. The core concepts of this model is to build community walls, install hundreds of cameras and check in every time the migrant workers enter these ‘villages’. Our analysis shows that although the crime rate had been decreased significantly, it further segregated the migrant workers from general residents and had serious discrimination problem. When we did the research in those villages, we received a lot of complaints and frustration from the residents. The findings from our analysis, alone with many others research work, as well as the residents request for fair treatment, have been taken seriously by the local governments. Although those villages that have implemented this model still exist, there are no more villages adopt this model anymore. This case demonstrates that the although policy analysis may not be adopted by policy makers directly, the process of policy analysis can change the public perception and influence the final policy formulation.
Reevaluating the role of policy analysis is one thing, how to conduct an ethical policy research is another thing. Without ethical guidelines in policy research, the findings will be biased and questionable. When social research is applied to public policy, it always raised controversial issues because (1) social sciences have few generally accepted theoretical models (2) they allow a greater range of research designs and methods (3) weaker ethical guidelines (4) also a weaker “norm of skepticism” (5) the empirical results are hard to replicate to serve as an effective peer review mechanism (Warwick & Pettigrew, 1983). Thus, Warwick and Pettigrew present suggestions for needed ethical guidelines in terms of problem formulation, design, implementation and evaluation of public policy. I do also have another perfect example regarding the ethical issue in policy analysis. Same time as the case I mentioned above, I was in a large research project “Government – led Urbanization in Chengdu”. The research project was hired by Chengdu government to evaluate the effects on rural areas of the Government –led Urbanization. The most unethical issue about this research is the samples of the research. All the rural areas we went were well designed and developed. The residents we interviewed were arranged by local governments. I was delighted to see how beautiful the rural areas can be because of the government – led urbanization, however I kept thinking is this the whole picture of the process? Can the achievements of these places represent the whole rural areas in Chengdu? Can we justify the effectiveness of the Government – Led Urbanization just based on these places? Of course not. Sadly, the “successful experiences of Chengdu Urbanization Model” has been put into a published book, both in Chinese and English. Ironically, only two years after the project, the Mayor of Chengdu City was put in prison due to his crime of corruption. All the projects related to the urbanization, initially led by him, were terminated.
Being a teacher has always been my dream. However, when I was doing a survey in a remote village in Nei Mongol, an extremely destitute place which had no roads to get access to (we had to walk through grass), local people expressed all their needs and requests to us because they thought we were college students, and we can talk to the government for help. At that moment, I realized how many people were left behind and forgotten, and it is that time that I was determined to be a good researcher. I hope someday I can become some one whose research findings can change the vulnerable people’s life. The importance of policy analysis and the disastrous outcomes of unethical policy research reminds me that being a well trained researcher is not only about the knowledge, but the core principles and values that a researcher should hold – the pursuit of JUSTRICE and TRUTH.
Shulock (1999) in her article The Paradox of Policy Analysis: If It is Not Used, Why Do we Produce So Much of It expresses her view on the role of policy analysis. Different from the traditional view that policy analysis should be used by policymakers to make better policy decisions, she argues that policy analysis is more a tool of the democratic process than the problem-solving process (p 227). Her research findings suggest that public analysis is used extensively, especially when jurisdiction is competitive and public attentiveness is high. When I was a graduate student in Renmin University, I worked with my mentor on a project to evaluate the policy of “Sealed Management in ‘Villages in Cities’” in Beijing. The idea of “ Sealed management” was born in the village of Laosanyu during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when the government was eager to control its migrant population. After the Olympics, this management model was implemented in many ‘villages in Cities’ in Beijing. The core concepts of this model is to build community walls, install hundreds of cameras and check in every time the migrant workers enter these ‘villages’. Our analysis shows that although the crime rate had been decreased significantly, it further segregated the migrant workers from general residents and had serious discrimination problem. When we did the research in those villages, we received a lot of complaints and frustration from the residents. The findings from our analysis, alone with many others research work, as well as the residents request for fair treatment, have been taken seriously by the local governments. Although those villages that have implemented this model still exist, there are no more villages adopt this model anymore. This case demonstrates that the although policy analysis may not be adopted by policy makers directly, the process of policy analysis can change the public perception and influence the final policy formulation.
Reevaluating the role of policy analysis is one thing, how to conduct an ethical policy research is another thing. Without ethical guidelines in policy research, the findings will be biased and questionable. When social research is applied to public policy, it always raised controversial issues because (1) social sciences have few generally accepted theoretical models (2) they allow a greater range of research designs and methods (3) weaker ethical guidelines (4) also a weaker “norm of skepticism” (5) the empirical results are hard to replicate to serve as an effective peer review mechanism (Warwick & Pettigrew, 1983). Thus, Warwick and Pettigrew present suggestions for needed ethical guidelines in terms of problem formulation, design, implementation and evaluation of public policy. I do also have another perfect example regarding the ethical issue in policy analysis. Same time as the case I mentioned above, I was in a large research project “Government – led Urbanization in Chengdu”. The research project was hired by Chengdu government to evaluate the effects on rural areas of the Government –led Urbanization. The most unethical issue about this research is the samples of the research. All the rural areas we went were well designed and developed. The residents we interviewed were arranged by local governments. I was delighted to see how beautiful the rural areas can be because of the government – led urbanization, however I kept thinking is this the whole picture of the process? Can the achievements of these places represent the whole rural areas in Chengdu? Can we justify the effectiveness of the Government – Led Urbanization just based on these places? Of course not. Sadly, the “successful experiences of Chengdu Urbanization Model” has been put into a published book, both in Chinese and English. Ironically, only two years after the project, the Mayor of Chengdu City was put in prison due to his crime of corruption. All the projects related to the urbanization, initially led by him, were terminated.
Being a teacher has always been my dream. However, when I was doing a survey in a remote village in Nei Mongol, an extremely destitute place which had no roads to get access to (we had to walk through grass), local people expressed all their needs and requests to us because they thought we were college students, and we can talk to the government for help. At that moment, I realized how many people were left behind and forgotten, and it is that time that I was determined to be a good researcher. I hope someday I can become some one whose research findings can change the vulnerable people’s life. The importance of policy analysis and the disastrous outcomes of unethical policy research reminds me that being a well trained researcher is not only about the knowledge, but the core principles and values that a researcher should hold – the pursuit of JUSTRICE and TRUTH.