Applied Policy Analysis Fall 2007

Purpose: This course is intended to introduce you to the process and issues of public policy analysis. It explores current understandings of the motivation for public policy, describes the tools and concepts that policy analysts frequently use, and illustrates, through application, the policy analysis cycle. In addition, we will look at the arguments of one critic of standard policy analysis who emphasizes the political nature, and ambiguity, of public policy. Overall, this approach will give you a multi-dimensional perspective of the field and the ability to see different aspects of the issues.

Attendance and participation is important because we meet only weekly and because this may be a small class. Each week, participants will be expected to attend class AND to make a posting on the discussion section of our course in WebCT. The weekly contribution must be posted BEFORE class each week, and may comment on the readings to be discussed, pick up an issue raised in a previous class, or discuss related issues found in newspapers or other periodicals. The purpose of this posting is to encourage you to actively think about, and apply, the ideas and concepts that we discuss; and to encourage others to engage your observations and ideas. The postings need not be long, but they should be substantive in terms of content.

Project: You will conduct a piece of policy analysis as the main assignment in the course. You may work on any issue that interests you, but the topic you work on must be approved by me. In addition to a short presentation in the last class (Nov. 30), there will be three elements that are handed in and which will contribute to your grade in the course:
1. On September 21, you will submit your First Project Report, an Issue Description and Literature Review. This is a short, written report that describes the issue and its context and explains why you believe it is interesting and/or significant. The report will also contain an initial "literature review." In this section, your purpose is to find out what is known about the issue you chose. For most issues, you will not be able to read everything (or even most things) that seem relevant. So the goal is to identify the "major" or "most significant" items. Your review should identify the purpose of the study/report/article, the themes raised, and the major findings. Resist the temptation to simply provide an item-by-item treatment of each piece of literature. Instead, write the literature review around the themes that appear in the pieces--this may lead you to discuss one piece of literature more than once (if it touches on more than one theme). The report should not exceed 6 pages.
2. On October 26, you will submit the Second Project Report, a Preliminary Analysis of the Issue. This will lay out the question or questions that your analysis hopes to answer. It will describe the nature of the problem and the possible alternatives for addressing it. This document should also contain analysis of some (but perhaps not all) of the alternatives, with the ultimate goal of recommending a specific course of action. You are unlikely to be ready to make a specific recommendation at this stage, but you should have done enough analysis/thinking so that you can indicate which of the alternatives are not likely to be successful and which are worthy of further investigation. Your emphasis should be on the arguments for or against an alternative rather than on simply stating whether you favor the alternative.
3. On December 7, you will turn in the Third Project Report, a Final Analysis and Recommendation. This document should summarize or re-work the material submitted in the two previous reports, bringing the material up to date (for example, you may have come across additional literature that should be added to the literature review). The document should include your final analysis of the alternative solutions to the problem posed in your issue, and it should make a recommendation on a course of action with explanation and justification.