Background This paper investigates whether state legislators find testimony influential, to what extent testimony influences policy-makers’ decisions, and defines the features of testimony important in affecting policy-makers’ decisions.   Methods We used a mixed method approach to analyze responses from 862 state-level legislators in the United States (U.S.). Data were collected via a phone su...

Understanding the policy cycle, as well as scrutinizing the text of hidden and obvious policies and rules, requires a model of discourse analysis based on which discursive ap-proaches of policy makers are understood and estimated. However, when it comes to presenting a policy model, we have to use the views of policy theorists to see how a problem as a "public goods" can be found in the policy ...

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate a re-envisioning of gender politics in public policy making by applying a new approach to understanding them. Our approach is based on, and illustrated by, a study of gender dynamics in policy-making processes in the NSW public sector in Australia. The study draws on theoretical developments in the sociological study of gender arrangements in large orga...

This study addresses two questions: “What factors affect the adoption of research within educational policy making?” and “How might a better understanding of these factors improve research adoption and aid the development of policy?” In investigating the concept of research adoption, which I regard as vital to the successful creation of ‘evidence-informed’ policies/policy instruments, it is hop...

Libraries have been written about the theory and practice of public policy making. Yet, this enormous scholarship has proved insufficient to lift the veil of mystery and idiosyncrasy that shrouds the art of decision making. The heady ambition to turn both clinical practice and health policy into evidence-based bastions of rationalist decision making has been downgraded; the vocabulary is now “e...

This systematic review aimed to collect and synthesize information available on immunization policy making processes in countries across the globe. Twenty-nine published articles and five websites in either English or French provided varied information on the immunization policy making processes in 33 countries. The information retrieved varied from players involved to types of evidence used wh...

Two recent evaluation studies undertaken for the European Commission, related to the LEADER Community Initiative implemented throughout the 1990s, have provided the basis for the issues discussed in this article. This programme was set up to encourage pilot experiences in the promotion of rural development in the problem areas of Europe, by introducing a set of distinctive features emphasizing ...

THE DRASTICALLY DECREASED SUPPLY OF INACTIVATED influenza vaccine for the 2004-2005 US influenza season presents a unique challenge for health care institutions. At the core of this challenge is the dual responsibility that health care institutions have to protect patients as well as the health professionals who are integral to the functioning of the institution. Many major hospitals and long-t...