Doctoral Dissertation Research: Scientific Evidence Use in Public Policy Decision Making

Evidence-based policymaking, the use of scientific evidence to inform policy, has been promoted as an objective way to identify problems and proffer effective solutions. The use of science to inform policy is now regarded as critical for effective policymaking, while the absence of science in the policy process may open doors to poor policy choices, policy failures, and detrimental policy outcomes. Although interest in understanding the use of science by policymakers has been growing, most studies focus on health policy, and often only in high-income settings. Consequently, there is limited understanding of the influence of science beyond the health policy field, and there is a large gap in knowledge around evidence-informed policymaking in low- and middle-income settings where existing scholarship may have little applicability due to dramatic differences in policy contexts. This research examines the roles of scientific evidence in the policy process in a large low-income setting, with a comparative viewpoint across multiple government entities (health, but also environment, agriculture, and social policy). The researchers seek to understand (1) how use of scientific outputs varies across different federal government components; (2) under what conditions science is more likely to influence decision-making; and ultimately (3) how science is used to influence policy in a large, economically important setting. A mixed methods approach - incorporating data from surveys and interviews of policy makers and analysts, alongside an analysis of original policy documents - provides a robust assessment of how scientific evidence is used throughout the policy process. This study thus contributes to a growing body of scholarship on evidence-based policymaking and offers insights into how to support the effective use of science in the policy process – which is a priority for many scientists, but also for many for-profit, non-profit, and government stakeholders worldwide. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.