Research evidence can and should have an important role in
shaping public policy. Just as much of the medical community has
embraced the concept of "evidence-based medicine," increasing
numbers of social scientists and government agencies are calling
for an evidence-based approach to determine which social programs
work and which ones don t. It is an irony not lost on the social
scientists writing for the September volume of "The Annals" that
the first use of experimental methods in medicine (to test the
effects of Streptomycin on tuberculosis in the late 1940s) was
actually conducted by an economist. But while more than one million
clinical trials in medicine have been conducted since that time,
only about 10,000 have been conducted to evaluate whether social
programs achieve their intended effects.
Authors of the September volume argue that this level of
investment in the "gold standard" of research designs is
insufficient for a wide range of reasons. Randomized controlled
trials, for example, are far better at controlling selection biases
and chance effects than are other observational methods, while
econometric and statistical techniques that seek to correct for
bias fall short of their promise. The volume dramatically
demonstrates that alternative methods generate different (and often
substantially wrong) estimates of program effects. Some research
based on nonexperimental research designs actually mislead policy
makers and practitioners into supporting programs that don t work,
while ignoring others that do.
Authors of this volume also directly address critiques of
experimental designs, which range from questions about their
practicality to their ethics. Some of these arguments are well
taken, but addressable. The authors, however, reject other
arguments against controlled tests as unfounded and damaging to
social science..
Policymakers will find these articles invaluable in better
understanding how alternative research methods can mislead as much
as enlighten. Students and researchers will be confronted with
powerful arguments that question the use of nonexperimental
techniques to estimate program effects.
This volume throws the gauntlet down. We challenge you to pick
it up. "
General
Imprint: |
Sage Publications Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Series |
Release date: |
September 2003 |
First published: |
September 2003 |
Editors: |
Lawrence W. Sherman
|
Dimensions: |
236 x 165 x 20mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
236 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-7619-2857-7 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Politics & government >
General
|
LSN: |
0-7619-2857-X |
Barcode: |
9780761928577 |
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