A talk given by Dr. Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes of the Research Impact Unit, Department for Education, at the Leeds Social Sciences Institute Seminar "The Use of Evidence in Policy Making?" on 22 Oct 2010 at the University of Leeds.

1. The Use of Evidence
in
Policy Making?

2. 2
The Use of Evidence in Policy
Development and Implementation:
Constraints and Strategies
 Dr. Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes
 Research Impact Unit, Department for Education
 Email: Stella.Mascarenhas-Keyes@education.gsi.gov.uk
Presentation to Leeds University: The Use of Evidence in Policy Making
22 October 2010

3. 3
STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION
 The Policy Process in DfE
 Research Impact: Practical Constraints
 Research Impact: Measurement Constraints
 Case Study: International Knowledge-based
Entrepreneurship
 Conclusion: What University Researchers can
do to Increase Impact

4. 4
The Policy Process in DfE

5. 5
DfE Policy Making Model

6. 6
Good policy requires three things
Political
objective
Delivery
reality
Evidence
base

7. 7
RESEARCH IMPACT

8. 8
Research Impact: Practical Constraints
within Government
 Timeliness of the evidence
 Project managers spend relatively less time on impact activities
 Limited spend in research budget on impact activities
 Limited identification of potential users
 Limited proactive engagement with potential users
 Limited use of a range of dissemination media
 Limited absorptive capacity of policy makers and other users of
research
 But attempts being made to reduce constraints and get more
value for money

9. 9
Research Impact: Measurement
Constraints
 Difficult to measure impact as take up of evidence is variable
 Can have instrumental and easily recognisable direct impact
 Can have non-linear impact, dependent on interactions, nature
of research and findings, and social and political contexts
 Can have impact on theoretical approaches and concepts,
ways of thinking, attitudes etc. – process impacts less
tangible, less visible and difficult to measure
 Impact can occur over a varying timescale
 Examples of impact at February 2010 Conference on The Use of
Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery
https://secure2.symphonyem.co.uk/ResearchConference2010

10. 10
INTERNATIONAL
KNOWLEDGE BASED
ENTREPRENEURSHIP:
STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING
USE OF EVIDENCE

11. 11
Case Study: Research on International
Knowledge Based Entrepreneurship
 ESRC Knowledge Placement Fellow 2007
 Seconded to De Montfort University
 50% funding from ESRC
 25% funding from DIUS
 25% funding from DBERR
 Office in government and university
 Empirical research in UK and China

12. 12
Strategy 1: Laid Foundations for
Research Impact
 Got Government management on board
 Got multiple policy colleagues on board
 Used strategic approach to steering group
membership
 Identified suitable academic collaborators
 Produced high quality peer reviewed policy
focused report
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/migratedd/publi
cations/d/dius_rr_08_20.pdf

13. 13
Strategy 2: Leveraged Research and
Policy Links within Central Government
 Used access to published and internal policy
documents
 Used access to diverse policy colleagues/analysts
 Used access to Special Advisers/Ministers
– Become aware of political context of evidence use
 Used knowledge of changing policy priorities
 Used formal and informal opportunities for
continuous Knowledge Transfer

14. 14
Strategy 3: Maintained Links with the
Academic Community
 Kept abreast with theoretical and methodological
developments
 Made greater use of researchers’ tacit knowledge
 Found opportunities to enhance policy focus of academic
research
 Increased awareness of external research to take to
government
 Participated in national and international conferences to ‘take
government to the people’

15. 15
Strategy 4: Worked with External
Stakeholders and the Frontline
 Made presentations to multiple stakeholders
– regional and local government
– University management
– British Bankers Association
– Broad based practitioner conference
 Used informal opportunities to drip feed evidence

16. 16
Indicators of impact
 Minister’s positive response to research recommendations
 Number of downloads of report and requests for report
 Take up of evidence in policy documents e.g. 2008 Enterprise
White Paper, DIUS review of HE student and graduate
entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Task Force submission to
minister
 Change in regional policy on working with universities
 Change in one bank’s policy which improved access to finance
 Raised awareness of ESRC scheme: citation in Government
magazine, ESRC publications, Council for Science &
Technology Report, presentations at Science & Innovation
conference and follow ups

17. 17
Conclusion: What University
Researchers can do to Increase Impact
 Understand the culture of government: breadth not depth
 Cultivate and leverage government research and policy links
 Cultivate a policy perspective: read policy focused research
reports
 Engage in capacity building: use government research reports
in your curricula
 Cultivate an awareness of the types of evidence in demand
 Embed impact in the design of research proposals
 Write up your research to engage a policy audience
 Develop resilience: it can take a while before your research is
used… although you may not know it!