Much of the evidence translation literature focuses narrowly on the use of evidence in the initial policy formulation stages, and downplays the crucial role of institutions and the inherently political nature of policy making. More recent approaches acknowledge the importance of institutional and political factors, but make no attempt to…

A review of research on the roles played by the mass media and the political parties during the agenda-setting stage of political activity in the United States indicates that the mass media have assumed some of the informing and issue-initiating functions generally understood to be performed by political parties. It seems desirable to develop an…

The history of evaluation utilization in policy making and political features of program evaluation are discussed. A five-part continuum describes the evaluation process. Evaluation practice modifications contribute to real growth in evaluation use in congressional policy making as evaluation research improves the quality of information available…

Focusing on whether and how research actually contributes to the formation of public policy, this paper explores the critical problems in the linkage between science production and the systems that formulate educational policy. The authors suggest that the utilization of social research is limited more by problems of integrating research into the…

This paper explores the politics of education with emphasis on the uses and influences of educational research in educational policy formation. Objectives are to identify information needs of policy makers and to shed light on the educational policy process. The hypothesis is that there is a lack of unity in studies of the political aspects of…