Now You're a Policy Analyst

The art of policy analysis is the balancing of time and resources to provide relevant information to the decision makers. Policy analysis in its simplest form has four distinct steps that need to be considered and implemented. These steps are: what is the problem; what are the alternatives; which is the best alternative; and selling the recommendation. These four steps encompass Bardach’s1 eight-fold process. The amount of time and resources the analyst puts into each step may well determine the usefulness of the recommendation. Policy analysis generally happens as a continuum and tends to be iterative. The initial problem definition may change as the alternatives are reviewed and the analyst learns more about how things are and how the client wants them to be. The analyst must understand the process for coming to a decision and be able to choose the problem solving method and/or models appropriate for the issue being debated. The experienced analyst can generally think through the competing value systems, abstract factors deemed relevant from complex problems and provide a point at which to start winnowing the problem definition. The analyst should use the simplest decision method the problem will allow to build enough rational and political evidence to justify the recommendation. The analyst should attempt to “connect the dots” so that the decision makers understand enough of the information and the recommendation so that they feel it will provide some level of problem resolution. The decision makers should not be able to say they did not understand the information and then justify the recommendation on someone’s technical expertise. The summation of my debate is that the available resources should be allocated based on the problem being analyzed, the skills and abilities of the analyst, the political environment or value systems and the time constraints. The analyst should then re-evaluate the resource distribution at regular intervals and adjust as needed. I believe that the analyst will generally enjoy the process more and feel better about the results when using this method of resource distribution.