'Policy-based Evidence'

I have a growing concern that our efforts to promote evidence-based policy will sometimes be undermined by those seeking 'policy-based evidence' — information that can be used to justify politically-motivated action. The total lack of performance measurement, performance information and performance management in most small local governments doesn’t provide much opportunity for evidence based policy, but generating the information leads to other political issues.
The difficult connection from outputs to outcomes leaves ample opportunity to generate policy based evidence making. This doesn’t mean we should stop doing performance measurement, performance information and performance management, it just means we need to be prepared to use the tools available to us.
We do not have the resources to develop significant social research which uses the methods of scientific enquiry—such as surveys, qualitative research, analysis of administrative and statistical data, case studies and controlled trials—to measure, describe, explain and predict social and economic change.
We will need to develop surrogate or substitute indicators when cost, complexity or timeliness prevent the scientific evaluation of outputs and outcomes from explaining and predicting social and economic change.