A decade on from the foundation of the What Works Network, an initiative designed to improve the use of social scientific evidence in the design and delivery of public services in the UK. Michael Sanders and Jonathan Breckon discuss their effectiveness…
Category: what works
Book Review: What Works Now? Evidence-informed Policy and Practice edited by Annette Boaz, Huw Davies, Alec Fraser and Sandra Nutley
In What Works Now? Evidence-informed Policy and Practice, Annette Boaz, Huw Davies, Alec Fraser and Sandra Nutley offer both a synthesis and critique of the rapidly evolving field of evidence-informed policy and practice. William Solesbury praises the timeliness, breadth and clarity of the collection. This post originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. If you would like to contribute to the series, please contact the managing editor of LSE Review […]
Does evidence still matter? 10 strands of continuity and change in evidence based policy and practice
The concept of evidence based public policy has been well established for over 20 years and unsurprisingly has sustained numerous critiques and criticisms over this period. In this post Annette Boaz, Sandra Nutley, Huw Davies, and Alec Fraser, present findings from a new international review of the evidence based policy paradigm and highlight 10 ways in which the use of […]
The science of society: From credible social science to better social policies.
Though many are convinced that better social science evidence will make for better policies, we do not know how to turn that conviction into a reality. Nancy Cartwright and Julian Reiss argue that current efforts in evidence-based policy tend to focus on improving the credibility of results. But that is not enough. It is now time to invest heavily in developing methods for […]