Advancing Policy Science for Advancing Science Policy Guswin de Wee, Nelson Mandela University, [email protected]
Steven E. Wallis, PhD. Foundation for the Advancement of Social Theory,
STRUCTURE AS INDICATOR FOR SUCCESS Background Results
Conclusions
References
Application to Science policy
For decades, we have heard calls that policy should
be supported by data. Yet, policies STILL fail.
WORSE, evidence are weaponized1 indicating that
more data is not the answer2.
This poster provides a systematic analyses of the
structural logic of A POLICY TO
DEINSTITUTIONALIZE MENTAL HEALTH
PATIENTS.
A new Path
A groundbreaking field, the science of conceptual
systems (SOCS), examines and measures the
structural logic of conceptual systems (e.g. Theories,
policy models etc.) as systems to evaluate its
usefulness.
Conceptual systems (e.g. Policies) with a higher
level of structure prove more useful in practical
application.
• COMPARISON – using IPA to evaluate structure of Ohms’ law in comparison to structure
of public health policy
• Structural analysis of the NMHPFSP 2013-2017 policy of South Africa for
deinstitutionalizing mental health patients causing over 140+ needless deaths
Ohm's law’ structural logic as a
practical map3
Structure: 100%
highly effective
or useful in
application
NMHPFSP 2013-2017 structural
logic as practical Map
Structure: 20%
limited usefulness
in practical
application/implem
entation.
Poorly structured policy models are associated with three
critical issues.
1) Poor understanding of the policy context/situation,
leading to poorly planned implementation.
2) Difficulty in communicating policy actions, leading to
poor implementation fidelity.
3) Exclusion of relevant stakeholder groups from the
planning and implementation process
• Policies with higher levels of structure (in concert
with better data and stakeholder inclusion) leads to
improved implementation success.
• IT IS IMPORTANT TO Use IPA to create more
systemic policies to reach goals
[1] Zahariadis, N., 2003. Ambiguity and choice in public policy: Political decision making in modern
democracies. Georgetown university press.
[2] Sanderson, I. 2002. Evaluation, policy learning and evidence-based policy making. Public
Administration 80(1):1–22
[3] Wright, B., and S. E. Wallis. 2019. Practical Mapping for Applied Research and Program
Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
METHODOLOGY
• The Integrative Propositional Analysis
(IPA) six-step methodology stream has
been used to measure the structure of
theories and policy models on a scale of 0-
100%.
F.A.S.T.
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to Lymique Ruiters for helping me with the design of the poster.
