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I posted about policy analysis/deconstruction. You should follow the outline format to organize your paper. Be sure that your citations match the information you are providing, if you are quoting be sure you use quotation marks ” ” and the page # along with the citation. If you have other questions let me know – but if you have questions you can email me.
Here is the copy of the assignment:
Policy Project
For this project you will select an issue and revise/rewrite a corresponding piece of policy. You can select any issue as long as it relates to aging. Use something of interest or personally, professionally, academically. You may decide to examine mental health policy (funding, treatment provision) services – senior centers, hospice, health policy, nursing homes, etc.
When selecting a policy, you need to only review a small portion of it not necessarily the entire policy (some policies can be hundreds of pages). The policy project should consist of an outline and overview of the issue or problem that precipitated the policy, the policy itself, critique/analysis and recommendations.
While this is not a traditional paper and you can use non-scholarly resources you should have some in there. You must use APA format and cite within the text as well as reference at the end. Please use the outline type below
I. Introduction
A) Statement of the problem or issue that precipitated (came before) the policy
B) Policy – a brief overview of the policy
II. Background
A) Background information related to problem, issue or concern that the policy is seeking to address.
B) Who is impacted by the issue/problem and therefore the policy a) Demographics
C) Issues/concerns about the policy
III. Deconstruct the Policy
A) Critique the policy as written – is it understandable, does it remedy the situation or create additional issues?
B) What changes do you think should be made and why – make this realistic I will be proving a written lecture and information on deconstructing policy
IV. Recommendations A) Recommendations for future policy makers This will be due at the end of the semester –
Policy and Policy Deconstruction –
How we view, develop, analyze and deconstruct policy is important. Policy should be like a shark if it is not moving (evolving) it dies or meaning it has outlived its usefulness. I am a fan of Eugene Bardach’s Eight-fold Path to Policy Analysis. Over the years it seems I was the only one who was a fan. For your reading pleasure I have added in the content an earlier version of the book. It is nearly 200 pages long – here is a very brief synopsis that I have come up with:
Steps to Policy Analysis – Eugene Bardach – Eight Fold Path to Policy Analysis
1. Define the Problem: The problem should discuss the undesired gap between as-is condition and to-be condition. The most important policy problems are ill-structured, wicked problems that are difficult to resolve. It is important to note that if you misdiagnose the problem, the policy solution is likely to fail. What Bardach is saying is that this is crucial that if you do not define the problem correctly everything else that follows will fail.
2. Assemble Some Evidence: To communicate the problem to the audience, you need to be sure that there is evidence that the problem does indeed exist. This evidence should be strong enough to make your audience care about the problem and want to read further about solutions to address the problem. (Audience can be defined as a board of directors, legislators, community groups, government…)
3. Construct the Alternatives: Alternatives should be ways to address or eliminate the policy problem. In constructing alternatives, one can utilize several techniques: (1) copy an existing policy without modification, (2) copy an existing policy and modify it to fit your needs, (3) build a policy utilizing generic tools, and (4) build a policy from scratch with creativity and brainstorming. Alternatives should be tightly linked to your problem definition, specific enough to be actionable, relevant to your client’s resources, and materially different from one another. You should try to include at least three to five alternatives and at least one of these should be a “do-nothing” option. It is important not to choose dummy alternatives or pick a favorite alternative, as this will disrupt the analysis’s validity and reliability. (This provides you with the opportunity to test things out – almost like a pilot to be sure that you have it right or you are on the right path – this does not happened in a vacuum – you need to involve others)
4. Select the Evaluation Criteria: Criteria are used to measure the outcomes and impacts of each alternative. Bardach describes them as the “mental standards for evaluating the results of action.” The criteria should be measurable and quantifiable. There are several criteria commonly utilized by policy analysts: (1) efficacy, (2) cost, (3) equity, (4) administrative feasibility, (5) unintended consequences, (6) sustainability, and (7) political feasibility. The criteria will enable you to evaluation each alternative across the same metrics in order to ultimately determine the best policy option. Therefore, criteria should be chosen based on outcomes and impacts policy leaders would like to see from a policy option.
5. Project the Outcomes: Evaluate each policy alternative based on the criteria. Sometimes, this process will enable you to clearly eliminate policy alternatives that do not produce desired outcomes and impacts. However, it is often difficult to pinpoint the most effective policy alternative from this process.
6. Confront the Trade-Offs: As a clear policy “winner” is often not produced from the above analysis, it is important to look at trade-offs between the policy alternatives to identify the best alternative. This includes conducting a cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, or multi-attribute analysis. Ultimately, you should be able to produce 2-3 crystal clear sentences on what your clients gets and gives up from choosing a certain policy alternative.
7. Decide: Choose a policy alternative based on your analysis.
8. Tell Your Story: In recounting the process to the client, it is important to clearly tell the story; trade detail for brevity. You should consider three types of audiences, (1) those that will spend 30 seconds reading your analysis, (2) those that will spend 3 minutes, and (3) those that will spend 30 minutes. Your analysis should provide enough information to satisfy all three types of readers and enable them to understand your process and ultimate recommendation. By following these steps, you will ensure that you effectively and efficiently assess a policy before implementation or making alterations. This will guarantee that policy leaders understand all of the potential positive and negative outcomes from a specific policy choice and action. The idea is that policy is like a shark – if it doesn’t move (evolve) it dies or it’s usefulness dies out. It is essential to constantly reevaluate the policy to see if: 1. The problem/issue still exists 2. If the policy/intervention is still meeting the needs of the clientele 3. Have the clientele changed and/or have their needs changed This is why defining the problem is essential and you need to involve all of the stakeholders in this process. Who is impacted, who has access to resources who are going to be the leaders? You can not do this from the top down. It is vital that it be grassroots – the people that are most affected. If there is not buy-in – if people feel that they are not acknowledged, not listened to, don’t have a seat at the table the policy is meaningless and will have either a very short life-span or do more harm than good. I have added Bardach’s book but you are not required to read it.
Policy Project
For this project you will select an issue and revise/rewrite a corresponding piece of policy. You
can select any issue as long as it relates to aging. Use something of interest or personally,
professionally, academically. You may decide to examine mental health policy (funding,
treatment provision) services – senior centers, hospice, health policy, nursing homes, etc. When
selecting a policy, you need to only review a small portion of it not necessarily the entire policy
(some policies can be hundreds of pages).
The policy project should consist of an outline and overview of the issue or problem that
precipitated the policy, the policy itself, critique/analysis and recommendations. While this is not
a traditional paper and you can use non-scholarly resources you should have some in there. You
must use APA format and cite within the text as well as reference at the end. Please use the
outline type below
I. Introduction
A) Statement of the problem or issue that precipitated (came before) the policy
B) Policy – a brief overview of the policy
II. Background
A) Background information related to problem, issue or concern that the policy is
seeking to address.
B) Who is impacted by the issue/problem and therefore the policy
a) Demographics
C) Issues/concerns about the policy
III. Deconstruct the Policy
A) Critique the policy as written – is it understandable, does it remedy the
situation or create additional issues?
B) What changes do you think should be made and why – make this realistic
I will be proving a written lecture and information on deconstructing policy
IV. Recommendations
A) Recommendations for future policy makers
This will be due at the end of the semester –
Policy Project
For this project you will select an issue and revise/rewrite a corresponding piece of policy. You
can select any issue as long as it relates to aging. Use something of interest or personally,
professionally, academically. You may decide to examine mental health policy (funding,
treatment provision) services – senior centers, hospice, health policy, nursing homes, etc. When
selecting a policy you need to only review a small portion of it not necessarily the entire policy
(some policies can be hundreds of pages).
The policy project should consist of an outline and overview of the issue or problem that
precipitated the policy, the policy itself, critique/analysis and recommendations. While this is not
a traditional paper and you can use non-scholarly resources you should have some in there. You
must use APA format and cite within the text as well as reference at the end. Please use the
outline type below
I. Introduction
A) Statement of the problem or issue that precipitated (came before) the policy
B) Policy – a brief overview of the policy
II. Background
A) Background information related to problem, issue or concern that the policy is
seeking to address.
B) Who is impacted by the issue/problem and therefore the policy
a) Demographics
C) Issues/concerns about the policy
III. Deconstruct the Policy
A) Critique the policy as written – is it understandable, does it remedy the
situation or create additional issues?
B) What changes do you think should be made and why –
IV. Recommendations
A) Recommendations for future policy makers