Chapter 13 Building Evidence-Based Family Policy: © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Building Evidence-Based Family Policy: Insights from the Family Impact Seminars

© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Chapter 13 Outline Utilization of Social Science Research in Policymaking Theory Behind Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy Community Dissonance Theory Ecological Family Systems Theory Using Family Impact Seminars to Communicate Research to Policymakers What Are the Family Impact Seminars? Core Components of the Family Impact Seminars Track Record of the Family Impact Seminars Effective Strategies for Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy Policymakers Are Not a Monolithic Group Summary

Utilization of Social Science Research in Policymaking © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Utilization of Social Science Research in Policymaking Public policy provides the conditions for families to deal with stressful conditions, but policymaking is not working as well as it could be for families. Many feel policy ought to be based on rigorous research and dispassionate analysis, yet a substantial gap exists between knowledge production and its use in policy decisions. Why has social scientists’ ability to generate high-quality, sophisticated research outpaced their ability to disseminate research into the policymaking process? Connecting research and policy is a two-pronged process that involves policymakers becoming more research- minded and researchers becoming more policy-minded.

Theory Behind Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Theory Behind Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy If we are to increase the use of research in policy decisions, we need to know why it is not used. The Family Impact Seminars build on community dissonance theory, which focuses on behavioral factors that can facilitate or impede the flow of communication across the research/policy divide. The seminars also build on ecological family systems theory, which explains why policies and programs are important to family functioning, and how family functioning is important to individuals and society.

Community Dissonance Theory © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Community Dissonance Theory Researchers and policymakers operate within very different institutional and professional cultures, which shape the way they think, act, and perceive the world. Institutional culture includes the history, operating procedures, and rules under which people operate; it affects the pace of business, influences on decisionmaking, etc. Professional culture includes training and socialization experiences, which establish the language, values, and practices that are considered normative. Thus, researchers and policymakers operate in distinct work environments, speak a language of their own, prefer information in different formats, and so forth. Increasing research use in policymaking depends on better understanding these institutional and professional cultures to improve communication and build trust.

Ecological Family Systems Theory © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Ecological Family Systems Theory The theory combines Bronfenbrenner’s concentric nested circles representing human development and Minuchin’s structural family systems theory. Families are the foremost influence on individual development; policies and programs shape the environment that families operate in, which can strengthen or undermine family functioning. Organizational processes in families can promote the psychosocial development and protection of family members and help members adapt to changing cultural, economic, and social contexts. This theory suggests that policy decisions might be more effective and efficient if policymakers knew what the family impacts might be and how family contributions could be supported.

Using Family Impact Seminars to Communicate Research to Policymakers © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Using Family Impact Seminars to Communicate Research to Policymakers Over the last few decades, calls for evidence-based policy and practice have become routine in the United States. Family Impact Seminars are one method for responding to policymakers’ interest in research evidence. The goals of the Family Impact Seminars are: to build greater use of and respect for research in policymaking to encourage policymakers to examine policies and programs through the family impact lens to provide a neutral, nonpartisan opportunity for legislators to engage in open dialogue for fostering relationships and finding common ground.

What Are the Family Impact Seminars? © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 What Are the Family Impact Seminars? The Seminars are an ongoing series of presentations, discussion sessions, and briefing reports for communicating high-quality, objective research to policymakers. The Seminars target state policymakers, including legislators, legislative aides, governor’s office staff, nonpartisan legislative service analysts, and agency representatives. To maintain a neutral, nonpartisan, off-the-record setting for dialogue and debate, lobbyists and the press are generally not invited. Since 1993, over 175 seminars have been held in states across the country on family issues broadly defined, including child welfare, corrections, economic security, education, health care, jobs, parenting, and so forth.

Core Components of the Family Impact Seminars © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Core Components of the Family Impact Seminars Easy access to timely research on issues legislators identify Varied delivery formats Includes oral presentations, discussions, written materials Use of the family impact lens Objective information The seminars provide a range of policy options and the consequences of each, but do not lobby for a single option Opportunities for discussion in a neutral, nonpartisan, off-the-record setting

What Is the Track Record of the Family Impact Seminars? © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 What Is the Track Record of the Family Impact Seminars? The seminars have a strong track record across several dimensions: attracting policymakers providing research that policymakers find relevant, useful, and objective bringing the family impact lens to policy decisions overcoming partisanship by building relationships across party lines changing policymakers’ attitudes towards research, researchers, and family impacts making research available that policymakers use in their jobs

Participant Ratings of the Family Impact Seminars © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Participant Ratings of the Family Impact Seminars Mean participant ratings of 30 Wisconsin Family Impact Seminars (1993−2013)

Attitude Changes from the Family Impact Seminars © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Attitude Changes from the Family Impact Seminars Because of the Family Impact Seminars, legislators are “quite a bit” more likely to: Responses from Wisconsin legislators (N = 15, 88% response rate) following a 2006 seminar on long-term care.

Effective Strategies for Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Effective Strategies for Advancing Evidence-Based Family Policy Conceptualize policy work, not as disseminating information to policymakers, but as developing relationships with them Communicate research findings in ways that meet policymakers’ information needs Policymakers operate in an oral culture so they prefer interactive presentations with opportunities for discussion Provide a timely response to the questions driving policy debate Kingdon’s theory of open policy windows Take the initiative to contact policymakers

Policymakers Are Not a Monolithic Group © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Policymakers Are Not a Monolithic Group Researchers should not be dissuaded from engaging policymakers due to the misperception that they do not value or use research. Legislators vary in their valuing, seeking, and use of research. Seek out those policymakers who are interested in research. Cluster means of the valuing, seeking, and use of research among state legislators (N = 107).

© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014 Summary Evaluations indicate that the Family Impact Seminars help policymakers gain knowledge, utilize research, change attitudes, and build relationships with researchers and colleagues across party lines. The Seminars have also affected universities’ receptivity and ability to engage with policy, support policy-relevant research, and train the next generation of policy-minded researchers and research-minded policymakers. The Seminars’ track record lends support to community dissonance theory—that improving communication between policymakers and researchers can increase research use in policy decisions.