The power of ideas: effective research for decision making

This review highlights the main issues in the relationship between research and decision-making. By analysing a range of studies from around the world, it sheds light on the conditions that allow researchers to contribute most effectively to decision-making.

It deals with three crucial Issues:

• The decision-making situation. Issues and recommendations:
  • Research knowledge is one input among many in decision-making situations
  • Decision-making is rarely a rational linear process
  • There are broadly two schools of through with regard to the role of research knowledge. These can simply be polarised as optimistic vs pessimistic
  • Research and ideas need not rapidly effect decision-making, they may gradually diffuse into collective decision-making
  • It is important to emphasise the role of the diffusion of knowledge and ideas across complex collectivities of researchers or institutions, rather than focusing on individual researchers processing chunks of information
  • Certain decision-making scenarios are more susceptible to research interventions
  • Some decision making scenarios are more susceptible to research interventions. This may result from policy making communities' 'issue attention cycle'.
  • The impact of research-based knowledge and ideas is more likely to be gradual, diffuse and also difficult to detect in decision-making
• Policy recommendations within the decision-making scenario:
  • Users need to be interested in the results of the research
  • In order to be able to take up the researcher, decision-makers need to have the capacity to do so:
  • There needs to be open communication between researchers and decision-makers
• The characteristics of the research knowledge. There are three characteristics that seem to be most important in distinguishing effective assessments:
  • Saliency
  • Credibility
  • Legitimacy
• The interactions between researchers and decision-makers. There needs to be free communicaton between researcher and policy-maker

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