Validity and reliability of policy learning? A methodological review and a research agenda
(2018) Annual Conference of the European Group of Public Administration — Location: Lausanne, Switzerland (5.September.2018)
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- Authors
Squevin, Pierre Louis Daniel 
- Abstract
- The study of policy learning is crucial because it is a central mechanism linking expertise with policy processes and designs. Learning is a cognitive and social dynamic through which diverse types of actors involved in policy processes acquire, translate and disseminate new information and knowledge about public problems and solutions, as result of a varied set of interactions with one another. In turn, they maintain, strengthen or revise their policy beliefs and preferences. Many researchers have claimed that existing measures of learning are not satisfactory enough as of yet. In fact, despite recent conceptual and theoretical developments, we lack an overview of existing practices regarding the measurement of policy learning. To fill this gap, following the PRISMA approach, we conducted a systematic review of measurement practices in 44 journal articles about policy learning. Furthermore, we conducted a survey about this topic among nine leading scholars in this field. Our findings demonstrate that researchers have not only multiplied the sources of data about learning: they also show that the methods of data analysis have been increasingly sophisticated. Learning being a slow process, more and more researchers look at its individual and collective outcomes over longer periods of time. Yet, existing research relies on vague definitions of learning, displays some limitations in operationalization, while the potential of some research methods remains under-explored. We also pinpoint the lack of methodological dialogue of ‘social learning’ studies – which look at collective puzzling by policymakers within one subsystem – with ‘learning and transfer’ studies – which look at policymakers learning among different subsystems. We conclude with a research agenda for future attempts to develop reliable measures of learning as a central mechanism of policy processes.
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Citations
Squevin, P. L. D., Aubin, D., & Moyson, S. (2018). Validity and reliability of policy learning? A methodological review and a research agenda. Annual Conference of the European Group of Public Administration, Lausanne, Switzerland. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/57569