How government utilises social science research

Jane TinklerLSE Public Policy Group

26 SEPUniversities Matter: How Academic Social Science Contributes to Public Policy Impact

© Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler 2013

The Impact of the Social Sciences project

• Three year research project looking at how academic research has impacts on government, business and civil society

• The Impact of the Social Sciences blog (http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences) shares good practice from the research community on key topics of interest

• All data here taken from a book by Simon Bastow, Patrick Dunleavy and Jane Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage. (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book241492)

Over half of funding for social science research comes from UK government

Source: Adapted from Figure 1.6 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.

19921994

19961998

20002002

20042006

20082010

20120

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

DEFRA

Education

DCLG

DfID

DWP

Expe

nditu

re b

y UK

gov

ernm

ent d

epar

tmen

ts o

n so

cial

scie

nce

rese

arch

from

UK

univ

ersiti

es (£

m

– de

flate

d at

201

2 pr

ices

)

But within individual departments funding trends are generally downwards (with one radical outlier)

Source: Figure 6.11 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.

Usage of academic research varies across Departments, 2008

Innovation, universities & skillsHM Revenue and Customs

Communities and Local Government

Ministry of JusticeBusiness & enterprise

Culture, media and sportHM Treasury

Transport

Environment, food, & rural af-fairs

EducationHealth

International developmentWork and pensions

Home Office

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110120

Research reports carried out by academic institutionsResearch programmes or major projects led or partnered by academic institution

Research activity score

Source: Figure 6.6 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.

Computer SciencePhilosophy

HistoryEngineering

Comm & media studiesChemistry

PhysicsBusiness and management

LawAnthropology

PsychologySociologyMedicine

Political ScienceSocial policy

GeographyEconomics

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

UK Local or regional government UK Central Government International governmentAverage number of external references found

Core social science disciplines are used most extensively, 2013

Source: Figure 6.7 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.

Daily Few times a week

Few times a month

Few times a year

Never

19 26 27 21 7

How often do you relate social science arguments to the work you do for the US government? (%)

Daily Few times a week

Few times a month

Few times a year

Never

8 19 32 33 7

How often do you use social science evidence in the work you do for the US government? (%)

In US, national security policymakers were asked . . .

Source: Avery and Desch (2011) Policymakers Survey. The Carnie Policy Relevance Project. http://www3.nd.edu/~carnrank/policymakerssurvey.htm.

Percentages Very and somewhat

useful

Not very and not at all

useful

Net score

Area studies 97 3 +95

Contemporary case studies 97 3 +94

Historical case studies 96 4 +92

Policy analysis 93 7 +87

Quantitative analysis 70 30 +40

Operations research 64 36 +28

Theory 55 45 +10

Formal models 40 60 -20

These policymakers saw some types of academic methods as more useful

Source: Avery and Desch (2011) Policymakers Survey. The Carnie Policy Relevance Project. http://www3.nd.edu/~carnrank/policymakerssurvey.htm.

One key problem for the social sciences is the relative lack of ‘mediating middle’ networks and organisation

Source: Figure 2.14 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.

The future is integrated

Source: Figure 1.12 from Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences: How academics and their research make a difference. London: Sage.