Beyond The Evidence; A Sociological Reflection on The Relationship Between Knowledge and Policy

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 PhD Student of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Professor of Planning in Higher Education, Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education, Tehran, Iran

4 Associate Professor of Management, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The position of knowledge in policy-making has been discussed and disputed by academics for a long time, but it has been more seriously considered in recent decades. One of the most important approaches in this field is evidence-based policy-making, which was proposed in 1997 as an alternative to ideological and opinion-based policy-making. This research examines and criticizes this approach and argues that although the idea of evidence-based policy-making is desirable and ideal, but because scientific and research evidence - especially soft sciences such as humanities and social sciences - are products of social relations and not objective, it is not possible to realize the idea of evidence-based policy-making as an alternative to ideological and opinion-based policy-making. In addition, even with the assumption of objective and pure human knowledge, considering that the nature of policy-making is intertwined with interests, power, bureaucracy, and the like, there are many obstacles to use scientific evidence in policy-making

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Public Policy
Volume 10, Issue 2
2024
Pages 26-42

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