Research and Data Analysis for Policy Impact
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Transcript of Research and Data Analysis for Policy Impact
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www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu
Research and Data Analysis
for Policy ImpactSteven P. Wallace, Ph.D.
Associate Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy ResearchProfessor & Chair, Department of Community Health Sciences
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
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In memory of E. Richard Brown Based on his earlier presentations Active in local, state & national policy Founder UCLA CHPR & CHIS
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Research and data analysis for policy impact
Data don’t change policy…but data may help stimulate and inform it.
Opportunities to make empirical evidence relevant in policy process
Audiences that may use empirical evidence for policyData and analysis for evidenced-based policyHow can researchers encourage use of their empirical
evidence? The strategy of the UCLA Center for Health Policy
Research The California Health Interview Survey
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Research and data analysis for policy impact What is the policy outcome?
“Evidence-based health policy”
Health policy that is shaped by sound empirical evidence to improve health care access and quality and health outcomes
What does it take to get there?
Receptivity by policy actors
Data and evidence relevant to policy decisions
Easily accessed channels of communication
Formats that are accessible to policy audiences
Creating body of evidence that stakeholders and interest groups accept
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Opportunities to make empirical evidence relevant in policy process
Problem Stream
Policy Stream
Political Stream
Data don’t change policy …but policy makers, advocates, and policy entrepreneurs can use data and research evidence to support policy change efforts
Data and evidence are relevant to: Identifying, describing, & analyzing problem (Kingdon’s “problem stream”) Developing or analyzing policy options (“policy stream”)
Apologies to John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies
Evidence-based Health Policy
Our Goal
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Audiences for policy-relevant data and research evidence
Audiences that may use data and research for policy Policy makers in government agencies and legislatures Policy entrepreneurs Foundations trying to shape policy outcomes Advocates trying to influence policy process and outcomes
Not all audiences have equal technical and policy resources to affect political policy process Many advocates, especially for low-income populations, have limited
technical resources needed to access and analyze data Even many local health departments have limited data analytic technical
capacity Many populations of color and smaller local jurisdictions find little data
available on their group or area
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How can researchers encourage policy audiences to use data and research evidence?
Academic health policy researchers’ audience is traditionally peers Peers usually care about scientific rigor — originality of research
question, conceptual framework, data and methods Peers not usually concerned about policy relevance
What do policy audiences care about?
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How can researchers encourage policy audiences to use data and research evidence?
Policy audiences care about policy issues and relevant actionable factors Does it inform debate on the issues they care about? Does it support their policy goals? Does it identify policy relevant factors that will make a difference?
Credible role as a policy researcher Researcher, not advocate
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How can researchers encourage policy audiences to use data and research evidence?
How to reach policy audiences? Formats that are accessible to policy audiences
Publishing in peer-reviewed journals is key to academic career and provides credibility
Policy publications (reports, policy briefs, factsheets) are more accessible formats for policy audiences
Speak to both audiences – journal articles for academics and policy publications for policy makers and advocates
Easily accessed channels of communication and dissemination Dissemination channels push policy findings directly to policy audiences
vs. “if we build it, they will come”
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UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s strategy to promote use of its research and data in policy
development
1. Center faculty and researchers conduct studies on broad range of public health and health care policy issues
Center researchers interact with stakeholders who help researchers identify policy issues for research
Center researchers encouraged to include policy relevant conclusions in journal submissions
Center publications require policy discussion and conclusions
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2. Scientifically credible data about diverse populations and geographic areas
The Center is home of California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Statewide and local population-based health data
on adults, adolescents, and children Omnibus survey
Covers wide range of public health and health care topics Extensive demographic and social information
Very large RDD survey of California population Survey conducted in 6 languages Sample sizes ~50,000 households/ 2 years Robust samples of counties and subcounty areas
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research strategy
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2. Scientifically credible data about diverse populations and geographic areas
CHIS is designed to provide data that is used To support policy analysis, development and
advocacy at local level and statewide for public health and health care
To understand and measure health needs of California’s population and assess disparities in health and health care Capture ethnic, geographic, and social class diversity Geocoded to link to external data on social and physical environment
More than 140 individuals from over 60 diverse organizations and agencies participate in formal advisory committees
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research strategy
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strategy to promote use of research and data in policy
3. Direct-to-policy-audiences channels of communication and dissemination
Multiple channels and formats to maximize use of results by wide range of constituencies
Policy research reports ~ to meet needs of policy wonks, specialized policy makers, and focused policy advocates
Policy briefs ~ for those interested in policy issue but not deeply involved
Fact sheets ~ to interest people in policy issue even when they are not focused on it
Disseminate directly to broad policy audience and to larger public
Listservs and mailing lists
News media/ Press releases
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Policy Brief
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Press Release
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Web page with updates
www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/ElderIndex
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Media (p.1, above the fold)
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Immigration Resources
Migration Policy Institute http://www.migrationpolicy.org/ Pew Hispanic Center http://www.pewhispanic.org/ Health Initiative of the Americas http://hia.berkeley.edu/ Immigration Policy Center
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/issues/health USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration
http://csii.usc.edu/ International Organization for Migration
http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/lang/en/pid/1 Center for Immigration Studies (anti-immigration)
http://www.cis.org/
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UCLA Center for Health Policy Research strategy
4. Easy and free access to CHIS data and analytic tools
Web site is portal to all information about CHIS CHIS questionnaires and topics CHIS public-use data files to download, information on
how to access CHIS confidential data files CHIS methodology reports
Easy-to-use online data query system Free access to statewide and local data through fast,
user-friendly Web-based data query system User defined analyses of CHIS data from all surveys
More than 27,000 registered users Ran more than 94,415 queries in last 12 months,
an average of 258 per day
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UCLA Center for Health Policy Research strategy5. Help advocates and local health agencies enhance
capacity to use data and research Center’s public service program: Health DATA — “Turning
Knowledge into Action” Created to build capacity of advocates and agencies to use health
research data to address their communities’ health policy issues
Conducts training workshops to help staff and volunteers learn: How to access health research data
Questions to ask about data quality and validity, and
How to apply research data in their programs and policy work
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First steps in helping change public policy through research
Decide what research will have desired impact on policy process Research to help set policy agenda
Studies that get policy-makers and leaders to pay serious attention to an issue and take action on it
Focus people on particular aspect of problem — a population group, particular disparity, particular set of factors that contribute to problem
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First steps in helping change public policy through research
Decide what research will have desired impact on policy process Research to help frame issue and shape policy debate
Results of policy research can be used to argue for one policy versus another
Framing it as “social issue” vs. “personal problem”
If framing and public debate are ideological, evidence-based arguments carry little weight
Research to help specify policy goals that will address the policy issue Policy-related research can inform policy makers and advocates about
relative effectiveness of different policy options
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First steps in helping change public policy through research
Research to focus attention on implementation of the policy decision Policy-related research can help illuminate whether policy is
being adequately implemented
Determine if consequences of policy are what was intended
Recommendation changes to improve implementation or original policy
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Give your results more impact
Journal articles follow form required by particular journal and by academic convention
Policy publications can speak directly to policy audiences
Make it relevant
Make it brief
Make it sing!
Make it relevant
Make it community specific
Make it comparative
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Give your results more impact – Make it relevant by making it community specific
“Localizing” data – most people, especially elected officials, are particularly interested in their own communities
CHIS provides data and rates at county-level or more granular geographic level
CHIS provides data and rates at granular population levels (by age and gender, race and ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, income, education, sexual orientation, etc.)
No CHIS data?
Take national data and “extrapolate” it to local area
Take data from similar population and apply it to yours
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Give your results more impact – Make it relevant by making it comparative
Across time
Measure and analyze change over time
CHIS provides data from 5 survey cycles to track change over time
Across space
Comparing rural areas with urban areas
CHIS oversamples rural areas and has large urban, suburban and rural samples
Comparing one county with another
CHIS has defined samples for 41 individual counties and some subcounty areas
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Give your results more impact – Make it relevant by making it comparative
Compare to benchmark
Compare group’s rate with guidelines or target rate such as Healthy People 2020
CHIS includes many health indicators that match up well with Healthy People 2010 and 2020
Comparing immigrants with native born from same ethnic group, high vs low education immigrants
CHIS includes a great deal of social-demographic information about each respondent and large enough samples to enable analyses for many subgroups
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Give your results more impact – Make it relevant by making it sing!
Keep the data presentation simple! Tell a story with your data
The narrative should describe: the problem the data, and the conclusions
The narrative should lead directly to the policy conclusion Use charts and graphs
Bars compare totals or rates across groups Lines demonstrate trends Pies show parts of a whole (distributions) Tables display precise data
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Give your results more impact – Make it relevant by making it sing!
Keep it simple
Make comparisons “intuitive” If something is increasing, show it going up!
Make comparisons stand out Show greatest proportional differences
Don’t put too much in a slide Make just 1 to 3 points per slide (not like mine!)
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Give your results more impact – Disseminating research results to policy audiences
Discuss policy implications in reports, articles, and public meetings
Identify how specific public policies (or absence of policies) affect outcomes Such as morbidity and mortality, health status and conditions, and
access to health services Poor access to fresh produce in community linked to lower
consumption of fruits and vegetables Living near freeways linked to higher rates of asthma
Identify specific public policies needed to address problem
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Give your results more impact – Disseminating research results to policy audiences
Share results with affected communities and populations, especially those that participated in research
“Giving back” to community Informs and educates Engages them in addressing the issue
Getting community’s input on interpretation of results Improves accuracy and relevance of study conclusions and
recommendations
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Give your results more impact – Disseminating research results to policy audiences
Disseminate to policy makers Create and send brief, readable summary of research and results
with recommendations (e.g., policy brief)
Make issues concrete and personal
Bring study findings to attention of groups that can influence policy makers
Reach public and policy makers through news media
Increase credibility and reach policy analysts by publishing in journals
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Conclusion: Research can help change public policy to improve public health
Data needs to be part of larger policy process with clear policy goals and strategy
Use creative and appropriate data methods To get data (data collection or use CHIS or other good data)
To make data relevant (analysis)
To make it understood and interesting to target audiences (presentation): Make it sing!
Disseminate research findings Include explicit policy discussions
To communities that are affected and participated
To policy makers