While there has been increasing attention to evidence-based practices (e.g., Provan et al., 2013), one of the central concerns yet to be adequately addressed is the degree to which agency attention to evidence varies over time.  While there are growing demands for agencies and officials to base program decisions on scientific evidence of effectiveness, little information substantiates whether those demands actually shape agency behavior.  Research on this is developing. Jennings & Hall (2012) have explored agency use of various forms of information across a number of agency types in the U.S. setting, focusing on the use of scientific evidence of effectiveness relative to other forms of information. They suggested that agencies face different demands in their environments and vary in the extent to which they have relevant evidence available to guide their programs, so they value information of different types to varying degrees. As Hall and Jennings (2008) indicate, the level of evidence needed in any specific agency environment will be somewhat dependent on the inherent risk involved.

Building on this foundation, we seek to expand knowledge by asking three questions: 1) how has agency attention to different types of information changed from 2008 to 2013? 2) Are there notable differences in patterns of change across agencies working in distinct functional areas? 3) Does fiscal stress affect the use of some types of information differently than others? One important question is whether the same factors that affect the use of performance information also affect attention to different types or sources of information (Moynihan & Pandey, 2005).

The authors will report findings from the second Survey of State Agency Decision Making (launched April, 2013) to inform these key questions. The SSADM-2013 is conducted as a partnership between the University of Kentucky, Rutgers University—Newark, and the Council of State Governments. It is delivered to the highest official in each of 14 agency types across the 50 U.S. states (N=700). The 2013 iteration of the Survey repeats key questions on information use from the initial survey (SSADM-2008) but adds new questions to contextualize responses in terms of the agency’s fiscal climate, perceived accountability demands, and changes in staffing levels. Our findings will be informative in demonstrating changes in patterns of information use and the effect of various factors on those changing patterns of use.

References:

Hall, Jeremy L. and Edward T. Jennings, Jr. 2008. Taking Chances: Evaluating Risk as a Guide to Better Use of Best Practices. Public Administration Review, 68 (4): 695-708.

Jennings, Edward T. and Jeremy L. Hall. 2012. Evidence-Based Practice and the Use of Information in State Agency Decision-Making. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22 (2): 245-266.

Moynihan, Donald & Sanjay Pandey. 2005.  Testing How Management Matters in an Era of Government by Performance Management. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 15 (3): 421-439.

Provan, Keith G., Jonathan E. Beagles, and Liesbeth Mercken, 2013.  “Awareness of Evidence-Based Practices by Organizations in a Publicly Funded Smoking Cessation Network,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23 (1): 133-153.