Unpublished policy trials, the risk of false discoveries and the persistence of authority-based policy

Jonathan Mendel

doi:10.1332/174426416X14779397727921

Unpublished policy trials, the risk of false discoveries and the persistence of authority-based policy

Jonathan Mendel (Lead / Corresponding author)

Geography and Environmental Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

206 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The use of trials in the policy process is often presented as a move towards evidence-based policy and away from authority-, ideology- or faith-based policy. However, this paper will draw on two UK examples of unpublished policy trials in order to argue that – when policy is based on such research – it should not usually be described as evidence-based. Instead, the paper will argue that policies based on such unpublished trials are, at best, authority-based.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	323-334
Number of pages	12
Journal	Evidence and Policy
Volume	14
Issue number	2
Early online date	31 Oct 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1332/174426416X14779397727921
Publication status	Published - 31 May 2018

Keywords

Evidence-based policy
Evidence-informed policy
RCTs
Trials

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10.1332/174426416X14779397727921

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Cite this

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Unpublished policy trials, the risk of false discoveries and the persistence of authority-based policy

Abstract

Keywords

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