A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving

by Eugene S. Bardach, Eric M. Patashnik

Overview

Drawing on more than 40 years of experience with policy analysis, best-selling authors Eugene Bardach and Eric M. Patashnik offer practical tips and real-world examples to equip effective, accurate, and persuasive policy analysts. The Seventh Edition of A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis includes new case studies, expanded discussion, new guidance for policy analysis in a polarized age, and step-by-step strategies for the budding analyst as well as the seasoned professional.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781071884133
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	09/20/2023
Edition description:	Seventh Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Eugene Bardach has been teaching graduate-level policy analysis workshop classes since 1973 at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, in which time he has coached some five hundred projects. He is a broadly based political scientist with wide-ranging teaching and research interests. His focus is primarily on policy implementation and public management, and most recently on problems of facilitating better interorganizational collaboration in service delivery (e.g., in human services, environmental enforcement, fire prevention, and habitat preservation). He also maintains an interest in problems of homeland defense, as well as regulatory program design and execution, particularly in areas of health, safety, consumer protection, and equal opportunity. Bardach has developed novel teaching methods and materials at Berkeley, has directed and taught in residentially based training programs for higher-level public managers, and has worked for the Office of Policy Analysis at the US Department of the Interior. He is the recipient of the 1998 Donald T. Campbell Award of the Policy Studies Organization for creative contribution to the methodology of policy analysis, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This book is based on his experience teaching students the principles of policy analysis and then helping them to execute their project work.

Eric M. Patashnik is the Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy, a professor of political science, and chair of the Political Science Department at Brown University. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He previously served as director of Brown’s Master of Public Affairs program. Before coming to Brown, Patashnik held faculty positions at the University of Virginia (UVA), UCLA, and Yale University. During his time at UVA, he served as associate dean and acting dean at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Patashnik’s research focuses on the politics of American national policymaking, especially health policy, the welfare state, and the reform process. He is the author or editor of nine books. Patashnik has twice won the Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration and has also won the Don K. Price Award of the American Political Science Association. Patashnik received his master of public policy and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Earlier in his career, Patashnik was a legislative analyst for the US House Administration Subcommittee on Elections.

Table of Contents

PART I THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
PART II ASSEMBLING EVIDENCE
PART III HANDLING A DESIGN PROBLEM
PART IV “SMART (BEST) PRACTICES” RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING AND MAKING USE OF WHAT LOOK LIKE GOOD IDEAS FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE
APPENDIX A SPECIMEN OF A REAL-WORLD POLICY ANALYSIS
APPENDIX B THINGS GOVERNMENTS DO
APPENDIX C UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS: ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
APPENDIX D TIPS FOR DOING POLICY ANALYSIS IN A POLARIZED AGE
APPENDIX E TIPS FOR WORKING WITH CLIENTS
APPENDIX F SUGGESTIONS FOR INCORPORATING “BIG DATA” AND RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE INTO POLICY ANALYSIS

Editorial Reviews

This is by far the best book of its kind. I have used it in my graduate courses on policy analysis for years. I will certainly continue to
use it. It provides a great mix of practical advice on top of a solid academic foundation and explains to students how to conduct a professional policy analysis in a step-by-step way.

Review - Michael Mumper

This is an excellent introductory text. It is accessible enough to use with my undergraduate students, but rigorous enough for graduate students. It does an excellent job walking students through the weeds of policy analysis. It is a good match for my course because it is able to teach students some of the practical challenges of policy analysis in a way that nicely complements the more theoretical approach of the rest of my course.

Review - Peter Johannessen

Bardach and Patashnik provide a strong analytical framework to guide the novice student in exploring policy options. The text is substantive yet approachable, providing a bridge between theory and practice that is meaningful for both undergraduate and graduate students of public policy.

Kimberly Ratcliff

"Professors Bardach and Patashnik's "Eightfold Path" provides a wise and engaging how-to guide that meets the central challenge of policy analysis: combining scientific evidence and social goals to craft practical, real-world solutions."

Thomas S. Dee

Bardach and Patashnik’s A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis has become a genuine classic of policy analysis because it offers a versatile framework for confronting policy issues of all types—from persistent, long-standing problems to new, emergent challenges. Like every classic work, it contains different layers of insight for different readers. Junior analysts can use the eight basic elements as a primer. Intermediate analysts can add the design principles. Experienced analysts can deepen their practice by applying the eightfold path to increasingly complex problems. I wouldn’t think of teaching policy analysis at any level without this elegant guide to our craft.

Karen Baehler

A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis remains the most accessible and practical guide for those learning the craft of policy analysis. It offers convincing reasoning for and a clear roadmap of the required steps to conduct policy analysis, provides a terrific list of useful resources and helpful hints, and offers very practical illustrations and examples. The newly added section on design problems broadens discourse to include not only knowledge on how to improve analysis of discrete policy choices, but also on how to generate effective strategies to change the design parameters of policy problems. It should be required reading for all students in public affairs type undergraduate major and graduate level programs.”

Michael Stoll

"From my undergraduate “Introduction to Public Policy” course through MPP client-based policy analysis courses, A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis has been essential reading. The book sets students on an eight-fold path from succinctly defining policy problems through advocating on behalf of a well-reasoned proposal. It provides structured thinking for students new to public policy and hands-on advice for those about to become policy professionals – all in tight, well-written, accessible, and interesting prose. It is a pleasure to see the growth in students that this text helps ensure and to hear from our alumni who refer back to it so regularly."

Craig Volden

"This book remains the gold standard for introducing students to key issues in policy analysis. I have used it many times in teaching Policy Analysis courses for both students and practicing policy analysts. The new edition adds a lot of helpful new material (e.g., discussions of Big Data) that will be helpful to students struggling to think systematically about how to assess policy alternatives. Other books cover economic and technical analytical skills that are essential to policy analysis, but no other source covers the process of policy analysis with the depth, insight and wisdom of Bardach and Patashnik. "

R. Kent Weaver

I have used Bardach’s A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis in several editions over many years to instruct masters in public policy students in the skills and insights required of an effective policy practitioner. I like the book for its conciseness, its concreteness, its practicality and its accessibility. It provides a nice framework and set of concepts that can be developed and applied in case studies to structure an effective policy analysis course. I welcome the new edition, which clarifies and updates the material and adds a helpful new section on policy design, while keeping the structure and down-to-earth writing style of previous editions.”

Mary Jo Bane

I was introduced to Bardach’s book when I was a graduate student and have begun using it in my courses for the past twenty years. The content and style is very accessible and informative for students who want to learn about practical skills that will help them in the workplace.”

Kimberly Speers

"A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis is the essential text to introduce health policy students to the practice of policy analysis. The authors offer a persuasive argument for why defining the problem is the fundamental yet challenging first step of policy analysis; this lesson is critical for health policy, where issue rhetoric abounds. The book offers a step-by-step methodology that appeals to students’ need for structure, while reminding readers that the process of policy analysis—and politics—is inherently complex and non-linear. Students who master the book’s core lessons will learn to embrace an iterative mode of thinking and a storytelling mode of writing, skills that will serve policy professionals and policy researchers well throughout their careers."

Sarah Gollust