Policy ana... assgnm

Over the last seven weeks, we have spent our time discussing what goes into an effective policy analysis. This week, you will put your new skills and knowledge into practice and develop a policy analysis of your own. This assignment has two goals. First, it will give you the opportunity to explore a health-related issue/problem of your choice (the topic you selected in Module 3) and possible solutions to it in some depth. Second, it will teach you how to use policy analysis by guiding you through a systematic policy analysis of your own. Your policy analysis will include a description and analysis of the issue, specification and evaluation of the policy alternatives to deal with the problem, and an examination of the implementation issues involved with applying the policy solution to the problem. You will develop criteria against which to evaluate policy alternatives and use those criteria to confront the tradeoffs and to formulate a recommendation.

While most policy analyses tend to follow a similar structure and format, the final product you produce for this assignment is up to you. It is useful to spend time thinking about who the audience for your policy analysis might be (often legislators) in order to consider how to organize and present it. There are a variety of analytic frameworks for how to construct a policy analysis, so you should choose the one that best fits your chosen policy issue and works for you. Your final submission should be a document that you could actually deliver to the intended audience (and you may, in fact, consider doing so) and is something you could include in a work portfolio to be shared with future potential employers (consider adding it to your LinkedIn profile, for example). Our readings from the past seven weeks contain numerous guides and examples of effective policy analyses. In particular, you should review our readings by Bardach & Patashnik (2016) and Seavey, McGrath, & Aytur (2014) to review the steps for conducting a policy analysis and what goes into one.

This assignment is divided into two main sections, the “analysis” section (analysis of the problem and possible solutions), which you focused on during Module 5, and the “recommendations” section. The analysis section should be updated and expanded based on provided feedback. Be sure to carefully review your instructor’s comments on your policy analysis draft that you turned in during Module 5 and the feedback you get from both your instructor and classmates on your policy brief presentation. Then, add the recommendations section. The recommendations section should clearly outline policy alternatives, how the alternatives should be evaluated, and which alternative is the most likely to succeed. Consider adding charts, graphs, or other visuals (e.g. a stakeholder analysis matrix, comparison charts, etc.) that support what you discuss.

Note that you should not approach your policy analysis as an advocate (watch out for exaggerated claims, etc.) and you should not begin by identifying the lack of a policy or program as the problem. Nor should you start with a program itself. All programs arise from a problem or issue. You are expected to identify three or more policy or program alternatives, and to identify and logically support criteria by which these alternatives can be compared. The alternatives can draw on both existing policies and programs, or propose new ones. The criteria for evaluating the alternatives should be logically related to the goals you identified in the analysis section, and should highlight the implicit tradeoffs, which arise when pursuing competing goals. Consider including a matrix, which specifies three to four policy/program alternatives and the criteria for comparing them, and use the available evidence to fill in the matrix and compare the alternatives. In some cases you may find “hard” evidence analyses that measure or predict policy impact. On other dimensions, you will not have access to “hard” evidence and will need to make logical inferences about the impact by predicting the direction and size of the impact. Your final set of recommendations should be clear, concise, and persuasive.

Bardach, E. S. & Patashnik, E. M. (2016). A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving (5th ed.). Introduction pp. XV-XX and Step One: Define the Problem pp. 1-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press. 

Seavey, J. W., McGrath, R. J., & Aytur, S. A. (2014).  Health Policy Analysis : Framework and Tools for Success. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Imagine that you have been asked to prepare a formal policy analysis regarding the health policy issue you chose during Module 3. Your full analysis should convince a thoughtful, analytic reader (such as your instructor and classmates, and the target audience of your policy analysis) of the existence and importance of the problem, inform the reader about alternative goals for public intervention, describe and evaluate the policy alternatives designed to help meet the policy goals, and recommend the best policy option based on the analysis. Begin your document with a clear, one-page executive summary, and finish with a concise conclusion. In your Policy Analysis, you should:

Describe a policy-relevant problem and clearly state it as a policy-relevant question

Describes the symptoms, magnitude, and consequences of the problem you are analyzing

Discuss the the plausible goals for a policy-level intervention of this problem

Describe the primary stakeholders for the policy issue and each of their interests

Explain the expected agreements and conflicts among stakeholders on the goals for a policy-level intervention

Summarize the major policy-level interventions that have already been attempted related to this issue, including the strengths and weaknesses of each intervention

Discuss three or four principle policy alternatives (existing or possible), including the major strengths and weaknesses of each alternative

Explain the criteria upon which the policy alternatives should be evaluated

Discuss the predicted outcomes for each alternative based on the specified evaluation criteria

Identify the important tradeoffs to consider between the alternatives

Describe the institutional capacity for implementing the various alternatives

Recommend one policy alternative that is clearly superior to the others

Discuss strategies for implementing the recommended policy alternative

Explain how the success of the recommended policy alternative could be evaluated if implemented

Your assignment should be approximately 10-15 double-spaced pages long, excluding the cover page, references, and appendices. The paper must be written in your own words specifically for this course (no “recycled” papers accepted). All content that is quoted or paraphrased from outside sources must be cited correctly in APA style. Include headings, charts, and graphs as appropriate (using appendices as necessary) to effectively structure the final document. This assignment will be graded using a rubric. Please review this rubric prior to beginning the assignment. You can view the rubric on the Course Rubrics page within the Start Here module.

Compose your work in a .doc or .docx file type using a word processor (such as Microsoft Word, etc.) and save it frequently to your computer. For those assignments that are not written essays and require uploading images or PowerPoint slides, please follow uploading guidelines provided by your instructor.

Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to submit your work, click “Submit Assignment” in the upper right corner. Click on “Browse,” browse your computer, and select your file. Click “Open” and verify the correct file name has appeared next to the Browse button. Enter your comments, if any, in the Comments area. Click on “Submit Assignment.”

Evaluation

This assignment will be graded using the rubric displayed below. Please review this rubric prior to beginning your work. You can also access the rubric on the Course Rubrics page within the Start Here module. This assignment is worth 35% of your final course grade.