Credibility in Policy Expertise: The Function of Boundaries Between Research and Policy. Issue 1 (26th April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Williams, Kate
• Is Part Of: Policy studies journal. Volume 49:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 37
• Page End: 66
• Publication Date: 2019-04-26
• Subjects: expertise -- policy research -- knowledge -- brokers -- boundaries; Policy sciences -- Periodicals; Policy sciences -- United States -- Periodicals; Political planning -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 320.6
• DOI: 10.1111/psj.12342
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0190-292X

Abstract

Abstract : As science becomes an increasingly crucial resource for addressing complex challenges in society, extensive demands are placed upon the researchers who produce it. Creating valuable expert knowledge that intervenes in policy or practice requires knowledge brokers to facilitate interactions at the boundary between research and policy. Yet, existing research lacks a compelling account of the ways in which brokerage is performed to gain credibility. Drawing on mixed‐method analysis of 12 policy research settings, I outline a novel set of strategies for attaining symbolic power, whereby policy experts position themselves and others via conceptual distances drawn between the "world of ideas" and the "world of policy and practice." Disciplinary distance works to situate research as either disciplinary or undisciplinary, epistemic distance creates a boundary between complex specialist research and direct digestible outputs, temporal distance represents the separation of slow rigorous research and agile responsive analysis, and economic distance situates research as either pure and intrinsic or marketable and fundable. I develop a theoretical account that unpacks the boundaries between research communities and shows how these boundaries permit policy research actors to achieve various strategic aims. Abstract : 科学正在日益成为解决复杂社会挑战的重要资源，这对研究人员提出了很高要求。我们需要"知识中介"来推动科学研究与现实政策之间的相互作用，并以此开发宝贵的专业知识来更好地介入政策或实践。然而，针对知识中介如何取得可信度这一问题，现有的研究尚未能给出有说服力的观点。通过对12个政策研究环境进行混合方法分析，本文概述了知识中介用以获得"象征性权力"的一系列新策略，即这些政策专家用"思想世界"和"政策与实践世界"之间的概念距离来定位自己和他人：他们使用学科距离可以将研究定位为学科或非学科，用认知距离可以将复杂的专业研究与简明易于理解的研究划开界限，用时间距离则将缓慢严谨的研究与灵活应变的分析区分开来，而用经济距离则定义了纯粹且内在的研究和那些可售卖且可获得资助的研究。本文中建立的理论观点揭示了不同研究团体之间的界限，并展示了这些界限如何帮助相应的政策研究者实现他们不同的策略目标。