北京师范大学
教育研究方法讲座系列 (2):
教育政策研究
第一讲
教育政策研究的发展：学科、领域与视域的综述
A. Policy Studies: Definitions of a Discipline
1. Constituents of a discipline
a. Epistemological constituents of a discipline
i. The constitution of the subject of inquiry
ii. The constitution of the issue of inquiry
iii. The constitution of the method of inquiry
b. Institutional constituents of a discipline
i. The constitution of departments
ii. The constitution of associations
iii. The constitution of journals
2. Definitions of the subject of inquiry of policy studies:
a. Definition of policy
i. The Oxford English Dictionary: "A course of action or principle
adopted or proposed by a government, party, individual, etc.; any
course of action adopted as advantageous or expedient."
ii. “Policy is defined as a ‘standing decision’ characterized by
behavioral consistency and repetitiveness on the part of both
who make it and those who abide by it.” (Eulau & Prewitt, 1973, p.
465)
iii. “Routinization (in complex social life) is achieved through the
formulation and implementation of policies. Policies are
statements that prescribe courses of action in organizations.
They govern the internal functioning of the organizations, their
external relations, and the way they attain their goals.” (Midgley,
2000, p. 3)
iv. Policy is “a projected program of goals, values, and practices.”
(Lasswell & Kaplan, 1970, p. 71)
v. "To have a policy is to have rational reasons or argurments which
contain both a claim to an understanding of a problem and a
solution. It put forward what is and what ought to be done. A
policy offers a kind of theory upon which a claim for legitimacy is
made." (Parson, 1995, p. 15)
b. Definition of public policy
i. “Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to
do.” (Dye, 1998, p. 2)
ii. William Jenkins conceptualizes public policy as “ a set of
interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors
concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving
them within a specific situation where those decisions should, in
principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve.”
(Quoted in Howlett & Ramesh, 1995, p. 5)
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iii. David Easton defines public policy as “the authoritative allocation
of values for the whole society.” (Easton, 1953, p. 129)
iv. Giandomenico Majone “As politicians know too well but social
scientists too often forget, public policy is made of language.
Whether in written or oral form, argument is central in all stages
of the policy process.” (Majone, 1989, p.1)
v. “The practice of public policy making largely a matter of
persuasion. So is the discipline of studying public policy making
aptly described as itself being a ‘persuasion’. It is a mood more
than a science, a loosely organized body of percepts and
positions rather than a tightly integrated body of systemic
knowledge, more art and craft and genuine ‘science’.” (Goodin,
Rein and Moran, 2006, p. 5)
vi. “We define policy as a political agreement on a course of action
(or inaction) designed to resolve or mitigate problems on the
political agenda. This agreement…is an intellectual constructs
rather than a self-defining phenomenon. Discursively
constructed, there can be no inherently unique decision,
institutions, or actors constituting public policy that are to be
identified, uncovered, and explained. Public policy, as such, is an
analytical category with a substantive content cannot be simply
researched; more fundamentally, it has to be interpreted.” (p.60)
“Public policy is a discursive construct rather than a self-defining
phenomenon.” (Fischer, 2003, p. 69) ”
c. Definition of social policy
i. “Social policy …refers to the actual policies and programs of
governments that affect people’s welfare.” (Midley, 2000, p.4)
ii. “Social policy may be defined as policy activities which influence
welfare. Whilst non-state bodies may be described as having
policies, a generic expression like ‘social policy’ is primarily used
to define the role of the state in relation to the welfare of its
citizens.” (Hill, 1997, p. 1)
2. Definition of issues of inquiry of policy studies
a. Harold Lasswell characterizes that “As a working definition, we say
that the policy science are concerned with knowledge of and in the
decision processes of the public and civic order.” (1971, p.1, original
emphasis)
b. Study for policy:
i. William Dunn indicates that “policy analysis is a problem solving
discipline. …Policy analysis addresses five types of questions:
- What is the nature of the problem for which solution is sought?
- Which of two or more courses of action should be chosen to
solve the problem?
- What are the outcomes of choosing that course of action?
- Does achieving the outcomes contribute to solving the
problem?
- What future outcomes can be expected if other courses of
action are chosen?” (p. 3)
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ii. Policy Studies generates knowledge for problem-solving
- Problem recognition
- Agenda-setting
- Proposal of solution
- Policy formation
- Choice of solution
- Decision-making
- Putting solution into effect
- Policy implementation
- Monitoring results
- Policy evaluation
c. Study of policy:
i. Thomas Dye defines the study of public policy as “the description
and explanation of the causes and consequences of government
activities, This focus involves
- a description of the content of public policy;
- an analysis of the impact of social, economic, and political
forces on the content of the public policy;
- an inquiry into the effect of various institutional arrangements
and political processes on public policy; and
- an evaluation of the consequences of public policies on society,
both expected and unexpected.” (p.5)
ii. Policy Studies generates knowledge of policy
- Study of the policy contents or substances
- Study of the policy forms and processes
- Study of the institutional or systemic contexts in which the policy
is embedded
- Study of the formation of policy discourse
- Critical study of ideological implications of policy
3. Definitions of methods of inquiry
a. The policy science movement
i. Analytic-technical method
ii. Political system method
b. The interpretive-political method
i. Study of meanings and values invested in policy
ii. Study of text, textuality and intertextuality of policy documents
iii. Study of policy argument
iv. Study of policy frame
c. The discursive critical method
i. Study of policy discourse
ii. Study of dominant ideology at work in policy
B. Policy Studies in Education: Definition of a Field
1. Definition of education policy: Whatever a government choose to do or
not to do to educational institutions.”
2. Definition of issues of inquiry
a. Study for education policy
i. Status-quo study and definition of education problems
ii. Causality study for policy solution
iii. Rational study for choice of solutions
iv. Study of policy implementation
v. Policy evaluation study
b. Study of education policy
i. Study of the origin and emergence of the education policy
i. Study of the designs and measures of the education policy
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ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Study of the forms and processes of the education policy
Institutional or systemic studies of the education policy
Study of formation of the policy discourse in education
Critical study of ideological implications of the education policy
C. Major journals on Policy Studies and Policy Studies in Education
1. Major journals on policy studies published in US and UK
a. Policy Studies Journal first published in 1971 in US
b. Politics and Policy first published in 1973 in US
c. Review of Policy Research, first published in 1981 in US
d. Journal of Public Policy first published in 1981 in UK
e. Public Policy Research first published in 1984 in UK
2. Major journal on policy studies in education published in US and UK
a. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis first published in
1979 in US
b. Educational Policy first published in 1987 in US
c. Journal of Education Policy first published in 1986 in UK
D. Historical Development of Policy Studies as a Disciple
1. From the Prince’s advisor to social physicist
From Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532) and Thomas
Hobbes’s Leviathan (1651) to August Comte’s thesis social physics
(1851/75)
2. US Government sponsored the Franklin Institute to study the
causes of explosions in steamboat boilers in 1832
3.The rise and fall of the American Social Science Association (ASSA)
1865-1915
4. The initiatives around the WWI:
a. Upon President Wilson's request, National Research Council
was established in 1916 to assist the government to fight WWI
b. Establishment of the Social Science Research Council in 1923
and the Brookings Institute in 1928.
c. Charles Merriam's advocacy in his Presidential address in
American Political Science Association in 1925 for researches of
applied and multidisciplinary social science on social problems
5. The Post-WWII and Cold-War initiatives:
a. The success of Operations Research (OR) in war game
b. The establishment of National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950
6. Harold Lasswell’s three-perspective formulation of The Policy
Orientation (1951) and policy science
a. Multidisciplinary Perspective
b. Contextual and Problem-Oriented Perspective
c. The Normative Perspective
7. Developments of Policy Orientations from the 1950s to 1960s
a. Multidisciplinary Perspective
i. The theoretical hegemony of the economic analysis and
OR/management science
ii. Robert K. Merton’s call for applied social science research and
theories of middle range
b. Contextual and Problem-Oriented Perspective
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i. Demarcation of knowledge in and of policy process, i.e. policy
analysis and policy-process analysis
ii. The growth of policy analysis: the heyday objectivism and
instrumental rationalism
- Stuart S. Negal’s conceptualization of policy analysis
“Policy analysis can be defined as determining which of various
alternative public or governmental policies will most achieve a
given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies
and the goals.” (1986, p. 247)
- Stokey, E. & Zeckhauser, R. (1978) A Primer for Policy
Analysis. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Quade, E.S. (1975) Analysis for Public Decisions. New
York: Elsever.
iii. David Easton’s conception of political system (1953)
iv. Robert Dahl & Charles Lindblom’s Pluralist challenge
v. Charles Lindblom’s science of muddling through
vi. Herbert Simon’s conception of bounded rationalism
vii. Wildavsky’s (1969) critique on program-planning-budgeting
system (PPBS)
viii. Debate on policy process
- Quade's (1975) elements of policy analysis: (1)
identification of objectives, (2) specification of alternatives,
(3) recommending policy action, (4) monitoring policy
outcomes, and (5) evaluating policy performance.
- May and Wildavsky's (1978) reformulation of policy process:
(1) agenda setting, (2) issue analysis, (3) initiation, (4)
estimation, and (5) termination.
iv. Wildavsky (1979) Speaking Truth to Power: The Art and Craft
of Policy Analysis.
v. Debate between instrumental and political rationality
c. The Normative Perspective
i. Neglect of normative perspective by the value-free policy analyst &
muddling through theorist
ii. Reinstating values in Policy studies and challenge from political
philosophers, John Rawls and Robert Nozick
8. Growth and Development of Policy Science through the 1970s
a. The rise of the welfare state and Kennedy and Johnson
Administration’s Great Society Project
b. Robert S. McNarama and the transplantation of rhetoric Program,
Planning, and Budgetary system from the U.S. Department of
Defense
c. The expansion of the policy analysis
- The mean-end causal analysis
- Public decision analysis
- Evaluation analysis
- Implementation analysis
d. The contextual reality and constraint
- The War on Poverty
- The Vietnam War
- The Watergate scandals
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- The Energy Crisis
9. From Policy Analysis to Policy Inquiry: The 1990s and Beyond
a. The Postpositivist challenge
- Frank Fischer & John Forester (1987) Confronting Values in
Policy Analysis
- John Forester (1989) Planning in the Face of Power
- Frank Fischer & John Forester (1993) The Argumentative Turn
in Policy Analysis and Planning.
- Schon Donald & Martin Rein (1994) Frame Reflection: Toward
the Resolution of Intractable Policy Controversies.
The coining of the concept of Design Rationality
- Frank Fischer (2003) Reframing Public Policy.
b. From instrumental rationalism to critical and communicative
rationality approach
c. From value-free analysis to political philosophy and
communicative ethics for policy argument
d. The argumentative, narrative and discursive turns of Policy
studies
e. Planning in the face of power and the governmentality approach
to Policy studies
E. Development of Policy Studies in Education as a Field in the Twentieth
Century: The Welfare-State Paradigm
1. Late James S. Coleman’s odyssey: The case of US
a. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of
Education in 1954
Forensic admission of Kennth Clark’s psychological experiment
on dolls
b. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 & the Section 402 stipulation
c. US Office of Education commissioned a survey on the availability
of equal educational opportunity among social groups
d. James S. Coleman's study on Equality of Educational
Opportunity
e. The odyssey of the First Coleman Report:
i. From research report to summaries:
- Jeanette Hopkins' summary
- Alexander Mood's summary
- Helen Rowan's summary
ii. The myth of the Busing Policy: Judge J. Skelly Wright ruled in
the case Hobsen v. Hansen, in the District of Columbia
(Washington D.C.) that "the school board (should) integrate its
facilities …and to provide busing to take children from
overcrowded black schools to less crowded, mainly, white
ones." (Hunt, 1985, p. 79)
iii. From research finding to policy implementation
- Nixon's Message on Education Reform of March 3 1970
- Delay impact or "just a simple rationalization for spending
less money". (Coleman, Newsweek, April 16, 1970)
- Busing controversy spread
f. Invitation to the 1975 AERA annual conference
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g. "White Flight": the unwanted consequence of the desegregation
policy
h. The odyssey of the Second Coleman Report: Among waves of
criticism from fellow educational researchers and sociologists,
there was the president of ASA Alfred M. Lee's campaign to the
ASA's Committee on Professional Ethics to regard Coleman's
research effort and advocacy on "Trends in School Segregation"
as unethical
i. 1980 Public and Private School Study commissioned by the
National Center for the Educational Statistics of the Department
of Education: The argumentative turn
2. Stephen J. Ball's personal review of “policy sociology”
a. Education Reform: A Critical and Post-Structural Approach
i. “Policy is clearly a matter of the ‘authoritative allocation of values’;
policies are the operational statements of values, ‘statements of
prescriptive intent’. But values do not float free of their social context.
We need to ask whose values are validated in policy, and whose are
not. Thus, ‘The authoritative allocation of values draws our attention
to the centrality of power and control in the concept of policy’.
Policies project images of an ideal society (education policies
project definitions of what counts as education).” (1990, p.3)
ii. In another occasion, Ball specifies his own approach to policy study
that “in current writing on policy issue I actually inhabit two very
different conceptualization of policy. …I will call these policy as text
and policy as discourse. …The point I am moving to is that policy is
not one or the other, but both: they are ‘implicit in each other’.”
(1994, p.15)
b. In his personal review, Ball quoted Grace’s distinction between two
approaches of policy research prevailing in post-WWII UK, namely
policy science to policy scholarship approaches (Ball, 1997)
i. A policy science approach "attempts to extract a social
phenomenon from its relational context in order to subject it to close
analysis. …The concern of a policy science approach is to
understand present phenomena in order to formulate a rational and
scientific prescription for action and future policy." (Grace, 1995,
pp.2-3)
ii. A policy scholarship approach "resists the tendency of policy
science to abstract problem from their relational settings by insisting
that the problem can only be understood in the complexity of those
relations. In particular, it represents a view that a social-historical
approach to research can illuminate the cultural and ideological
struggles in which schooling is located." (Grace, 1995, p. 3)
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c. Templates of policy science and policy scholarship
Policy Scholarship
a. Design and Scope
Policy oriented
Multi-focus
Multi-level
Temporal
Global/local
Linked focus
Policy Science
Practice oriented
Single focus
Single level
Atemporal
National/general
Detached
b. Embedded
Context rich
Conceptually 'tick'
Context barren
Conceptually 'thin'
c. An ethics of research
Social justice
Critical
Social efficiency
Incorporated
d. Peopling policy
Voiced
Silent
(Ball, 1997, P. 264)
F. Development of Policy Studies in Education in the Twenty-First
Century: Neoliberalism under Global-Informational Paradigm
1. The rise of Neo-liberalism
2. The advent of the Global-Informational Paradigm
3. The internal tension between Grobalization and glocalization in education
policy
4. Stephen J. Ball’s emerging approach to policy text, policy enactment,
policy discourse, policy network and policy governance
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