Wednesday, August 29, 2012

[EQ] What Difference does a Policy Brief Make?

What Difference does a Policy Brief Make?


Penelope Beynon, Christelle Chapoy, Marie Gaarder and Edoardo Masset

Institute of Development Studies and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) 2012
Full Report of an IDS, 3ie, Norad study

            Available online PDF [[115p.] at: http://bit.ly/NX9hWx

“……..Research has potential to improve the lives of the world’s vulnerable people if it is appropriately referred to in decision-making processes. While there is a significant industry of activity each year to communicate research findings, little systematic research has tested or compared the effectiveness of such efforts either for changing beliefs or for prompting action.

Using a randomised control design, this study explored the effectiveness of one popular research communication tool, a policy brief, and queried whether different versions of a brief bring about different results. We find that the policy brief had little effect on changing the beliefs of readers who held strong prior beliefs on entering the study, but had some potential to create evidence-accurate beliefs among readers holding no prior beliefs.

Also, when it comes to beliefs, the impact of the policy brief seems to be independent of the specific form of the policy brief.
However, different versions of the brief (versions that include a research Opinion with or without a suggestion that the opinion is from an Authoritative source) do achieve different results when it comes to prompting actions. We find that other factors internal and external to the brief (gender of the reader, reader’s self-perceived level of influence and the extent to which the reader feels ‘convinced’ by the brief) are also linked to action.

This first-of-its-kind study has implications for how research communication experts design policy briefs, how they understand and enable readers to act as knowledge brokers in their particular environment, and how we evaluate research communication going forward….”

Contents

Summary, keywords, author notes


1 Introduction

1.1 Why does research communication matter?

1.2 A simple theory of change for a policy brief

1.3 Reader characteristics that could affect results


2 Methods

2.1 Developing the treatments

2.2 Identifying the study population and sample

2.3 Random allocation to treatment groups

2.4 Administering the treatment

2.5 Data collection tools

2.6 Attrition

2.7 Data analysis

2.8 Study limitations

2.9 Lessons from the study design


3 Results

3.1 What impact did the policy brief intervention have on readers’ beliefs?

3.2 What impact did the policy brief intervention have on readers’ intentions to act?

3.3 What impact did the policy brief intervention have on readers’ completed actions?


4 Discussion

4.1 Weak overall effect on beliefs, but a tendency to share

4.2 The Authority and Opinion effects influence behaviour more so than beliefs

4.3 Gender effect – why are women less likely to act?

4.4 Self-perceived influence effect

5 Conclusions


Appendix 1 Round one qualitative interviews

Appendix 2 Round two qualitative interviews

Appendix 3 Persistence of change in beliefs

Appendix 4 Further qualitative analysis

References

KMC/2012/HSS
Twitter
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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]
Washington DC USA

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
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[EQ] eHealth and The Rockefeller Foundation Experience and Vision - PAHO Online Seminar Series: eHealth in the Americas - October 5th 2012

PAHO/WHO KMC Seminar Series:


“eHealth in the Americas

The Member States of the Pan American Health Organization approved in 2011, the implementation of a Regional eHealth Strategy and Plan of Action to all the countries in the Americas Region. One of the key elements of the strategy is knowledge and information sharing among member states and stakeholders.

The proposed KMC Seminar series on eHealth aim at contributing to this important debate by bringing different themes of relevance and key players working on eHealth globally to ensure knowledge sharing among people and institutions and convergence in the implementation of eHealth National Strategies and plan of actions; and also to inform public health stakeholders and other decision makers in the health sector, to better take part in the debate.

Seminar Nº1:  eHealth and The Rockefeller Foundation Experience and Vision


By Karl Brown, Associate Director, Applied Technology at Rockefeller Foundation

Karl Brown joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 2006. As Associate Director of Applied Technology, Brown is focused on the application of information technology to the programmatic work of the foundation. He is working on exploring and nurturing imaginative uses of technology by Rockefeller grantees, and improving collaboration and knowledge management within the Foundation.
Prior to joining the Rockefeller Foundation, Brown worked as the Chief Technical Officer of GNVC, an NGO that fostered entrepreneurship in Ghana. Previously, Brown was a technical team lead with Trilogy, where he developed and deployed enterprise systems and consumer-facing websites for Fortune 500 companies such as Ford and Nissan. Brown received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.


When: Friday October 5th. 2012

Language: English


Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm - EDT (Washington, DC USA) To check your time zone, see the
World Clock

Virtual room:  http://www.paho.org/virtual/ict4health

Agenda

2:00:     Welcome Remarks - Marcelo D’Agostino KMC Area Manager PAHO/WHO

2:05      eHealth and The Rockefeller Foundation Experience and Vision

Karl Brown, Associate Director, Applied Technology at Rockefeller Foundation

2:30      Comments, Questions & Answers

Moderator: PAHO/WHO

3:00     Concluding Remarks:

Marcelo D’Agostino KMC Area Manager PAHO/WHO

 

To participate online:

To login to the Virtual session, use the link below and type your name on the sign in page:

URL: http://new.paho.org/virtual/ehealth

 

Related material:

PAHO/WHO eHealth portal:
http://new.paho.org/ict4health

 

CD51/13 — PAHO/WHO Strategy and Plan of Action on eHealth


CD51/13 — OPS/OMS Estrategia y Plan de acción sobre eSalud 


CD51/13—  OPAS/OMS Estratégia e Plano de Ação para eSaúde 


CD51/13-- OPS/OMS Stratégie et Plan d’action sur la cybersanté 

 

Additional information:

·         The KMC Seminar series will happen every two months

·         All Seminars will be life-streamed, and opened for participation via Elluminate, or via telephone line.

·         For those who cannot follow the live seminar, we will have the recordings and presentations available at
PAHO ICT4health at:
http://new.paho.org/ict4health/

 

KMC/2012/KMC
Twitter
http://twitter.com/eqpaho

 *      *     *
This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]
Washington DC USA

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO Website
Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
Twitter http://twitter.com/eqpaho



IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended
recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or
confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient or a person responsible for delivering this
transmission to the intended recipient, you may not
disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take
any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission
in error, please dispose of and delete this transmission.

Thank you.