Chapter 7

©2011, Cengage Learning, Brooks/ Col©2011, Cengage Learning, Brooks/ Cole Publishinge Publishing

Becoming an Effective Becoming an Effective Policy AdvocatePolicy Advocate

Bruce Jansson, University of Southern CaliforniaBruce Jansson, University of Southern California

PowerPoint created byPowerPoint created by

Gretchen Heidemann, MSW, PhD CandidateGretchen Heidemann, MSW, PhD Candidate

University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California

School of Social WorkSchool of Social Work


Chapter 7Chapter 7Analyzing Problems in the First Step Analyzing Problems in the First Step

of Policy Analysisof Policy Analysis


A Six-Step Policy Analysis, Proposal-A Six-Step Policy Analysis, Proposal-Writing, and Presentation FrameworkWriting, and Presentation Framework

This chapter combines Task 4 (policy This chapter combines Task 4 (policy analysis) and Task 5 (proposal writing) analysis) and Task 5 (proposal writing) into a six-step frameworkinto a six-step framework


Step 1Step 1

Step 1: Familiarize oneself with a specific Step 1: Familiarize oneself with a specific social problem or issue—or interrelated social problem or issue—or interrelated problems or issuesproblems or issues– Begins with the selection of a specific social

problem or issue


Step 1Step 1

Policy advocates then ask:Policy advocates then ask:– What political, fiscal, cultural, or other factors led to a

specific festering problem or issue?– What remedies or solutions (if any) currently exist,

and why are they insufficient? – What is the magnitude of current expenditures on the

program or issue? Where do they come from and are they sufficient?

– What adverse consequences does the current problem or issue pose for specific persons, communities, and society?


Step 1Step 1

Policy advocates then:– Use social science and other literature to understand

how these problems develop in specific populations– Understand where affected populations go for

assistance, from both organized programs and nontraditional agencies

– Understand how specific populations perceive specific conditions

– Examine an array of strategies currently used to redress or solve them

– Consider in what specific policy arenas remedies for the problem can be developed and enacted


Step 2Step 2

Step 2: Brainstorm an array of relevant Step 2: Brainstorm an array of relevant policy, programmatic, and resource policy, programmatic, and resource options that, singly and together, might options that, singly and together, might define a strategy for addressing the social define a strategy for addressing the social problem or issueproblem or issue– Depending on the complexity of the problem, several

options may be considered– Policy advocates use research and theory to develop

options that appear promising for addressing or solving the specific social problem


Step 3Step 3

Step 3: Analyze the relative merits of Step 3: Analyze the relative merits of competing optionscompeting options – Policy advocates must first identify specific

criteria they will use to contrast the optionsValuesEffectivenessCostPolitical FeasibilityEase of Implementation


Step 3Step 3

– The selection of criteria pivotally shape the recommendations of policy analysts, so they must be chosen with care

– Based on the criteria, the analyst decides which of the options is meritorious

– They often face trade-offs when a specific policy ranks high on one or more criteria but lower on others

– They might conclude that on balance a specific policy option is preferred even though it does not rank high on all criteria


Step 4Step 4

Step 4: Draft a specific policy proposal that Step 4: Draft a specific policy proposal that flows from the brainstorming and flows from the brainstorming and conceptual work during the preceding conceptual work during the preceding three stagesthree stages– Proposals can be:Proposals can be:

simple or complexmodest or ambitiousinexpensive or costlybrand new or modifications of an old policydownsized or upsized based on feedback


Steps 5 & 6Steps 5 & 6

Step 5: Seek supporters for the proposalStep 5: Seek supporters for the proposal– Other persons would have been involved in

the work from the outset

Step 6: Make key presentations to public Step 6: Make key presentations to public officials or decision makersofficials or decision makers – Try to persuade them that the policy proposal

is meritorious


Why Policy Advocates Have to Why Policy Advocates Have to Analyze ProblemsAnalyze Problems

Several reasons advocates must analyze Several reasons advocates must analyze problems:problems:

1. Were they not to base their proposals on hardheaded analysis, they would find their proposals dismissed as lacking a substantive base

2. A candid assessment of the social reforms of prior eras suggests that they often have not worked, partly because advocates lacked sufficient knowledge of specific problems

3. To minimize the effects of power, tradition, fuzzy intentions, and intuition


Using a Flowchart to Analyze Using a Flowchart to Analyze Social Problems in Step 1Social Problems in Step 1

It is useful to diagram social problems in It is useful to diagram social problems in developing solutions developing solutions

Flowcharts are particularly useful since Flowcharts are particularly useful since they place the problems in a they place the problems in a developmental contextdevelopmental context

The flowchart has five cells placed in a The flowchart has five cells placed in a context context



The CONTEXT includes familial, community, The CONTEXT includes familial, community, and economic factorsand economic factors– Social networks powerfully shape:

how people address their needswhether they seek organized serviceshow they respond to organized serviceswhether they develop specific problems how they deal with them

– Cultural factors also influence how people define specific problems, and whether they seek help from organized institutions and programs



The first (far left) cell represents the The first (far left) cell represents the Prevention ArenaPrevention Arena – Describes persons who have not yet

developed a problem – Shows interventions we can use to stop

persons from developing specific problemsSuch as identifying at-risk factors

– People who do develop specific problems move into one of the three cells in the middle of the flowchart



The middle three cells represent the Problem The middle three cells represent the Problem Development ArenasDevelopment Arenas– The top-middle cell describes persons who remain

outside the orbit of all organized systems of care– The middle-middle cell describes organized systems

of care, such as social agencies, hospitals, clinics, schools, job-training programs, and professionals

– The bottom-middle cell describes programs that operate on an empowerment or self-help perspective, such as Alcoholics Anonymous



The distinction between those who are outside and those who are inside formal programs is critical – Often only a small percentage of persons with specific

problems actually seek organized services for themThey do not know about them They believe they are not eligibleThey do not want to present with a stigmatized conditionThey drop out of servicesThey do not perceive themselves as having a problem

– Many people solve problems on their own or with help from support networks, and some eventually mature out of their problems



Some persons harm themselves by not using organized programs– They do not avail themselves of these services

because:They may lack the resources needed to use organized programs (i.e. the uninsured)They may not know about organized servicesThey may be given services that they perceive to be intrusive, demeaning, or ineffectiveOrganized services may be so severely underfunded that people cannot gain access to them (i.e. lack of capacity)



Persons who do receive services may do Persons who do receive services may do so voluntarily or involuntarilyso voluntarily or involuntarily– Voluntary entrants enter organized services

because they want assistance with specific problems and believe that organized services can help them

– Involuntary entrants are forced to get certain services, often by the courts, which require persons to use them to avoid incarceration or other penalties



Some people turn to programs or activities Some people turn to programs or activities that use a self-help or empowerment that use a self-help or empowerment paradigmparadigm– Examples include:

Community-based programs to help physically, mentally, or developmentally challenged persons

Alcoholics Anonymous

Community-based programs that help people purchase their own houses



Typologies within the Middle CellsTypologies within the Middle Cells – Populations with specific problems are not

homogeneous– Specific interventions often do not work for

many people, who may respond to different approaches



Relationships among the CellsRelationships among the Cells – People move among the three middle cells in

interesting and complex waysOne person may begin in organized services, drop out of them, and then be helped by a community-based empowerment programAnother may solve a problem with the help of family members and move back into the prevention arenaOthers use organized institutions and empowerment programs simultaneously

– Organized systems of services should draw upon family and neighborhood resources or the work of agencies using an empowerment paradigm



The last (far right) cell represents The last (far right) cell represents Assessment of OutcomesAssessment of Outcomes – Successful outcomes can include eradicating

a problem or lessening its severity or impact– Unsuccessful outcomes can include failure to

solve or redress a problem or to develop personal coping strategies

– We can assess the effectiveness of specific programs by using techniques of program evaluation



The example of welfare reform demonstrates:The example of welfare reform demonstrates:– Various stages of development– The dynamics of a problem (patterns of movement

between the different phases)– A typology of recipients classified with respect to:

Manifestations: Outward behaviors, symptoms, or characteristics that differentiate people with specific problems

Chronicity: How long recipients use services (i.e. chronic users, in-and-out or oscillating users, brief onetime users, and occasional users)

Demographic characteristics



Typologies are useful for several reasons:– They divide people with specific social problems into

smaller subgroups– They force policy practitioners to develop an array of

interventions rather than relying on a single approach– They facilitate evaluations of programs and policies– They allow policy practitioners to establish priorities

We can use focus groups to find out what kinds of services or resources the members of these groups believe they need



Criticisms and issues involved with typologies:Criticisms and issues involved with typologies:– Some argue whether subgroups are mutually

exclusive since recipients can fall into several of them at once

– If too few categories are used, it is difficult to develop specialized programs that focus on the needs of specific subgroups

– If too many categories are used, policy practitioners may fail to see the commonalities of persons in different subgroups


Analyzing the Causes of Social Analyzing the Causes of Social Problems in Step 1Problems in Step 1

Problems are caused by a multitude of factors, including:– physiological– personal– familial– community– societal

These factors operate not only singly but together to produce the problem



Policy advocates use both quantitative and qualitative research to analyze the causes of specific problems4 common approaches:– Compare persons with a social problem to persons who do

not have it– Follow people through time to discover why they develop a

problem– Evaluate existing programs to find clues to a problem’s

causes– Get information directly from persons who experience a

specific problem by observing or interviewing them



When researchers examine the causes of social problems, their perspectives influence their work– Researchers with an ecological perspective

emphasize occupational, economic, familial, peer, and neighborhood factors

– Those with a radical perspective implicate economic and social inequalities, reduced economic opportunities, and the practices of corporations as causal factors

– Those who use medical or disease models explore the physiological factors associated with specific problems



When researchers examine the causes of social problems, their perspectives influence their work– Those who emphasize intrapsychic factors explore

personal and familial causes of social problems– Some persons adhere to behavioral frameworks,

contending that certain social problems can be redressed only by providing rewards and disincentives

– Some people emphasize deterrent strategies that penalize persons with social problems



These different approaches often cause vigorous debates among theorists, analysts, and researchers

These various frameworks and causal factors are not mutually exclusive, because various causes interact

Policy advocates should take leading roles in critiquing social policies that are premised on simplistic analyses of social problems


Developing Interventions and Developing Interventions and Programs in Step 1Programs in Step 1

Policy advocates devise interventions to solve specific social problems– Policy initiatives might emphasize a deterrent, public

health, or radical approach– In the welfare example, remedies might include:

Making work pay enough to (at least) bring families to a poverty standardHelping people employed at low wages to upgrade their earning potentialEconomic incentives for employers to hire welfare recipients A bill of rights for welfare recipients


Developing Preventive Programs in Step 1

Primary Prevention: – Preventing persons from experiencing important

problems in the first place

Secondary Prevention:– Persons with a specific problem are given assistance

in its early stages, to avert a full-blown or serious problem

Tertiary Prevention:– Halting a well-developed problem by using

interventions that stop it from evolving further into a catastrophic condition


Developing Preventive Programs in Step 1

Many preventive strategies have been shown to be effective at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels– Ex: Head Start, seatbelts, reductions in alcohol

consumption

Early treatment stops the progression of an array of medical, mental health school, and job performance problems

Prevention interventions should be targeted to persons with identifiable at-risk factors


Developing Preventive Developing Preventive Programs in Step 1Programs in Step 1

Factors that Impede Prevention:1. The problem of efficiency

It is impossible to direct our prevention efforts exclusively to the true positives, excluding the true negatives

Our ability to predict which people will and will not develop a specific problem is imperfect

Prevention further declines in efficiency if we cannot help persons actually avert a problem

Prevention programs must both direct resources to true positives and develop effective interventions



Factors that Impede Prevention:Factors that Impede Prevention:2.2. Problems in getting people to participateProblems in getting people to participate

Efficiency declines when we fail to persuade people who are at risk to participateActive prevention helps people make corrective lifestyle changes or personal decisions to forestall a disease or problem Passive prevention changes the environments of people to diminish the likelihood that they will develop a problem– They receive the benefits of these changes without

having to alter their lifestyle or make different choices



Factors that Impede Prevention:Factors that Impede Prevention:3. Difficulties in marshaling evidence of the

effectiveness of preventive programsIt can at times be difficult to find empirical evidence that specific programs actually prevent specific problems

Researchers must follow subjects over a significant period of time, rule out the effects of other factors, and demonstrate a magnitude of prevention that justifies the costs of the preventive program



Factors that Impede Prevention:Factors that Impede Prevention:4. The power of special interests

Special interests often oppose meritorious prevention projects– Ex: Cigarette companies, automobile manufacturers,

abstinence only supporters, those who operate from a medical model



Factors that Impede Prevention:Factors that Impede Prevention:5. Competition with curative programs

Preventive programs must compete for funds with programs that help people who already have specific problems

Advocates who want significant resources to prevent certain problems have to convince legislators to divert scarce resources from curative programs


Measuring the Magnitude of Measuring the Magnitude of Problems in Step 1Problems in Step 1

It is relatively simple to measure the magnitude of certain problems because public authorities issue data about them – Ex: welfare dependency

Other problems are more difficult to measure because people who have these problems often do not seek public services– Ex: homelessness and substance abuse

Rates, prevalence, and incidence are commonly used to measure the magnitude of social problems



Rates (expressed as percentages) measure the ratio of a group of persons to a larger reference group– Ex: The number of white males ages 18 to 25 who

were arrested for drunk driving in 2009, compared to the total number of white males in this age bracket

Incidence (also expressed as a percentage) measures the ratio of new cases to a larger reference group– Ex: The number of new arrests in 2009 of white males

aged 18 to 25



Prevalence (also expressed as a percentage) measures the ratio of persons who are currently experiencing a social problem to the total population– Ex: the number of persons currently being

prosecuted for drunk driving to the total number of drivers on a specific day



Researchers can also use measures of felt Researchers can also use measures of felt need, expressed need, expert need, and need, expressed need, expert need, and comparative needcomparative need– Felt need measures persons’ belief that they have a

problem– Expressed need measures persons’ actual search for

specific services– Expert needs are measured by asking experts for

their estimates of the severity of specific problems– Comparative need measures unmet needs by

comparing the services offered in different communities



Decision makers do not spring into action merely because policy advocates present them with data about the prevalence of a problem They often ignore overwhelming data about a problem, particularly when they are not subjected to strong pressureThey may take action only when the public believes it is becoming more important or when party leaders believe they can improve their political fortunes by taking action


Locating Problems SpatiallyLocating Problems Spatially

Social science tools to locate people with Social science tools to locate people with certain problems:certain problems:– The U.S. Census data– Local public health offices, various state

agencies, municipal and county authorities, and some federal agencies regularly collect and compile various kinds of population-based data


Social Problems as Slippery Social Problems as Slippery ConceptsConcepts

Social problems are human constructs, not purely objective phenomena

There are many ambiguities and philosophical issues that policy advocates (and social workers in general) will confront



Ambiguity #1: When Are Social Problems Real, Ambiguity #1: When Are Social Problems Real, and When Are They Invented?and When Are They Invented?– Because social problems are invested with human

meaning, all of them are “invented”– However, we can be relatively confident in declaring

some conditions to be problems– Yet other social conditions are called problems without

evidence that they are regular and identifiable phenomena in the real world

– Some social conditions are so complex that it is difficult to know when they are problems



Ambiguity #1: When Are Social Problems Ambiguity #1: When Are Social Problems Real, and When Are They Invented?Real, and When Are They Invented?– Social workers and policy advocates should

view problems with healthy skepticism– They should be careful not to treat subjects

unnecessarily, label them, or apply remedies to conditions that do not require treatment



Ambiguity #2: Ambiguity #2: Many Social Problems Defy Simple Many Social Problems Defy Simple Solutions, But Many People Favor PanaceasSolutions, But Many People Favor Panaceas– Most social problems are complex phenomena that

do not lend themselves to one-size-fits-all solutions– Yet people frequently demand panaceas

They are sometimes promoted by class and racial prejudiceSuch solutions do not take into account the realities of the lives of those affected

– Solving problems requires persistence rather than time-limited crusades

– Many social problems cannot be solved but merely ameliorated through continuing efforts



Ambiguity #3: Priorities Are Not Chosen Ambiguity #3: Priorities Are Not Chosen RationallyRationally– Decision makers do not always rely on

research to shape public priorities– Politics ultimately shapes the selection of

most priorities



Ambiguity #4: Solving One Problem Can Ambiguity #4: Solving One Problem Can Create OthersCreate Others– Sometimes when a problem appears to be

solved, another emerges in its wakeEx: Decreasing welfare roles in the 1990s led to increased homelessness, foster care placements, and possibly family violence and substance abuse



Ambiguity #5: Variations in ProblemsAmbiguity #5: Variations in Problems– There can be differences between groups within a

population that experiences a problemEx: Alcoholism has different causes and takes different forms in men and women

– Cultural differences can affect responses to servicesCulturally sensitive practice stresses the need to adapt programs to specific populations

– Problems of oppressed populations can be caused or exacerbated by the hostile environments and extreme poverty that they encounter

Empowerment helps us reconceptualize the services that we provide to persons in such high-stress environments


Challenges for Policy AdvocatesChallenges for Policy Advocates

Policy advocates who help oppressed populations encounter particular challenges because their issues are frequently unpopularThe broader population views the problems of stigmatized conditions through prejudiced lensesProblems of oppressed populations are often viewed as relatively hopeless and unsolvableWhen they try to address inequalities in society, they are often dismissed as left-leaning radicalsAmerican society lacks a strong radical tradition, and the rhetoric of social equality is often dismissed


Challenges for Policy AdvocatesChallenges for Policy Advocates

All of this emphasizes the need for policy advocates to: – Educate people

whether through the mass media or through personal discussions with highly placed officials

– Contest the definitions and conceptualizations of specific social problems

such as equating welfare with bad character rather than with limited, low-paying jobs

– Resist stereotypes by arguing that certain groups do, in fact, have different needs and problems

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Chapter 7

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