Methods of Policy Analysis

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Methods of Policy Analysis coaches and mentors students to apply their core skills in economics, quantitative and qualitative research, and political processes, to develop pragmatic alternatives for improving policy outcomes. The course presents policy analysis as a clinical profession in which practitioners search for diagnoses that explain less acceptable outcomes, and then build on those diagnoses to formulate interventions designed to yield better outcomes. There are four major units to the course. Unit one focuses on general aspects of policy analysis and works through a major example. Unit two covers a wide range of process models useful for diagnosing why less acceptable outcomes occur. Unit three develops skills at constructing theories of change (also known as logic models), as informed by process models, that become the basis for concrete policy alternatives. Unit three also presents methods for forecasting the consequences of interventions and justifying recommendations. Unit four focuses on how to use data, analysis and well-crafted exhibits to convey recommendations effectively into policymaking processes that are overwhelmed with competing messages. Throughout the course, students will spend nearly every session doing policy analysis in class, with hands-on coaching by a professional policy analyst who works as an independent consultant to governments and nonprofit organizations. Every student will exit the course with a substantial policy analysis portfolio of value to future employment searches and to other course work at the McCourt School.