To Bridge the Divide between Evidence and Policy: Reduce Ambiguity as Much as Uncertainty

Policy makers cannot consider all evidence relevant to policy. They use two shortcuts—emotions and beliefs to understand problems and “rational” ways of establishing the best evidence on solutions—to act quickly in complex, multilevel policy‐making environments. Many studies only address one part of this problem. Improving the supply of evidence helps reduce scientific and policy maker uncertainty. However, policy makers also combine their beliefs with limited evidence to reduce ambiguity by choosing one of several possible ways to understand and solve a problem. We use this insight to consider solutions designed to “close the evidence–policy gap.”     

Healthy Families America effectiveness: a comprehensive review of outcomes

This paper reviews 33 evaluations of Healthy Families America sites, with emphasis on 15 studies that include a control or comparison group. Outcome domains include child health and development, maternal life course, parenting, and child maltreatment. Parenting outcomes (e.g., parenting attitudes) show the most consistent positive impacts. Mixed results in other domains indicate the need for in-depth research to identify factors associated with better outcomes. Several factors that may contribute to differences in outcomes are discussed, including site implementation and quality, differences in family risk levels, and recent augmentations to program design. The paper also highlights two large-scale evaluations, one community-wide (Hampton, Virginia) and one statewide (Indiana), to illustrate exemplary evaluation approaches found in HFA research. Overall, HFA's continuing evolution has been positively impacted by researcher-practitioner partnerships.     

Mapping the career preferences of Russian law graduates

Interest in studying law has grown dramatically in Russia in the post-Soviet era. We know little about how law graduates distribute themselves among the available legal specialties. This paper begins to fill that gap by analyzing the results of an original survey of 2016 Russian law graduates. The sample is divided between full-time and correspondence students. Respondents were offered ten possible career paths, as well as options for uncertainty and plans to pursue non-law-related jobs. The results show an intriguing distribution and highlight the influence of respondents’ educational choices and their attitudes towards the Russian legal system in their career choices.