UTILIZATION IN THE POLICY CYCLE: DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH*

The study of policy utilization has been unnecessarily confined to one policy stage and to one group of policymakers-high ranking civil servants. This article suggests to broaden research concerns by including the various stages of the policy cycle and the various policymakers. Utilization plays different functions in different stages and the incentives of policymakers in each stage are guided by self-interest and political-bureaucratic efficacy.     

Membership in voluntary neighborhood associations and urban revitalization

This study examines patterns of membership in neighborhood associations in a revitalized neighborhood in a large midwestern city. The neighborhood is ethnically heterogenous and working class. The research assesses the extent of participation in local associations, its effect on revitalization, and differences between old-timers and newcomers.It was found that affiliation with neighborhood associations is wide spread both among old-timers and newcomers. However, young and affluent newcomers are particularly active. Moreover, whereas old-timers tend to be over-represented in traditional established associations, newcomers are more likely to join avant-garde and activist associations. Finally, membership accounts for residents' perception of their neighborhood and the extent to which they are involved in the revitalization process.This research was performed under grant RO MH 3526-01, NIMH, Center for Work and Mental Health.     

Governance dilemmas in an age of ambiguous authority

A convergence of functions, financing and governance arrangements between public and private sectors of society cloud the study and understanding of policy making, implementation and evaluation. Forces creating and shaping the interpenetrated society are trends toward professionalism and corporatism. The health industry provides an example. Increasingly, but with little formal guidance from political theory, the American system has authorized privately constituted citizen governing boards to spend tax dollars, make and implement policy choices, and evaluate outcomes. This essay argues for closer examination of the nature of representation and accountability in these little studied creatures of governance and introduces the subsequent articles addressed to the subject.     

ATTITUDE MEASURES IN EVALUATION RESEARCH: A RESEARCH NOTE

The paper focuses on the use of attitude measures in evaluation research. It is suggested that attitude measures can assist evaluators in surmounting the problems of assessing program effectiveness both in process and impact evaluations. Attitude change can be conceptualized as the intended output of programs, as intervening between program variables and behavior or as proxy measures of behavioral target variables that are not readily measurable. Attitude measures can play avital role in evaluation research if an adequate methodology is employed.     

The preconditions for successful evaluation: Is there an ideal paradigm?

The dominant paradigm in evaluation research is undergoing serious challenge. This article explores the ideal role of evaluation in decisionmaking, the methodologies for conducting evaluations, the congruence between evaluation methodology and actual organizational behavior, and the relationship between evaluators and program managers. We conclude that although there are serious disparities between the ideal and the actual in each of these four areas, and especially in the congruence between evaluation methodology and organizational behavior, there is not likely to be a change in the dominant paradigm because it is difficult for practitioners to use the language and values of new organizational perspectives.     

The Policy Sciences: The Challenge of Complexity

This essay reviews some of the recent criticisms of positivist science. It interprets this criticism, more generally, as directed towards the complexity of social science phenomena and the difficulty of dealing with complexity epistemologically and methodologically. Rather than ignoring complexity, changing the subject matter or explaining it away, we argue that complexity may be acknowledged and studied systematically withn the context of post-positivist approaches. The essay than proposes several strategies for conceptualizing and researching complexity (at a "meta-level" from substantive policy research) that are based in systems theory.