Evidence and influence

If, as someone outside the policy bubble, you want to policy to change, I reckon you need both evidence and influence.  And you need to produce both on the terms valued by policy makers.

This blog started with thinking about ‘evidence-based policy making’, and wondering what people class as ‘evidence’. It was amazing to see people switch from talking about the importance of real experiences and hearing people’s stories to talking about statistics as soon as the word ‘evidence’ was introduced. In research terms, quantitative research findings = evidence.

For all my theorising, I can be extremely pragmatic. I might not equate ‘evidence’ with ‘statistics’ – but life is too short and the policy issues are too urgent to try to persuade people who make policy that ‘evidence’ has other meanings.

As someone outside the policy bubble, evidence in the form of statistics is a fantastic tool to have up your sleeve. It is easier to just accept that, by and large, evidence (statistics) plays at least a partial role in policy making. Depending on the civil servant, Minister and policy area, statistics will play a greater or lesser role in their decisions. Your ideas will be taken far more seriously when backed by evidence (statistics), if only because the person you talk to can wave your evidence under other people’s noses to justify their interest in and support of your idea. 

I’m genuinely not sure how far statistics drive the policy-making process, and how much they are used to justify pre-existing beliefs (what is often called ‘policy-based evidence’.  Either way, statistics are important to us outsiders for at least as long as policy makers equate evidence with statistics.

What I do know is that changing policies relies on both evidence and influence. 

So how do you  get influence? You tell stories. You explain impacts on real people’s real lives. In social research terms, you use qualitative research findings.  You use theories of culture and power to work out how to present those stories most effectively.

So – evidence and influence, numbers and stories, yin and yang. If you want to turn your ideas into ideas that will be adopted by policy makers, learn to use both. 

As researchers interested in social change, I’d argue we need to make sure we value both kinds of research and learn how to use them together for maximum policy impact.

As disabled activists, I’d argue we need to be canny and remember who we need to influence, how they make decisions and what will make it easiest for them to adopt our ideas.

As citizens of Wales, I'd argue we need to know how policy gets made in Wales - after all policy decisions in Cardiff effect everyone's everday lives.