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Informationen zum Autor Mary Katherine O'Connor , MSW, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University where she has taught in the MSW and PhD programs for over twenty years. She has authored or coauthored numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in the areas of public child welfare practice, services to street children, and qualitative research method development. F. Ellen Netting , MSSW, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work and Samuel S. Wurtzel Chair at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches in the BSW, MSW, and PhD programs. She has authored or coauthored numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in the areas of health and human service delivery issues for frail elders, as well as nonprofit management concerns. Klappentext From formulation to implementation, an approach to the analysis of social policy through the lens of research Analyzing Social Policy prepares professionals and students to make better informed decisions related to identifying and understanding the intricacies and potential impact of social policymaking and enactment on their organization as well as their individual responsibilities, goals, and objectives. Authors Mary Katherine O'Connor and F. Ellen Netting thoroughly examine various approaches to the analysis of social policies and how these approaches provide the knowledge, multiple perspectives, and other resources to understand and grasp the nuances of social policy in all its complexity. Comprehensive and based on research, Analyzing Social Policy explores: An overview of the practice of social policy analysis The role of research in guiding policy analysis The idea of policy analyses as research Themes, assumptions, and major theories that undergird rational models of policy analysis Nonrational themes, assumptions, and major theories informing nontraditional interpretive and critical approaches to policy analysis Strategies for applying selected models and approaches when engaging in policy analysis as research Providing practitioners and students with a set of tools that can be used to enhance an understanding of what constitutes policy as well as acceptable standards for critical analysis of policy, this resource enables policy advocates-regardless of their level-to be political, strategic, and critical in their work. Zusammenfassung Make better informed choices for successfully dealing with the complexities of social policy. * Unique in approaching policy analysis from a research-based perspective. * Includes end of chapter discussion points and exercises! and cases are interwoven throughout to aid understanding and application. Inhaltsverzeichnis Foreword xi Preface xv Acknowledgments xxiii 1 An Overview of Social Policy Analysis 1 Necessary Groundwork 2 Identifying Definitions and Forms of Policy 10 Recognizing Levels and Scope of Social Policies 19 Conceptualizing Policy Analysis 28 Conclusion 34 Discussion Questions 35 2 Thinking of Policy Analysis as Research 36 The Role of Research in Guiding Policy Analysis 37 What Constitutes Research? 41 Focusing the Policy Analysis 46 An Expansive View of Policy Analysis Research 53 Conclusion 60 Discussion Questions 61 Case Study 63 Service, Engagement, and Volunteerism: What's the Policy All About? 63 3 Rational Policy Analysis 75 Reason and Rationality 76 Rational Assumptions of the Positivist/Postpositivist Paradigm 78 Rational Models of Policy Analysis 79 How to Assess the Degree to Which an Analysis Approach is Rational 99 Conclusion 102 Discussion Questions 103 4 Applications of Rational Policy Analysis 104 ...
