A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis

Reviews / Votes

"A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis remains the most accessible and practical guide for those learning the craft of policy analysis. It offers convincing reasoning for and a clear roadmap of the required steps to conduct policy analysis, provides a terrific list of useful resources and helpful hints, and offers very practical illustrations and examples. The newly added section on design problems broadens discourse to include not only knowledge on how to improve analysis of discrete policy choices, but also on how to generate effective strategies to change the design parameters of policy problems. It should be required reading for all students in public affairs type undergraduate major and graduate level programs." -- Michael Stoll "I have used Bardach's A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis in several editions over many years to instruct masters in public policy students in the skills and insights required of an effective policy practitioner. I like the book for its conciseness, its concreteness, its practicality and its accessibility. It provides a nice framework and set of concepts that can be developed and applied in case studies to structure an effective policy analysis course. I welcome the new edition, which clarifies and updates the material and adds a helpful new section on policy design, while keeping the structure and down-to-earth writing style of previous editions." -- Mary Jo Bane "A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis is the essential text to introduce health policy students to the practice of policy analysis. The authors offer a persuasive argument for why defining the problem is the fundamental yet challenging first step of policy analysis; this lesson is critical for health policy, where issue rhetoric abounds. The book offers a step-by-step methodology that appeals to students' need for structure, while reminding readers that the process of policy analysis-and politics-is inherently complex and non-linear. Students who master the book's core lessons will learn to embrace an iterative mode of thinking and a storytelling mode of writing, skills that will serve policy professionals and policy researchers well throughout their careers." -- Sarah Gollust "Bardach and Patashnik's Practical Guide has become a genuine classic of policy analysis because it offers a versatile framework for confronting policy issues of all types, from persistent, long-standing problems to new, emergent challenges. Like every classic work, it contains different layers of insight for different readers. Junior analysts can use the 8 basic elements as a primer. Intermediate analysts can add the design principles. Experienced analysts can deepen their practice by applying the 8-fold path to more and more complex problems. I wouldn't think of teaching policy analysis at any level without this elegant guide to our craft." -- Karen Baehler, PhD