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Sample Output of Policy Field Analysis

Contributed by Julia Karon

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Resource Summary

This item aims to provide an example of what the policy field mapping process might look like in certain cases.

Submitted by: Julia Karon, PhD Student at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington

jkaron@uw.edu

Synopsis: This item aims to provide an example of what the policy field mapping process might look like in certain cases.

Abstract: This is one intermediary output of a policy field analysis conducted for our Washington State Justice Institute. This spreadsheet collects over 100 cases of innovations that have occurred over the past 60+ years in Washington State and was used to help build the case for an Institute to improve accountability and transparency in our state justice system. This policy field analysis will also contribute to an academic publication around barriers to innovation in Washington State. Policy areas include criminal justice, public impact areas include implementation, and this project is specific to Washington State.

Contributor’s Explanation of Use: This policy field map output is an example of how to synthesize information from a variety of possible case studies that can inform operations in a particular policy field. In this case, I collected 100+ cases of innovations or new programs in the criminal justice space in Washington State. Each case was coded based on criteria that spanned across all cases; for example, I collected the timing, key implementation actors, and any relevant evaluations for each innovation/case.

This output was used to further the development of a Washington State Justice Institute, a new center housed by EPIC at UW that aims to connect stakeholders across our criminal justice system to improve accountability and build understanding around program implementation. This synthesis of cases provided us with key barriers to innovation in our justice space; the findings from analysis of these cases combined with initial interviews helped us develop a report outlining these barriers and highlighting how a Justice Institute might help move our state forward. These findings will be presented to stakeholders later this summer and will also contribute to academic publications down the road. The limitations of this item include its specificity to Washington State and criminal justice; other policy fields or contexts may require different formats or different variables to be mapped to synthesize case studies in this way. However, this format of collecting data from different cases will hopefully generalize beyond this particular context.

Examples of Research Where It Has Been Used

This policy field map output is an example of how to synthesize information from a variety of possible case studies that can inform operations in a particular policy field. In this case, I collected 100+ cases of innovations or new programs in the criminal justice space in Washington State. Each case was coded based on criteria that spanned across all cases; for example, I collected the timing, key implementation actors, and any relevant evaluations for each innovation/case.

This output was used to further the development of a Washington State Justice Institute, a new center housed by EPIC at UW that aims to connect stakeholders across our criminal justice system to improve accountability and build understanding around program implementation. This synthesis of cases provided us with key barriers to innovation in our justice space; the findings from analysis of these cases combined with initial interviews helped us develop a report outlining these barriers and highlighting how a Justice Institute might help move our state forward. These findings will be presented to stakeholders later this summer and will also contribute to academic publications down the road. The limitations of this item include its specificity to Washington State and criminal justice; other policy fields or contexts may require different formats or different variables to be mapped to synthesize case studies in this way. However, this format of collecting data from different cases will hopefully generalize beyond this particular context.

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