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What metrics? On the utility of measuring the performance of policy research: An illustrative case and alternative from Employment and Social Development Canada
Author(s) -
Nason Edward,
O'Neill Michael A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12103
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , task (project management) , object (grammar) , performance measurement , focus (optics) , computer science , research object , state (computer science) , policy development , public policy , management science , operations research , public economics , econometrics , economics , sociology , engineering , political science , public administration , artificial intelligence , regional science , economic growth , management , philosophy , linguistics , physics , algorithm , optics
This article examines the state of performance measurement of policy research in government. The article observes that, to date, government policy research activities have seldom been the object of performance measurement, a factor we ascribe to the relative unsuitability of existing models rooted in a focus on outputs and outcomes, often at the expense of relationships and networks. In reference to the literature and the case study, the article proposes that existing performance measurement models are ill‐suited to the task of assessing policy research performance. As a result, the article proposes that a purpose‐built model may be needed to achieve this objective. Such a model, the Sphere of Influence of Research Policy model, is provided as an illustration.