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Evidence-based social policy

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Dave Smith

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May 13, 2012, 5:34:28 AM5/13/12
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I think there's considerable scope for evaluating social policies in a more scientific manner. Wilkinson's and Pickett's work on inequality is a good example of how research can inform and stimulate debate, and IIRC they have advocated an evidence-based approach to social and political issues analogous to the evidence-based approach to medicine. This article takes a similar tack:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/13/scientific-method-test-public-policy

Dave Smith

Peter Brooks

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May 13, 2012, 7:21:36 AM5/13/12
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On May 13, 11:34 am, Dave Smith <davidelliottsm...@btinternet.com>
wrote:
> I think there's considerable scope for evaluating social policies in a more scientific manner. Wilkinson's and Pickett's work on inequality is a good example of how research can inform and stimulate debate, and IIRC they have advocated an evidence-based approach to social and political issues analogous to the evidence-based approach to medicine. This article takes a similar tack:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/13/scientific-method-test-...
>
Too much of this sort of thing and politicians would have to get real
jobs.

Lance

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May 13, 2012, 6:47:53 PM5/13/12
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On May 13, 11:34 am, Dave Smith <davidelliottsm...@btinternet.com>
wrote:
> I think there's considerable scope for evaluating social policies in a more scientific manner. Wilkinson's and Pickett's work on inequality is a good example of how research can inform and stimulate debate, and IIRC they have advocated an evidence-based approach to social and political issues analogous to the evidence-based approach to medicine. This article takes a similar tack:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/13/scientific-method-test-...
>
> Dave Smith

Donald T Campbell wrote about the experimenting society
- theidea that social policies should be tested by randomised trials -
way back in the early 1960s. His work is still worth reading.

Lance

Dave Smith

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May 14, 2012, 4:13:53 AM5/14/12
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A while ago, I read Timothy Wilson's 'Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change'. In passing, he emphasises how many therapeutic and educational initiatives are implemented without any proper built-in evaluation.

Dave Smith

Lance

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May 14, 2012, 4:28:38 AM5/14/12
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On May 14, 10:13 am, Dave Smith <davidelliottsm...@btinternet.com>
Well look at how frequently clinical psychologists use tests like the
Rorschach even though little evidence for their reliability exists
(despite its great age). Many clinicians simply believe that they have
some superior form of judgement that means they don't have to rely on
evidence.

Lance

Peter Brooks

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May 14, 2012, 4:56:55 AM5/14/12
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This used to be a problem in medicine too (probably still is for some
older practitioners). The BMJ has had a decades long campaign in
favour of evidence-based medicine that has been bearing fruit.

Did you know that there was no value in swabbing alcohol on skin
before an injection? It just seemed such a naturally obvious good
idea....

It is still a major problem with psychiatrists who like to believe in
a magical drug-rep assisted ability to prescribe powerful mind-
altering drugs for conditions that have not been tested or authorised
(off-label prescribing - which seems like a macho thing for shrinks to
do).

One argument for public, as opposed to private, medicine is that
public bodies don't allo shrinks to get away with this sort of
expensive abuse.

Dave Smith

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May 14, 2012, 7:32:10 PM5/14/12
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Yes. And sometimes there is negative evidence that they ignore.

Dave Smith
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