Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
1. appraise the literature on the formulation and implementation of social policies.
2. employ this literature in the analysis of Irish social policy formulation and implementation.
3. comprehend the key methodologies used to evaluate social policies
4. apply these research methodologies to the design of social policy evaluations.
5. critique the use of policy evaluation in Irish social policy making.
6. Critically analyse key texts and research on social policy making, implementation and evaluation.
7. work effectively as a group

Indicative Module Content:

The opening lecture will introduce the module and to the policy cycle

This will be followed by a series or lectures organised around three core themes of the module. Three guest speakers with a policy practice background (e.g. civil servant, non-profit sector) will contextualise each theory block at the end.

Policy Making:
- introduction to theories of policy-making and the factors which influence policy design.
- Power Resources: Pluralism and Elitism
- Institutionalism
- Rational Choice Theory and Game Theory
- Networks
- Ideas and Knowledge Transfer

Policy Implementation
- introduction to policy implementation theory
- Top down theories of policy implementation
- Bottom up theories of policy implementation
- Incrementalism and Mixed-Scanning

Policy Evaluation
- Introduction and Ethics
- Evaluation Designs
- Impact evaluation
- Conducting and writing up evaluations.

Student Effort Type	Hours
Lectures	22
Tutorial	2
Specified Learning Activities	40
Autonomous Student Learning	39
Total	103

Learning Requirements:

None

Learning Exclusions:

None

Learning Recommendations:

No prior learning requirements. To get an idea about some of the topics covered in the policy cycle watch the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUbviQoef8

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  

Description	Timing		Component Scale		% of Final Grade
Group Project: Critical review of a key public policy book. 1500 words	Week 7	n/a	Graded	No	60
Assignment: 24 hour exam. Evaluation of a policy programme. 750-1000 words	Coursework (End of Trimester)	n/a	Graded	No	40

 

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Spring	No

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

Students will receive individual feedback on their projects and also from their classmates in their online critical reading groups.

For the course the following three textbooks will be used. For each lecture, the required chapters are highlighted.
Cairney, P (2012), Understanding public policy: theories and issues, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Library.
Hill, M and Hupe, P (2014), Implementing Public Policy, (3rd ed) London: Sage. Library.
Fox, C, Grimm, R, Caldeira R (2016), An Introduction to Evaluation, London: Sage. Library.

Other recommended textbooks are:
Knill, C. and Tosun, J. (2012) Public Policy. A New Introduction. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Library ebook, hardcopy.
Hill, M. and Varone, F. (2017) The Public Policy Process. 7th Edition. London: Routledge.
Sabatier, P. (ed.) (2007), Theories of the Policy Process. Westview Press.
Rossi, P., Freeman, H., Lipsey M. (2004) Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, 7th ed. London: Sage.
Weiss, C. H. (1998) Evaluation: Methods for Studying Programs and Policies. 2nd Edition, New Jersey, Prentice Hall.

Further mandatory reading for some lectures, see outline for specific lectures:
Béland, D. (2016) ‘Kingdon Reconsidered: Ideas, Interests and Institutions in Comparative Policy Analysis’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 18 (3): 228-242. pdf, link.
Köppe, S. and O’Connell, P. (2017) Case Study on Intreo. The one-stop-shop for job seekers in Ireland. Dublin: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. pdf, link.
Cooper, C. A. and Marier, P. (2015) ‘Does it Matter Who Works at the Center? A Comparative Policy Analysis of Executive Styles’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 1-16. pdf, link.
Saetren, H. (2014) ‘Implementing the third generation research paradigm in policy implementation research: An empirical assessment’, Public Policy and Administration 29(2): 84-105. Pdf, link.


 
Book Review List

For the book review, please select one of the following books. If you have another book in mind, please speak to your module coordinator for advice, but consider that it should address public policy issues of policy-making and implementation:

Hacker, J. S. and Pierson, P. (2010) Winner-Take-All Politics. How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jagannathan R. and Camasso M. (2013) Protecting Children in the Age of Outrage. A New Perspective on Child Protective Services Reform. Oxford: OUP.
Lipsky, M (1980), Street-level Bureaucracy: dilemmas of the individual in public services, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Mills, C. W (2000), The Power Elite, New York: Oxford University Press.
Norris, M (2016) Property, Family and the Irish Welfare State. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pierson, P. (1994) Dismantling the welfare state? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pressman, J and Wildavsky (1984) Implementation: How Great Expectations in Washington are Dashed in Oakland, Berkley: University of California Press.