Main description:

Individuals working in health research want to be able to use their findings to influence health policy. However, frequently, research evidence remains detached from practice, and there is a divide between research and policy.

Research for Health Policy is an introduction to the emerging genre of applied research for policy decision-making, offering new research methods that go far beyond the traditional classical experimental techniques and standard qualitative methods. This highly practical and practice-based book is relevant to researchers in different disciplines and countries, and it will equip the reader with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to deliver policy-relevant research in the
government, not-for-profit, and private sectors.

As a book that helps its reader to develop the blend of strategic people skills, methodological inventiveness, research entrepreneurship, creative design, and policy writing know-how that is critical to delivering useful research evidence for policy, Research for Health Policy is essential reading for anyone doing, studying or teaching health policy advocacy and research. It also has much to offer postgraduate and professional development students and their educators who want to move
beyond the common undergraduate focus on policy content areas and policy theory/process, to learn more advanced practical research skills for policy-making.

Contents:

Introduction: the approach used in this book and its rationale ; 1. What changes health policy? ; 2. Deciphering the policy problem ; 3. Reviewing the evidence ; 4. Designing research methods for health policy ; 5. Case-based approaches for health policy ; 6. Consensus-building for health policy ; 7. Telling the health policy story ; 8. Writing sound health policy options ; 9. Maximising the dissemination and impact of evidence for health policy ; Appendix: CEO interview questions