Advancing Policy Science for Advancing Science Policy Guswin de Wee, Nelson Mandela University, [email protected] Steven E. Wallis, PhD. Foundation for the Advancement of Social Theory, STRUCTURE AS INDICATOR FOR SUCCESS Background Results Conclusions References Application to Science policy For decades, we have heard calls that policy should be supported by data. Yet, policies STILL fail. WORSE, evidence are weaponized 1 indicating that more data is not the answer 2. This poster provides a systematic analyses of the structural logic of A POLICY TO DEINSTITUTIONALIZE MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS. A new Path A groundbreaking field, the science of conceptual systems (SOCS), examines and measures the structural logic of conceptual systems (e.g. Theories, policy models etc.) as systems to evaluate its usefulness. Conceptual systems (e.g. Policies) with a higher level of structure prove more useful in practical application. • COMPARISON – using IPA to evaluate structure of Ohms’ law in comparison to structure of public health policy • Structural analysis of the NMHPFSP 2013-2017 policy of South Africa for deinstitutionalizing mental health patients causing over 140+ needless deaths Ohm's law’ structural logic as a practical map 3 Structure: 100% highly effective or useful in application NMHPFSP 2013-2017 structural logic as practical Map Structure: 20% limited usefulness in practical application/implem entation. Poorly structured policy models are associated with three critical issues. 1) Poor understanding of the policy context/situation, leading to poorly planned implementation. 2) Difficulty in communicating policy actions, leading to poor implementation fidelity. 3) Exclusion of relevant stakeholder groups from the planning and implementation process • Policies with higher levels of structure (in concert with better data and stakeholder inclusion) leads to improved implementation success. • IT IS IMPORTANT TO Use IPA to create more systemic policies to reach goals [1] Zahariadis, N., 2003. Ambiguity and choice in public policy: Political decision making in modern democracies. Georgetown university press. [2] Sanderson, I. 2002. Evaluation, policy learning and evidence-based policy making. Public Administration 80(1):1–22 [3] Wright, B., and S. E. Wallis. 2019. Practical Mapping for Applied Research and Program Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE METHODOLOGY • The Integrative Propositional Analysis (IPA) six-step methodology stream has been used to measure the structure of theories and policy models on a scale of 0- 100%. F.A.S.T. Acknowledgement Many thanks to Lymique Ruiters for helping me with the design of the poster.