Tom Ling

Knowledge grows as ideas are tested against each other. Agreement is not resolved simply by naming concepts but in the dialectical process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. There are many echoes of these debates in The Evidence Book. The contributors make claims for both practitioner wisdom and the voice of experience. Against this is posed the authority of experimental science and the randomized controlled trial. The contributors are concerned, in their own ways, with collecting, ranking, and analyzing evidence and using this to deliver evaluations. As an expert group, they are aware that the concept of evidence has been increasingly important in the last decade. As with other concepts, it too often escapes precise definition. Despite this, the growing importance of evidence has been advocated with enthusiasm by supporters who see it as a way of increasing the effectiveness and quality of decisions and of professional life. The willingness to engage in evidence-based policy and the means to do so is heavily constrained by economic, political, and cultural climates. This book is a marvelously comprehensive and utterly unique treatise on evidence-based policy. It is a wide-ranging contribution to the field of evaluation.

Knowledge grows as ideas are tested against each other. Agreement is not resolved simply by naming concepts but in the dialectical process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. There are many echoes of these debates in The Evidence Book. The contributors make claims for both practitioner wisdom and the voice of experience. Against this is posed the authority of experimental science and the randomized controlled trial. The contributors are concerned, in their own ways, with collecting, ranking, and analyzing evidence and using this to deliver evaluations. As an expert group, they are aware that the concept of evidence has been increasingly important in the last decade. As with other concepts, it too often escapes precise definition. Despite this, the growing importance of evidence has been advocated with enthusiasm by supporters who see it as a way of increasing the effectiveness and quality of decisions and of professional life. The willingness to engage in evidence-based policy and the means to do so is heavily constrained by economic, political, and cultural climates. This book is a marvelously comprehensive and utterly unique treatise on evidence-based policy. It is a wide-ranging contribution to the field of evaluation.

This volume identifies the main changes in the British state since 1945 and evaluates their consequences. It provides students and practitioners with an understanding of the changing public sector and the relationship between these changes and the wider conduct of politics. Recent academic and political responses to the British state have been influenced by an atmosphere which is increasingly suspicious of hierarchies, bureaucracies and, indeed, the state itself. Tom Ling identifies the factors leading to this development and in the final chapter he evaluates the more important recent responses to the changed atmosphere. The British State Since 1945 will be widely read by students and practitioners of British politics and public sector change. Its concern with policy-making and policy-implementation also makes it a valuable resource for students of social welfare and economic interventions. Through its evaluation and application of a variety of theoretical and analytical approaches to the question of the British State, this book will also be of interest to everyone concerned with more theoretical debates about the nature of the state and contemporary politics.

This volume identifies the main changes in the British state since 1945 and evaluates their consequences. It provides students and practitioners with an understanding of the changing public sector and the relationship between these changes and the wider conduct of politics. Recent academic and political responses to the British state have been influenced by an atmosphere which is increasingly suspicious of hierarchies, bureaucracies and, indeed, the state itself. Tom Ling identifies the factors leading to this development and in the final chapter he evaluates the more important recent responses to the changed atmosphere. The British State Since 1945 will be widely read by students and practitioners of British politics and public sector change. Its concern with policy-making and policy-implementation also makes it a valuable resource for students of social welfare and economic interventions. Through its evaluation and application of a variety of theoretical and analytical approaches to the question of the British State, this book will also be of interest to everyone concerned with more theoretical debates about the nature of the state and contemporary politics.