There are two sections of this course:
- Section 1: Concepts of Public Policy Studies and Policy Analysis, Lessons 1–8
- Section 2: Applying the Concepts and Tools of Policy Analysis, Lessons 9–12
- Course begins on
- Course ends on
- Course length: 16 weeks
The due dates for assignments are noted in the Course Schedule section of this syllabus (below). Deadlines will be defined as 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the last day of the lesson time frame, unless otherwise stated.
Section 1: Concepts of Public Policy Studies and Policy Analysis
Getting Started and Lesson 1: Course Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
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Time frame:
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Required readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Preface
- What's Ahead
- Chapter 1: Introducing the Policy Process
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| Recommended readings:
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Activities:
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- Participate in the Course Map activity.
- Submit the Academic Integrity Form.
- Post a short self-introduction.
- Participate in the Lesson 1 discussion. Submit your discussion post and comment on at least two other students' posts.
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Lesson 2: System, History, and Structure of Policy-Making in the United States
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 2: Elements of the Policy-Making System
- Chapter 3: The Historical and Structural Contexts of Public Policy-Making
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 1.
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Lesson 3: An Economic Rationale for Public Policy: Market and Government Failures
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Weeden, K. A., & Grusky, D. B. (2014). Inequality and market failure. American Behavioral Scientist, 58(3), 473–491.
- Tirole, J. (2015). Market failures and public policy. The American Economic Review, 105(6), 1665–1682.
- Furton, G., & Martin, A. (2019). Beyond market failure and government failure. Public Choice, 178(1–2), 197–216.
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Activities:
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- Participate in the Lesson 3 discussion. Submit your discussion post and comment on two other students' posts.
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Lesson 4: Official and Unofficial Actors in the Policy Process
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 4: Official Actors and Their Roles in Public Policy (pp. 113–126 and 132–151)
- Chapter 5: Unofficial Actors and Their Roles in Public Policy (pp. 162–196)
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| Recommended readings:
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- Gershon, L. (2016). When did the media become a "watchdog"? JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/when-did-the-media-become-a-watchdog/
- Seierstad, C., Warner-Søderholm, G., Torchia, M., & Huse, M. (2017). Increasing the number of women on boards: The role of actors and processes. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(2), 289–315.
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 2.
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Lesson 5: Decision-Making, Policy Analysis, and Theories of Public Policy
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 8: Decision-Making and Policy Analysis
- Chapter 11: Science and Theory in the Study of Public Policy
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| Recommended readings:
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Activities:
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- Participate in the Lesson 5 discussion. Submit your discussion post and comment on two other students' posts.
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Lesson 6: Problem Definition and Agenda-Setting
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 6: Agenda-Setting, Power, and Interest Groups
- on e-reserve
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| Recommended readings:
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- Conway, B. A., Kenski, K., & Wang, D. (2015). The rise of Twitter in the political campaign: Searching for intermedia agenda‐setting effects in the presidential primary. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 20, 363–380. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12124
- Ross, J. (2017, November 10). Old media still setting agenda. Australian, p. 4. https://link-gale-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/apps/doc/A513933601/GIC?u=psucic&sid=GIC&xid=5282e955
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 3.
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Lesson 7: Policy Types and Policy Tools
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 7: Policies and Policy Types (pp. 247–253 and 258–277)
- Chapter 9: Policy Design and Policy Tools (pp. 306–317 and 322–337)
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| Recommended readings:
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Activities:
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- Participate in the Lesson 7 discussion. Submit your discussion post and comment on two other students' posts.
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Lesson 8: Policy Implementation and Learning
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 10: Policy Implementation, Failure, and Learning
- Weimer, D. L., & Vining, A. R. (2017). Policy analysis: Concepts and practice (6th ed.). Routledge.
- Chapter 12: Implementation
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| Recommended readings:
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- Dollery, B. E., & Wallis, J. L. (1997). Market failure, government failure, leadership, and public policy. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 8(2), 113–126.
- Le Grand, J. (1991). The theory of government failure. British Journal of Political Science, 21(4), 423-442.
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 4.
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Section 2: Applying the Concepts and Tools of Policy Analysis
Lesson 9: Criteria-Alternative Matrix, Problem Definition, and Assembling Evidence
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Bardach & Patashnik, 2020
- Part I (Steps 1 and 2, pp. xv, 1–20)
- Part II (pp. 97–122)
- Part III (pp. 123–125)
- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 9: Policy Design and Policy Tools (pp. 308–322; reread)
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| Recommended readings:
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- Workman, S., Shafran, J., & Bark, T. (2017). Problem definition and information provision by federal bureaucrats. Cognitive Systems Research, 43, 140–152.
- Choo, A. S. (2014). Defining problems fast and slow: The U‐shaped effect of problem definition time on project duration. Production and Operations Management, 23(8), 1462–1479.
- Liu, X., Robinson, S., & Vedlitz, A. (2020). A micro-model of problem definition and policy choice: Issue image, issue association, and policy support of power plants. Policy Studies Journal, 48(1), 11–37.
- Archibald, T. (2019). What’s the problem represented to be? Problem definition critique as a tool for evaluative thinking. The American Journal of Evaluation, 41(1), 6–19.
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Activities:
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- Participate in the Lesson 9 discussion. Submit your discussion post and comment on two other students' posts.
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Lesson 10: Constructing Alternatives and Selecting Criteria
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Bardach & Patashnik, 2020
- Part I (Steps 3 and 4, pp. 21–48)
- Part III (pp. 126–131)
- Part IV (pp. 133–134)
- Appendix A (pp. 147–156)
- Birkland, 2020
- Chapter 7: Policies and Policy Types (pp. 258–273; reread)
- Chapter 9: Policy Design and Policy Tools (pp. 324–336; reread)
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| Recommended readings:
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 5.
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Group Presentation Submission Week
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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Activities:
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- Make the group presentation available to the class by Friday at 11:59 p.m. (ET).
- Complete feedback on the other groups' presentations by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. (ET).
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Lesson 11: Projecting Outcomes, Tradeoffs, and Deciding
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Bardach & Patashnik, 2020
- Part I (Steps 5 through 8, pp. 49–96)
- Part III (pp. 131–132)
- Part IV (pp. 134–146)
- Appendix A (pp. 147–156)
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Activities:
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- Submit the peer evaluation for group presentation by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. (ET).
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Lesson 12: Writing the Paper and the Context of Policy Analysis
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Time frame:
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Readings:
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- Bardach & Patashnik, 2020
- Appendices B through E (pp. 157–180)
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Activities:
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- Take Quiz 6.
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Final Paper
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Time frame:
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(two weeks)
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Readings:
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Activities:
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- Complete the final milestone of the policy analysis project.
- This course utilizes finals week. The final paper is due on Monday, at 6 p.m. (ET), the first day of finals week (though you may submit it earlier, of course).
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