Developing a goal-oriented SDI assessment approach using GIDEON - the Dutch SDI implementation strategy - as a case study

In 2008, the Dutch government approved the GIDEON document as a policy aiming at the implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) in the Netherlands. The execution of GIDEON should take place by pursuing seven implementation strategies which lead to the achievement of the GIDEON goals. GIDEON also expresses the need to monitor the progress of implementing its strategies and realization of its goals. Currently, the work has been started on monitoring the GIDEON implementation strategies. However, there is still a lack of knowledge and methods to monitor GIDEON goals realization. The challenge is to come up with an approach to assess to what extent these goals are achieved. As a response to the challenge of assessing the GIDEON goals, this paper explores the possibility of using the Multi-view SDI assessment framework (Grus et al., 2007). This paper presents and discusses the method that applies the Multi-view SDI assessment framework, its indicators and measurement methods to create a GIDEON assessment approach. The method of creating a GIDEON assessment approach consists of several procedural steps: formulating specific GIDEON objectives, organizing a one-day workshop involving focus group of specific stakeholders responsible for creation and execution of NSDI, asking the workshop participants to select from a long list those indicators that best measure the achievement of each GIDEON goals. The key step of GIDEON approach is a one-day workshop. The workshop participants represented all organizations that cooperated and/or created GIDEON. The workshop consisted of two parts: first part explained the context of a challenge of assessing GIDEON, second part included participants activity to select and come to the consensus on the list of indicators that would best measure GIDEON goals realization. Additionally, the participants were asked to evaluate and express feedback on the usefulness of the method of creating GIDEON assessment approach. The results show that several indicators that relate to specific SDI goals could be selected by a significant number of workshop participants. The indicators that have been selected are not the final ones yet, but provide a guideline and form a base of what has to be measured when assessing GIDEON goals. Involving the representatives of all parties committed to GIDEON into the process of GIDEON assessment approach creation will strengthen its robustness and acceptance. The results of the feedback form filled by each participant show that the presented method is useful or very useful to create GIDEON assessment approach. Additionally, some of the participants provided already their own indicators which are very specific for Dutch SDI monitoring.The method presented in this research, assuming that SDI goals are defined and the organizations that participate in SDI creation are known, can be applied in any other country to develop country-specific and practical SDI assessment approach

The links between economic policy and research : three examples from Ghana and some general thoughts

The author gives examples of research recently published in professional journals that directly helped, or could help, in formulating policy advice (and perhaps even policymaking). An article by Younger (1992) was helpful in analyzing a problem in Ghana, where aid flows to government crowded out the private sector (especially private investment), which competed for scarce domestic resources. Younger suggested that tighter fiscal policy combined with looser monetary policy would promote more investment. Younger's analysis helped frame thinking in an area where muddleheadedness is common, and provided the author with analytical ammunition when he supported budgetary restraint. In another example, research based on the Ghana Living Standards Survey helped identify the poverty consequences of alternative revenue instruments. The link between economic policy and research can be made, says the author, but that does not mean it will be made. Usually such a link relies on the change placing of a researcher in the policymaking and advising trenches. One problem is that policymakers face highly specific, timebound problems and are interested only in answers to particular questions. But what matters to researchers is the generality of results or the methodological innovations in analysis. Journals turn down papers that answer very specific policy questions. The appropriate dissemination of research results requires that researchers speak the language of policymakers. The author proposes the following. Professional researchers should do highly country-specific and policy-specific studies that use the best-practice methodological tools plus a detailed institutional knowledge of the country. There should be a continuous attempt at synthesizing the findings of professional research for the benefit of the policy community, as is done in the World Bank Research Observer."We need single-page or double-page flysheets summarizing research results,"says the author, particularly those that are country-specific and policy-specific. Research should be presented in short, pithy summaries that policymakers and their top advisors can understand, setting out the policy question addressed and the answer provided (the latter are not so common, especially for Africa)."A basic rule of thumb I have developed is that anything longer than two pages is unlikely to be read by the most senior policymakers, the limit for the next most senior is four pages, then eight pages, and 16 pages. If it is longer than 16 pages, do not bother to send it to the policy fraternity (unless it is prefaced by a two-page summary)."Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Poverty Assessment

The Challenge of Building Proper Urban Indicator System: A Proposal for Croatian Cities

In this paper, urban indicator system is investigated in the context of urban policy processes. Indicators are seen as a tool to enhance urban management and special attention is given to their role in providing assistance in monitoring municipal development and performance. The paper will present desirable features of useful indicators from the city perspective, as well as framework to include these indicators in urban policy and management successfully. Formulation of proper indicator system requires a good understanding of the utilization, diffusion and dissemination of information in policy processes, so the paper will consider basic constraints related to these preconditions such as existing knowledge gaps within the indicator developer community vs. their theoretical limitations, communication concerns, human and technical capacities, policy issues etc. This paper will also elaborate modest Croatian experience in developing urban indicator system and lessons learned will be used as guidelines in making illustrative proposal for Croatian cities. In addition, this paper will try to define particular environmental, economic and governance variables/indices that should be adopted as urban indicators, taking in account Croatian specificities. We conclude this paper by addressing future challenges related to integration of urban indicator system within urban policy in Croatia.

The interpretive approach as a research tool : inside the REDCo project

This contribution shows how the author’s interpretive approach to religious education was used as a theoretical and pedagogical stimulus and an empirical research tool by researchers in the European Commission Framework 6 REDCo (Religion, Education, Dialogue, Conflict) Project. The origins and development of the interpretive approach, from its roots in the ethnographic study of children from religious backgrounds, are summarised, and an account is given about how its key concepts were used to frame a checklist of questions for REDCo researchers dealing with both empirical research methodology and pedagogy. Examples and case studies are presented illustrating how the approach was used by REDCo researchers as a methodological tool for empirical research, a pedagogical tool or stimulus to pedagogical clarification and a tool for meta-analysis and theory development

Preparing Secondary Mathematics Teachers: Focus on Modeling in Algebra

This study addressed the opportunities to learn (OTL) modeling in algebra provided to secondary mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs). To investigate these OTL, we interviewed five instructors of required mathematics and mathematics education courses that had the potential to include opportunities for PSTs to learn algebra at three universities. We also interviewed a group of three to four PSTs at each of the universities. We coded the interview transcripts using an analytic framework developed based on related literature and policy documents. We report the similarities and differences in perspectives among instructors and PSTs related to modeling at each university, along with comparisons of OTL across universities

The role of institutions in local contexts

Includes bibliographyThis article looks at some methodological issues that confront development research when local institutions are studied.It considers ways of formulating working concepts that are useful for obtaining information on institutions and their dynamic processes in relation to the economic activities of rural households.It presents and evaluates some quantitative and qualitative methods on the basis of case studies in Mexico and India,and considers the scope and limitations of these.The conclusion is that a flexible, multidisciplinary conceptual and methodological framework is needed to understand the dynamics of institutional processes,from established rules and norms to people's organizing practices.It is stressed that policy-oriented research has to focus on specific objectives,such as institutional arrangements capable of supporting the poorest groups,and ways in which these groups can mobilize to transform institutions

“An ethnographic seduction”: how qualitative research and Agent-based models can benefit each other

We provide a general analytical framework for empirically informed agent-based simulations. This methodology provides present-day agent-based models with a sound and proper insight as to the behavior of social agents — an insight that statistical data often fall short of providing at least at a micro level and for hidden and sensitive populations. In the other direction, simulations can provide qualitative researchers in sociology, anthropology and other fields with valuable tools for: (a) testing the consistency and pushing the boundaries, of specific theoretical frameworks; (b) replicating and generalizing results; (c) providing a platform for cross-disciplinary validation of results

Use of evidence to support healthy public policy: a policy effectiveness-feasibility loop

Public policy plays a key role in improving population health and in the control of diseases, including non-communicable diseases. However, an evidence-based approach to formulating healthy public policy has been difficult to implement, partly on account of barriers that hinder integrated work between researchers and policy-makers. This paper describes a “policy effectiveness–feasibility loop” (PEFL) that brings together epidemiological modelling, local situation analysis and option appraisal to foster collaboration between researchers and policy-makers. Epidemiological modelling explores the determinants of trends in disease and the potential health benefits of modifying them. Situation analysis investigates the current conceptualization of policy, the level of policy awareness and commitment among key stakeholders, and what actually happens in practice, thereby helping to identify policy gaps. Option appraisal integrates epidemiological modelling and situation analysis to investigate the feasibility, costs and likely health benefits of various policy options. The authors illustrate how PEFL was used in a project to inform public policy for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in four parts of the eastern Mediterranean. They conclude that PEFL may offer a useful framework for researchers and policy-makers to successfully work together to generate evidence-based policy, and they encourage further evaluation of this approach