de Wee Guswin
Public Management and Leadership, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Found Sci. 2022;27(2):287-304. doi: 10.1007/s10699-021-09782-5. Epub 2021 Mar 20.
In comparative policy analysis (CPA), a generally accepted historic problem that transcends time is that of identifying common variables. Coupled with this problem is the unanswered challenge of collaboration and interdisciplinary research. Additionally, there is the problem of the rare use of text-as-data in CPA and the fact it is rarely applied, despite the potential demonstrated in other subfields. CPA is multi-disciplinary in nature, and this article explores and proposes a common variable candidate that is found in almost (if not) all policies, using the science of conceptual systems (SOCS) as a pathway to investigate the found in policy as a lynchpin in CPA. Furthermore, the article proposes a new text-as-data approach that is less expensive, which could lead to a more accessible method for collaborative and interdisciplinary policy development. We find that the SOCS is uniquely positioned to serve in an alliance fashion in the larger qualitative comparative analysis that supports CPA. Because policies around the world are failing to reach their goals successfully, this article is expected to open a new path of inquiry in CPA, which could be used to support interdisciplinary research for knowledge and knowledge policy analysis.
在比较政策分析（CPA）中，一个跨越时间的普遍公认的历史性问题是识别共同变量。与此问题相关的是合作与跨学科研究这一未得到解答的挑战。此外，在CPA中存在文本即数据使用极少的问题，以及尽管在其他子领域已展现出潜力，但它却很少被应用这一事实。CPA本质上是多学科的，本文利用概念系统科学（SOCS）作为一种途径来探究几乎（即便不是全部）所有政策中都存在的一个共同变量候选因素，将其作为CPA的关键要素。此外，本文提出了一种成本更低的新文本即数据方法，这可能会带来一种更便于合作与跨学科政策制定的方法。我们发现，SOCS在支持CPA的更大规模定性比较分析中，具有以联盟方式发挥作用的独特地位。由于世界各地的政策未能成功实现其目标，本文有望开启CPA领域的一条新的探究路径，可用于支持知识及知识政策分析的跨学科研究。
