Schwenkenbecher, Anne and Mitova, Veli and Metzen, Hanna and Slanickova, Helena and Bortolus, Alejandro and Chukwu, Emelda E. and Heesen, Remco and Hewitt, Chad L. and Kaufer, Ricardo and Rubin, Hannah and Schneider, Mike D. and Schwindt, Evangelina and Sogbanmu, Temitope O. and Woolaston, Katie and Yu, Li-an (2026) Why We Cannot Separate Evidence From Values in Public Policy. Politics & Policy, 54 (2). e70109. ISSN 1747-1346
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Abstract
Whether or not any particular policy is adequate by EBP's own standard—being evidence-based—cannot be decided without appeal to value-based considerations. We support this claim in two steps. First, we argue that which evidence gets used in policy-making depends on our value commitments, which are rarely made explicit, let alone being the subject of critical and transparent reflection. In other words, value commitments are not just important at the point of spelling out specific policy details and choosing between policy options but they are absolutely essential right from the very beginning of the policy-making process: all the way from deciding which problem should be addressed by policy or regulation to determining which evidence to use and where to look for it. Second, in order to determine when we have enough evidence, we need to take into account relevant value-based considerations.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Keywords: | ethics in policy-making, evidence selection, evidence-based policy, inductive risk, value-dependence of evidence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Depositing User: | Remco Heesen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 10 Mar 2026 12:40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 10 Mar 2026 12:40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Item ID: | 28526 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Politics & Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official URL: | https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.70109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1111/polp.70109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Date: | 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Page Range: | e70109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Volume: | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ISSN: | 1747-1346 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/28526 |
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