Studying the implementation of public programs

This report describes and critically assesses approaches that have been employed to study the implementation of public programs. Implementation is defined as the process by which new policies and/or practices are installed in organizations. The report was produced because of the increased interest among researchers and policy makers alike in the linkages between policy and outcome. The study of implementation has barely begun, and it was recognized that methodological issues of a particularly complex nature arise because of certain unique characteristics of the implementation processes: (1) they involve a series of decisions that occur over a long period of time, with no clear beginning or end points; (2) their outcomes have direct or indirect implications that are too complex for single-factor theories; (3) they involve a large number of participants; and (4) they involve situations that are rather unique in terms of agency context, historical moment in time, and other key elements. The approach employed in the report was to examine the methods that have been used in a number of exemplary studies of implementation. These studies are commonly cited in publications and informally in research circles. Descriptive material from each study was used to address three questions: (1) How is evidence collected in studies of implementation; (2) How is evidence analyzed; (3) What are the reasons for believing the conclusions from such studies. The report concludes with recomendations for the conduct of future studies of implementation