Evidence-based policy making in education

In the current climate of “accountability” and “transparency” as demanded by the public, policy makers justify their actions by drawing on research findings and data collected by various means. There appears to be a belief that quantitative data provide more credible evidence than qualitative data. Hence the use of data has become pivotal in decision-making. More recently, education policy documents drawing on international student survey results have appeared around the world. This paper evaluates some of the evidences used by policy makers and shows that there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the data underlying these research findings. More importantly, the paper demonstrates that statistics alone cannot provide hard evidence. In fact, we need to draw on our own experience and a great deal of sense-making in interpreting data and drawing conclusions