Evidence based policy: don't be timid

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7322.1187

BMJ 2001;323:1187 ( 17 November )

Letters

Evidence based policy: don't be timid

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Black's discussion of the problems of evidence based policy seems to conclude that it is all very difficult.¹ Withoutwanting to appear too gung-ho about the prospects for gettinghealth managers and policymakers to use research more productively,I think that such timidity is not the best way forward. Researchersshould be asserting the value $---$ to policymakers and society $---$ of theevidence they produce. They are already engaging with policymakersand other stakeholders to build the kind of "policy community"that Black concludes isneeded.

Firstly, few people would argue with the principle that health policy should be evidence based $---$ it should make full and properuse of research findings and research methods in policy development,implementation, and evaluation. But it is misleading to impute,as Black seems to, that this would mean that every policy decisionshould be based on research evidence and that other values or. . . [Full text of this article]

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Evidence based policy: proceed with care • Commentary: research must be taken seriously: Nick Black and Anna Donald
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