The plausibility of policy : case studies from the social domain / Vasco Lub.

Includes bibliographical references.

The social domain has seen a growing debate on the effectiveness of public measures. The realization is taking shape that the legitimacy of social policies - such as the socialization of vulnerable groups, anti-radicalization programs, or regeneration projects in deprived neighborhoods - has to go beyond the intuition that they "should" work. But, unlike methods in spheres such as medicine and healthcare, social programs typically have no sharp demarcation in time, intensity, or target group, and are implemented in a rich context of unforeseen and unknown variables. This makes it difficult (if not impossible) to assess their impact with research methods that centralize a mono causal effect. In The Plausibility of Policy, author Vasco Lub presents alternative approaches to assessing the likelihood of social policy measures achieving their intended effects. One of his main lines of argument is to confront policy assumptions with existing scientific data. In doing so, he sheds light on how such measures can be assessed and to what degree claims about those intended effects can be substantiated.

Print version record.

Title Page; Preface; Contents; 1 Introduction; 1.1. Introduction; 1.2. What works in social policy?; 1.3. Presented case studies; 1.4. Overview of the book; 2 The paradoxical policies of the Social Support Act; 2.1. Introduction; 2.2. The Dutch Social Support Act and research questions; 2.3. State-promoted civic engagement and participation; 2.4. Methodology and data; 2.5. Results; 2.6. Conclusions; 2.7. Discussion; 3 Polarisation, radicalisation and social policy; 3.1. Introduction; 3.2. Conceptualisations and research questions; 3.3. Methodology; 3.4. Evaluating the theories of change.

3.5. Conclusions3.6. Discussion; 4. The softer side of urban regeneration; 4.1. Introduction; 4.2. Methodology; 4.3. Conceptualizations and research questions; 4.4. Results; 4.5. Conclusions; 4.6. Discussion; 5. Validity in qualitative evaluation; 5.1. Introduction; 5.2. Qualitative research and the question of validity; 5.3. Critique on validity standards in qualitative research; 5.4. A model for validity in qualitative evaluation; 5.5. Conclusions and discussion; 6. Studying policy from multiple order perspectives; 6.1. First order perspective; 6.2. Second order perspective.

6.3. Third order perspective6.4. Themes for future research; References; Summary; Samenvatting; CURRICULUM VITAE.

Includes Dutch summary.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide