The State of the Policy Field: Overview of Survey Results

Brian Shoup

Recently, the members of the Policy Section received an e-mail link to a web-based survey covering such issues as the demographic make-up of the policy field, approaches to teaching and research, and views on influential policy-related books and articles.[1]  The goal of this survey is to provide an  overview of teaching and research on issues of public policy by members of the discipline that view such an enterprise as a central part of their professional activities. 

Beginning with this issue of the newsletter and continuing through the next year we plan on reporting results of this survey.   This first report will provide basic demographic information concerning such issues as the types of institutions where members are employed, the types of degrees held by members, and the overall experience of section members in their current profession.  The next edition of the newsletter (Winter 2000-01) will focus on the attributes of departments most likely to be hiring faculty to engage in public policy research, and the types of teaching and research interests departments are looking for when they hire new policy-related faculty.  In the Spring 2001 newsletter we will examine the pedagogical approaches used in different departments and groups of faculty in the classroom.  Finally, the Summer 2001 issue will look at your  views on the most important books and articles in the policy field. 

As mentioned, this first report is devoted to a brief overview of the demographic makeup of the policy section.  From the initial sample of responses it is clear that the section is made up of a wide range of professionals in academia, government and the private sector.  Table 1 shows the breakdown of respondents according to places of employment.

 

Table 1.

Where the Membership is Employed

 

 

This table suggests that the majority of section members are employed in academia with most of these working at larger public universities and research schools.  A sizeable proportion of respondents teach at liberal arts schools and a small number work at two-year community schools.   The remaining respondents tend to be employed in private research organizations, private firms or government agencies.

With a large body of respondents working in academic settings it is not surprising that the overwhelming majority of section members appear to have attained the Ph.D. in their field of study (see Table 2).  Of the first sample, over 80% of respondents report the Ph.D. as the highest degree attained. Cross-tabulating this response category with work environment suggests that most of these respondents are employed in academia with a small number employed in private research organizations. 

Table 2.

Highest Degree Attained

 

 

Another interesting demographic feature suggested by the survey responses concerns the apparent experience levels of section members.  Respondents were asked what year they achieved their highest degree.  Responses ranged from 1966 to 2000 with a median value of 1989.  The mean year value (1987) was only slightly lower than the median year value, suggesting that the number of years since degree attainment is by and large relatively short.

We didn’t ask questions about other work experiences, but it is possible that a substantial number of people that choose to concentrate in policy-related fields have spent a portion of their working years working in government or applied settings.  It is also possible that policy-related faculty are more likely to cycle in and out of academia and applied settings than are faculty that specialize in more traditional subfields of political science.  These issues would be worth exploring in a subsequent survey, particularly given the attention in recent years to the decline in tenure track jobs in American universities.

Respondents were asked about the number of individuals in their departments or units who would consider themselves as part of the policy field.  In smaller liberal arts departments or small firms it would be expected that a small number of individuals would focus on policy.  In contrast, section members employed in government agencies, large research universities or policy schools, and large research organizations would be expected to have several co-workers who study or teach in the policy area.  Generally, these expectations were corroborated by the data.  Responses ranged from zero (indicating that the respondent was the only person in her department/unit to focus on policy issues) to 40.  The mean number of individuals in respondents’ departments who consider themselves part of the policy field is between 4 and 5. 

Finally, respondents were asked to characterize the size of the city or town where they were employed.  Table 3 demonstrates that most respondents work in metropolitan areas in excess of 500,000 people.  In addition, a large plurality of these members work in cities of 1,000,000 or more residents.  Not surprisingly, those respondents who work for government agencies and private research organizations are more likely to work in larger metropolitan areas than respondents who work in academia, especially 4-year liberal arts schools.

Table 3.

Where Section Members Are Employed

 

In subsequent editions of the newsletter, we will report on more of the topics covered in the survey.  The baseline information reported here will be used to explore some of the attributes of departments most likely to be hiring new policy-related faculty, and the teaching and research areas that members indicate they are looking for when their departments or programs are recruiting new new policy-related faculty.