Elements of Policy Analysis

This one-credit course supports students undertaking public policy analysis projects in the Policy Lab and in other policy-based courses. The course helps students gain facility with basic policy methods and approaches common to Policy Lab practicums. The core session of the course consists of six hours of classroom instruction on a (typically the Saturday at the end of the first week of classes). The morning session emphasizes thinking like a policy analyst (as distinguished from an advocate or lawyer), scoping policy problems, promoting and assessing evidence quality, and making valid (and avoiding invalid) inferences. Students apply learning in a team-based simulation exercise on a topical policy issue. The afternoon session introduces strategies for social change, including designing and evaluating programs that improve individual lives. The immersive exercise typically focuses on developing and evaluating a program to reduce childhood obesity. The course then offers a series of short workshops: (1) interviewing policy clients and other stakeholders (especially where ethnic and cultural differences may be salient), (2) policy research tools and strategies, (3) design thinking for law and policy, (4) systems thinking, (5) resources and methods for cultural competencies, and (6) policy writing. Students should attend at least three of the six workshops to receive credit for the course. With guidance from their faculty instructors, students may then draw on the skills developed in this introductory seminar to analyze a public policy problem, develop potential strategies to address it, weigh the pros and cons of strategy options, and produce a final product that may offer options or recommendations to a policy client, suggestions for implementing such recommendations, and techniques to assess the effectiveness of implementation. Note that the students who enroll in a Law and Policy Lab practicum for the first time are asked to participate in the full-day methods bootcamp whether or not they undertake Elements of Policy Analysis for course credit. Attention Non-Law Students: See Non-Law Student Add Request Form at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/non-law-students/ to enroll in this class. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation.