Cross-Agency Learning Community on Federal Investments in Research and Evaluation

The first product, From Data to Evidence to Policy: Recommendations for the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, presents themes and recommendations for the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. The second product, The Power of Nuance, will caution against the oversimplification of research findings reported to policymakers, and instead will call for greater emphasis on: balancing multiple research goals; asking nuanced questions; promoting study designs that provide complex answers about what works, for whom, under what conditions, and why; and communicating findings in a meaningful way. The final product, A Federal Infrastructure of Evidence, will present a case for a robust federal infrastructure for the production and use of research evidence to guide policy decisions. This paper will identify the challenges of using evidence in federal policymaking, call for strategies to overcome these challenges, and present recommendations on the key components of this infrastructure.