MPA Public Policy Analysis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'incrementalism' as a model of public policy decision-making?
- The process of rapidly overhauling entire policy systems
- A theory that policy-making involves small, marginal changes from the existing policy baseline rather than comprehensive reform (Correct answer)
- A method of ranking policy alternatives by their marginal cost
- Gradual training of new public administrators
Correct answer: A theory that policy-making involves small, marginal changes from the existing policy baseline rather than comprehensive reform
Incrementalism, associated with Charles Lindblom's 'muddling through,' holds that most policy decisions involve only modest, incremental departures from prior policy because of cognitive limits and political constraints.
Question 2: In the context of public policy, what is a 'wicked problem'?
- A policy problem caused by corrupt politicians
- A complex, ill-defined problem with no clear solution, where interventions often create new problems (Correct answer)
- A criminal justice issue requiring legislative action
- A budgetary crisis caused by deficit spending
Correct answer: A complex, ill-defined problem with no clear solution, where interventions often create new problems
Wicked problems (term coined by Rittel and Webber) are social or policy problems that are difficult to define, have no definitive solution, and are unique and interconnected with other problems.
Question 3: Which type of policy evaluation assesses whether a program is being implemented as designed?
- Summative evaluation
- Impact evaluation
- Process (formative) evaluation (Correct answer)
- Needs assessment
Correct answer: Process (formative) evaluation
Process evaluation (also called formative or implementation evaluation) examines whether a program is operating as intended, assessing fidelity to the program design.
Question 4: What is the 'logic model' tool used for in program evaluation?
- Performing statistical analysis of program outcomes
- Visually mapping the relationships between program inputs, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes (Correct answer)
- Auditing financial transactions in a government agency
- Scheduling legislative hearings for program review
Correct answer: Visually mapping the relationships between program inputs, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes
A logic model is a visual representation showing how a program's resources and activities are expected to lead to specific outputs and desired outcomes.
Question 5: The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) of 1946 in the United States primarily governs:
- Civil service hiring and promotion
- The process federal agencies must follow when creating, amending, or repealing regulations (Correct answer)
- Congressional oversight of federal agencies
- The federal budget formulation process
Correct answer: The process federal agencies must follow when creating, amending, or repealing regulations
The APA establishes the procedures federal agencies must follow in rulemaking (notice-and-comment) and adjudication, ensuring public participation and procedural fairness.
Question 6: What does a 'randomized controlled trial' (RCT) offer in policy evaluation that other methods typically cannot?
- Lower cost of data collection
- The strongest causal evidence that a program caused observed outcomes by randomly assigning participants to treatment and control groups (Correct answer)
- Broader generalizability across all policy contexts
- Faster turnaround of evaluation findings
Correct answer: The strongest causal evidence that a program caused observed outcomes by randomly assigning participants to treatment and control groups
RCTs randomly assign individuals to receive or not receive an intervention, creating comparable groups and allowing the strongest causal inference about program effects.
MPA Public Policy Analysis 2
What is 'incrementalism' as a model of public policy decision-making?