Collaborative Research: Database Development For The Study Of Public Policy

这一合作基础设施项目继续开发一个全面的数据库，用于分析美国的公共政策进程，并建立一个真正互动的应用系统，将该数据库提供给公共政策学者、学生和政策分析员。现有的数据库以立法活动为中心；目前的项目将工作扩展到总统、行政部门、法院和利益集团活动。该数据库通过构建成随时间保持一致的政策内容代码系统来链接几个独立的数据集。这种方法避免了依赖收集的数据用于政策监测以外的目的的陷阱。除了案例的政策内容之外，还收集了许多其他变量，增加了这些数据集的丰富性和灵活性。目前系统中的数据包括国会听证会(1946-1994)、公法(1946-1994)、国会季报(1946-1994)、所有颁布的法规(1946-1994)、《纽约时报》(1947-1994)的故事样本(1947-1994)和国会预算管理局(1947-1997)。研究人员添加了在国会提出的法案(目前正在整合中)、立法机构活动、行政命令和总统活动的其他措施、协会百科全书中列出的利益集团活动，以及最高法院的裁决。调查人员承诺探索有助于美国公共政策量化监测的其他潜在来源。由此产生的系统作为一种研究工具是独一无二的，因为它的全面性，以及它允许研究人员以迄今为止不可能的方式分析政策过程的能力。这些方面继续提高社会科学家研究政策动态并将这些动态与民主治理进程-代表、公共决策、政治沟通和民主机构运作--联系起来的能力。

This collaborative infrastructure project continues the development of a comprehensive database for the analysis of public policy processes in the United States, and establishes a truly interactive application system for the delivery of that database to public policy scholars, students, and policy analysts. The existing database is centered on lawmaking activity; the current project extends the work to the presidency, the executive branch, the courts, and interest group activity. The database links several independent data sets via a system of policy content codes that are constructed to be consistent across time. The approach avoids the pitfalls of relying on data collected for purposes other than policy monitoring. Numerous other variables are collected in addition to the policy content of the cases, adding to the richness and flexibility of these data sets.Data currently in the system include Congressional hearings (1946-1994), Public Laws (1946-1994), Congressional Quarterly entries (1946-1994(, all statutes enacted (1946-1994), a sample of stories in the New York Times (1947-1994), and Congressional Budget Authority (1947-1997). The researchers add bills introduced in Congress (currently being integrated), legislative floor activity, executive orders and other measures of presidential activity, interest group activity tabulated in the Encyclopedia of Associations, and Supreme Court decisions. The investigators promise to explore other potential sources that contribute to the quantitative monitoring of public policy in the United States.The resulting system is unique as a research tool because of its comprehensiveness and because of its capacity to allow researchers to analyze policy processes in ways that heretofore have not been possible. These facets continue to improve the ability of social scientists to study policy dynamics and link those dynamics to the process of democratic governance---representation, public decision-making, political communication, and the operation of democratic institutions.