Collaborative Research: Database Development For The Study Of Public Policy

这个协作基础设施项目继续开发一个综合数据库，用于分析美国的公共政策过程，并建立一个真正的交互式应用系统，将该数据库提供给公共政策学者、学生和政策分析师。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。数据库通过策略内容代码系统链接几个独立的数据集，这些代码被构造成跨时间保持一致。这种方法避免了依赖为策略监视以外的目的收集的数据的缺陷。除了案例的策略内容之外，还收集了许多其他变量，从而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年）、公法（1946-1994年）、国会季刊条目（1946-1994年）、所有颁布的法规（1946-1994年）、《纽约时报》的故事样本（1947-1994年）和国会预算局（1947-1997年）。研究人员将国会提出的法案（目前正在整合中）、立法院活动、行政命令和其他总统活动措施、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纳入其中。调查人员承诺将探索有助于美国公共政策定量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，因为它具有全面性，也因为它能够使研究人员以迄今不可能的方式分析政策过程。这些方面继续提高社会科学家研究政策动态的能力，并将这些动态与民主治理过程联系起来——代表、公共决策、政治沟通和民主机构的运作。

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.