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综合数据库，用于分析美国的公共政策进程，并建立一个真正的互动应用系统，将该数据库提供给公共政策学者、学生和政策分析人员。 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、行政分支、法院和利益集团活动。 该数据库通过一个政策内容代码系统链接多个独立的数据集，这些代码的构造在不同时间保持一致。 这种方法避免了依赖为政策监测以外的目的收集的数据的陷阱。 除了案件的政策内容之外，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。（1946 - 1994），公法（1946 - 1994），国会季刊条目（1946 - 1994年），所有制定的法规（1946 - 1994年），纽约时报的故事样本（1947 - 1994年），以及国会预算局（1947 - 1997年）。 研究人员添加了国会提出的法案（目前正在整合），立法活动，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决定。 研究人员承诺将探索有助于对美国公共政策进行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，因为它的全面性，因为它能够让研究人员以迄今为止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-代表制、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.