This study applied quantitative research methods by employing a descriptive research design to collect data from Members of the House of the 111th Tennessee General Assembly regarding their use and perceived importance of information sources to detect the existence of potential controversy or areas of disagreement within the member's environment…

The purpose of this descriptive, single case study was to provide knowledge and insight about state education policy-making, specifically, the process by which education-related bills pass through a legislature. This study was also designed to identify factors of influence shaping legislative decision-making as perceived by lawmakers and observers…

The nine articles of this theme issue provide overviews of legislative program evaluation and demonstrate the tensions caused by the conflict between utility and rigor in such evaluations. Legislative evaluation is concerned with evaluation utilization because legislators commission evaluations they expect to use. (SLD)

This guide helps people understand where and how decisions on nuclear warfare are made in the United States government. The guide is organized into five main sections. "The Nature of the American Political System" covers the development of a republican form of democracy governed by checks and balances and designed so that power is shared…

In this paper, social science utilization is studied as an aspect of legislative decision making. The purposes of the paper are to provide a review of political science literature on state legislatures, offer a theoretical framework for interpreting utilization of social science research, apply the framework to interview data, and generate a…

This monograph and its companion volume, "Shaping Education Policy in the States," portray the contemporary role of state legislators and map the structure of educational leadership in terms of both the characteristics of influential legislators and staff and the nature of influence structures in state legislatures. An outgrowth of the "State…

This monograph and its companion, "Legislative Education Leadership in the States," portray the contemporary role of state legislators and map the structure of education leadership in terms of both the characteristics of influential legislators and staff and the nature of influence structures in state legislatures. This volume reports…

In order to formulate social policy which is responsive to needs of women and other minority groups, decision makers must be better informed about alternative options, incentives, and unintended as well as intended consequences of various policies. Social scientists can contribute to decision makers' understandings of social factors in numerous…