Scientific research plays an increasingly important role in policy making and decision making. Modern society presents many challenges that cannot be easily or satisfactorily resolved by the use of common sense, experience, principles of thought, or basic analytical methods. Whether it’s big issues like climate change, renewable energy, natural disasters, pandemics or social issues in general, policymakers want to be provided with information and evidence. for their decisions through the results of scientific research. In particular, for a developing country like Vietnam, the need for connection between scientific research and policy becomes even more necessary. Therefore, the government needs scientific evidence on a wide scale from long-term policy development to emergency crisis handling and management. The WHO believes that if scientific arguments are used more effectively in policy making, they can help improve lives through feasible, effective policies that are consistent with current developments. Ministry of science and technology, and can help exploit and use resources and human resources effectively, satisfying people’s needs more.
1. Overview of scientific research and public policy planning
In essence, scientific research is a process of perceiving objective reality and reflecting the facts and laws of that objective reality. Scientific research is a specific intellectual activity that uses certain research methods to find, examine, investigate or test things that were previously unknown and unexplained by science. That is, scientific research is the research process to create new products in the form of new knowledge, with new values of perception and methods. In other words, scientific research is the discovery of new phenomena and facts with truth or the discovery of new more valuable laws and principles to perceive and improve the world. However, saying that does not mean that scientific research always has to aim at big, difficult and complex problems, but scientific research can come from very simple and ordinary problems but towards proposals. , new creations to discover the truth. Scientific research is also considered as a special type of activity, completely different from other activities in social life in that, scientific research aims to find unknown things or to further clarify the problem they are trying to find out. Previously, studies have not mentioned.
Scientific research has three basic characteristics: objectivity and accuracy; mobility and development; depth.
– Objectivity and accuracy in scientific research are reflected in loyalty to objective reality when discovering new things. That requirement requires us to first choose topics that highlight practical issues raised from practice or theory. Objective and accurate requirements also require the selection of appropriate research methods, measures, tools and techniques to properly and fully record events, phenomena and documents. Because objective reality inherently has countless connections and relationships, it requires us to have a comprehensive perspective when collecting documents as well as when screening, analyzing, interpreting documents, and drawing final conclusions. together.
– Movement and development are reflected in the full discovery of the process, transformation and development of the researched object. During the process of movement and development, things and phenomena reveal their characteristics and laws more clearly. This viewpoint also needs to be thoroughly grasped when choosing research topics, research objects, when analyzing and processing documents as well as when presenting research results.
– Profoundness represents the effort to find the nature of events, to find the laws that govern those events, not stopping at surveying the surface of the event. Therefore, a scientific research project, even if it only requires the level of detecting a situation, needs to use methods, measures, techniques, concepts, and scientific categories to describe and record phenomena, to measure, evaluate and analyze events at the highest level of completeness and accuracy. Insight often requires us to narrow the scope of the subject and focus on multi-faceted analysis.
Policy planning is building new policies based on management requirements, including new goals and measures. Policymaking is carried out according to procedures prescribed by each country. The policy planning process is a set of steps that need to be followed in a specified order when designing a policy. At the same time, policy makers point out the order of tasks that must be performed and the subjects performing each stage when conducting policy planning. While the policy-making cycles of countries are generally quite similar, the policy-making processes are different. Policy planning has an important position in the policy cycle and is the starting point in the policy process. Whether the issued policy meets the requirements and standards of a good policy or not all starts from the policy planning stage. In this article, the concept of policy planning is understood and analyzed as the concept of public policy planning.
Public policy in Vietnam is often institutionalized in legal documents and according to the order prescribed by the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents. And to understand public policymaking, we must place it within the public policy cycle. There are many ways to divide the public policy cycle, however, this article mainly refers to dividing the public policy cycle into 3 stages: policy planning, policy implementation and policy evaluation.
Public policy cycle diagram
In the public policy cycle, policy planning is the first step. This is the stage that includes the entire process of researching, developing and fully promulgating a policy to solve a public problem. The process of this stage includes setting the agenda or policy development program; develop draft policies and make policy decisions.
Specifically, establishing a public policy program includes developing policy proposals (identifying problems, policy objectives, solutions to solve problems, assessing the impact of solutions, analyzing costs and benefits of solutions and policy options); Verify policy proposals; consider passing the agenda.
Developing a draft public policy is the process of expressing policy content in writing before submitting it to competent authorities for approval.
Public policy decision is the process in which the state agency with the authority to decide public policy will discuss, review and approve the draft policy.
2. The role of scientific research in public policy planning
From the theoretical basis of scientific research and the policy-making process, the basic role of scientific research in public policy planning can be determined as follows:
Firstly, scientific research helps to uncover policy issues and propose new policy guidelines. From the requirements of objective practice, faced with many problems arising in social life, scientific research helps policy makers identify and select problems to solve through policies. Careful research and analysis of the problem will help determine the cause of the problem, its severity and consequences for the community and society; and determine if such an impact on society should be on the agenda. From there, the policy-making agency correctly identifies the policy problem, which is the premise and basis for being able to propose appropriate policy options.
Second, scientific research helps collect, analyze and process information in the policy-making process. Information plays a particularly important role in the policy-making process. However, information only has real value when collected and processed to meet certain scientific requirements. The problems that public policy aims to solve are problems that exist and move according to objective laws.Therefore, collecting information about public policy needs to ensure objectivity and accurately reflect problems occurring in reality. To ensure this requirement, scientific research with specific methods such as qualitative research (observations, interviews), quantitative research (opinion polls, surveys),… will help policymakers predict the scale of proposed policy impacts as well as measure the actual impacts of current policy implementation; present evidence for or against proposed policy options or current policies.Thus, through the process of collecting, analyzing and processing information, policymakers will grasp the nature of the policy problem, thereby identifying the problem fully, objectively, and effectively. Accurate, timely, and has specific evidence, thereby helping the policy-making process be accurate and consistent with practical social requirements.
Third, scientific research helps policymakers come up with solutions to solve problems. The purpose of public policy making is to issue a public policy that can solve public problems thoroughly and in the best way. That purpose can only be achieved through identifying solutions and analyzing solutions. Identifying solutions provides policymakers with all possible options for solving the policy problem. Solution analysis helps to predict the positive or negative effects of a policy option when it is put into practice in real life. In order to obtain this analysis result, policy makers need to apply specific methods in scientific research such as comparative method, document analysis, experts… the most comprehensive solutions.
Fourth, scientific research in policy making helps promote democracy, thereby, orienting and designing policy actions to achieve the goal of solving policy problems. One of the important purposes of scientific research in policy making is to influence the policy decision-making process. Therefore, policy experts need to support leaders and managers to transparently and responsibly perform the work that people expect of them. Their job is to convince them which problems need to be solved, which solutions to choose, and which public interests the proposed policy is intended to serve.
Fifth, scientific research helps policymakers to objectively assess policy impacts. In order to develop a good policy, policy makers also need to analyze and forecast the positive and negative impacts of each policy option on the subjects affected by the policy, and at the same time forecast the impact of each policy alternative. report and compare benefits and costs of policy alternatives to provide a basis for selecting the optimal policy option. In fact, to assess the impact of public policy, analysts can use quantitative or qualitative assessment methods, or a combination of both. However, the use of a particular group of methods or methods depends on many factors such as: objectives, scope of impact of policies; nature of information obtained; the ability to collect data, etc. for evaluation.
3. Some solutions to enhance the role of scientific research in public policy planning in Vietnam today
To better promote the role of scientific research in public policy making in our country today, the author mentions two groups of solutions aimed at two main groups of subjects participating in the scientific research process, which are: 1) The organize research and policy consulting in the field of public policy; 2) Scientific researcher in the field of public policy.
Solution group for research and policy consulting organizations in the field of public policy
Firstly, continue to innovate and perfect the institution to create an environment for the development of various types of research and policy consulting organizations. It is necessary to continue to renovate mechanisms and policies to develop different types of policy research and consulting organizations in the field of public policy, including civil research organizations operating not on the state budget. water. Currently, the implementation of the function of social criticism of the Fatherland Front and mass organizations are placing many requirements on the building and strengthening of the system of policy research organizations of the Fatherland Front. and unions in our country.
Second, well implement democratization and scientificization of the public policy making process. The purchase of consulting, assessment and policy criticism services needs to be more public and transparent, creating conditions for all types of policy research organizations to have the opportunity to participate.
Third, diversify forms of interaction between policy-making agencies and policy research organizations. In addition to indirect interaction and exchange, policy-making agencies can organize a number of hearing conferences; consultations, scientific seminars, conferences… with the participation of experts, scientists in different fields as well as the participation of policy research organizations.Fourth, policy research organizations need to attach special importance to building and fostering their capacity. The practice of research and policy development in many countries in the region and the world shows that a policy research organization needs to pay attention to 7 basic elements, which are: ideology, problems, responsibilities, strategy, talent, network and strengths in the field of operations. These seven basic factors are closely related and have an interaction with each other.
Solution group for scientific researchers in the field of public policy
In order for scientific research to meet the development requirements of society in the trend of globalization and international integration, scientific researchers must be the core force in researching and applying research results in all fields, including public policy planning. To do so, there needs to be specific solutions in the current period as follows:
Firstly, perfect specific policies to attract and gather many talents, experts, and good scientists at home and abroad to participate in policy research organizations. Current reality shows that many highly qualified and well-trained young officials do not want to participate in scientific research. The main reason is due to low income and limited research conditions of research institutes compared to units in the fields of production, business and services, especially much lower than that of research institutes. in the region and the world. Therefore, the State needs to have a reasonable salary and remuneration policy to exploit and utilize this source of young brainpower. In addition, research institutes also need to continue to improve the system of remuneration policies for social science staff, creating material and spiritual motivation in the direction of reasonable remuneration for each subject. especially for qualified staff, arouse and build passion and interest in scientific research in each staff.
Second, improve the quality of human resource training for scientific research in the field of public policy. In our country today, the majority of people doing scientific research are well-trained and have undergone practical training. However, the practical need to promote the creative capacity of scientific research human resources in the field of public policy is increasingly high. Human resources for scientific research in the field of public policy need to have good moral qualities, sharp scientific thinking, dynamism, passion for scientific research, update advanced research methods, and have knowledge and experience. rich and abundant practice. To have those qualities, it requires human resources to be continuously trained and retrained in a regular, elaborate and regular manner during the working process. Therefore, it is necessary to well implement plans to develop and train human resources for the field of public policy at each stage of development; At the same time, organize training programs for scientific research human resources in the field of public policy in a synchronous manner on a wide scale associated with specific goals.
Third, implementation of a treatment policy for those who are trained. Reasonable remuneration policy will ensure scientific research human resources in the field of public policy with peace of mind in their work and dedication. To achieve this goal, the State needs to implement a policy of granting full and partial scholarships to those who have learning and scientific research needs to encourage scientists to constantly study to improve their professional qualifications. , work skills and international integration. At the same time, the State should also provide financial support for scientists to participate in courses, forums, seminars, etc., and have adequate treatment policies in terms of material and spiritual in order to timely motivate the scientists. people with scientific research capacity.
