Evidence-Based Policy: Data’s Use in Supporting Public Policy Process
1700 Interdisciplinary Social Studies, 2(3), Dec 2022
updated once a week where to determine the PPKM level is based on data on the distribution
of COVID-19 cases. This has the implication that to be able to produce a good public policy
should be based on data and evidence.
The Center for Policy Analysts-State Administration Institutions (PUSAKA-LAN)
mentioned that one of the strategies for addressing the many problematic public policies is the
need to focus on how a policy can be applicable and impactful, and a policy needs to be
evidence-based. In Indonesia, this provision has actually been regulated in Act Number 12 of
2011 Article 43 paragraph (3) which reads "The Bill must be accompanied by an academic
manuscript". It implies that the initial stage of the policy-making process is an academic paper
which means policy must be based on scientific research first. Unfortunately, the tendency that
often occurs in government bureaucracies is that research and academic studies conducted by
policymaking teams tend not to be truly integrated into the policies issued. In fact, it is not
uncommon for studies and research not to be carried out systematically and integrated in the
decision/policy making cycle at the Institute (Cartwright & Hardie, 2012).
The use of evidence-based research Evidence Based Policy (EBP) is one of the alternatives
that can be used in the process of formulating a policy. As a developing country, Indonesia is
expected to follow developed countries that have used the concept of EBP or evidence-based
policies.
The PEW Charitable Trust and the MacArthur Foundation (2014) define EBP as a policy
that uses the best available research and information regarding program outcomes to guide
decisions at all stages of the policy process and at every level in the governance structure. More
simply the LAN defines EBP as a policy taken based on data and facts.
Kwelju (2019) discovered that public policy does not significantly affect tourism
improvement in Ambon and that more efforts are needed in implementing it. On another
occasion, Agindawati (2019) stated that the implementation of public policy should follow its
initial planning. The two research show that more efforts need to be included in supporting
public policy. Furthermore, Aditya et al. (2021) revealed that evidence-based policy is
important since it is based on case studies, experiments, as well as miscellaneous analyses.
These statements brought the researchers to the assumption in which public policy-making
should involve more parties and data to reinforce the application of public policy in general.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand what kind of data and facts can contribute to the
birth of an innovative and positively impactful public policy, in which the policy becomes
applicable regardless of situations and may encourage more innovative aspects to emerge.
Based on the description above, through the article, the authors aimed to provide an overview
of the meaning of data/evidence in the public policy process.
METHOD
The writing of this article uses the literature review method by utilizing secondary data or
sources in the form of journals, books, documentation, the internet and various libraries that
are relevant to the issues and topics of this article. This literature review was carried out by the
method of searching and collecting library data, reading and recording, processing and
analyzing writing materials.