11.003J | Spring 2016 | Undergraduate

Methods of Policy Analysis

Assignments

Assignment 1 – Hometown Analysis

Due Session 3

Using your hometown as the subject of your investigation, assume that you are a policy analyst and you work for the new mayor or the new town or city council. What data can you use to tell a story about your hometown?

Assignment 2 – EPA Open Docket On Pesticides

Due Session 8

Write a memo of comments to the Environmental Protection Agency voicing your stance on pesticides and their effects on pollinators.

Effective Memo Writing Examples (PDF)

Assignment 3 – Observe A Public Meeting

Due Session 12

MIT students were required to attend a public meeting in the Boston area and write an informational memo based on their observations.

City of Boston Public Meeting Schedule

Consumer and Business Affairs Regulation

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – Public Hearings & Comments

Energy Facilities Sitting Board – Public Hearings

Metropolitan Area Planning Council Events

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Board Meetings

Cambridge City Council Meeting Schedule

Boston City Council Meeting Schedule

City of Somerville Public Meetings

Assignment 4 – Open-ended

Due Session 17

The last short assignment is open-ended and you may choose to either prepare for your final project or to re-write a previous assignment.

Final Assignment

Oral Presentations Due Sessions 23–25

Final Paper Due Session 26

The final assignment will be 40% of your final grade and consists of two parts: An oral presentation and a 12–15 page paper.

Due Session 3

Hometown Analysis

A critical part of creating policy is the data gathering process. What data can you find quickly and analyze? What do the data mean? What story can you tell using reliable data? What data do you need?

Cities and towns are under enormous amounts of strain. Budgets are tight, costs of many public services continue to escalate and no one wants to pay more taxes. At the same time, new problems keep cropping up: Heroin overdoses are epidemic in Hyannis, MA; many school buildings in towns around Massachusetts are outdated, dangerous, and falling down (just last winter, the city of Somerville witnessed the collapse of a roof of one of its elementary schools); flood control systems were just implemented in the town of Winchester after an historic flood in downtown happened several years ago; Flint, MI is currently experiencing contaminated drinking water supply, among many other problems.

Using your hometown as the subject of your investigation, assume that you are a policy analyst and you work for the new mayor or the new town or city council.

What data can you use to tell a story about your hometown? Where is it located? How many people live there? What does it provide in terms of resources to the state?

Next, investigate the most pressing public policy issues for your town. The local newspaper can be one source that can help you. Also, locating and reviewing a local budget and / or agenda items for a town meeting can help you understand the priorities of your town.

What are the key policy concerns your town is grappling with in 2016?

Expected Output:

3 data slides

3 policy issue slides

3 recommendations

Be prepared to present your hometown analysis in no more than 5 minutes.

Due Session 8

EPA Open Docket on Pesticides

The EPA has opened docket ID: EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0844 to review neonicotinoids, pesticides that may have an adverse effect on pollinators, including bees. You have been asked by your client to review the EPA primary and supporting documents and provide a 2-page memo of comments to the EPA stating your position. You may choose your client. Decide who you will represent—an advocacy group, a state environmental protection agency, a farmer, etc.

Commenting on EPA Dockets - Tips for Effective Comments

EPA Docket, Primary and Supplementary Documents

Expected Output

  1. Write a succinct, two-page policy memo providing comments to the EPA on behalf of your client.
  2. Create a short presentation on your policy position for Session 8—3–5 slides max.

Due Session 12

Observe a Public Meeting

Assignment

Attend a public meeting in the Boston area, take careful notes on the event, and report back in a succinct, well-organized informational memo. Be sure to also collect any materials distributed at the event for reference. Your memo should describe the organization, discuss where its power originates, identify the purpose of the meeting, explain the structure of the deliberative process used to collect input, and discuss what, if any, outcome resulted.

Objective

This exercise is meant to help you exercise your skills of observation, and to help you understand how the public can be involved in decision-making. You might consider questions you’d like to ask our upcoming guest, David Goodman (who attends public meetings on behalf of the New York Times), based on your experience with this assignment.

Appropriate Meetings

There is a list of links to public meetings in the Assignments section. Ideally, the meeting you choose will engage a combination of planning professionals and community stakeholders, and we encourage you to avoid routine business meetings for government bodies such as city councils (these may be listed as “open to the public,” but are not designed to function as planning meetings that involve public participation).

Structure and Format

Each public meeting will have a different purpose and will thereby lend itself to a different memo structure. In general, your memo should be informational and facilitate a quick analysis. You may refer to the guidelines on effective memos posted on the course website for ideas on section organization.

Your memo should be no more than two pages, and it should be single-spaced, but make use of white space to maintain legibility.

Due Session 17

Open-ended

For this assignment, you may choose one of the following options. You’ll only get credit for doing one, but you may do both if you find them both to be of use to you at this point in the semester.

Option 1: Prepare for Final Project

Write a two-page draft of your final project idea for review. What specific policy issue do you want to investigate? Why? What is the larger political context for this issue? What are the potential angles you could take in thinking about and analyzing this policy problem?

Option 2: Re-write of Previous Assignment

Re-write one of your first three assignments based on the feedback we provided and your own development over the course of the semester. If the quality of your work (e.g. argument and writing) improves, we will assign a higher grade. This grade won’t replace the lower one, but rather will count for Assignment 4. If you choose to revise an assignment originally completed as part of a partner or group project, you will still need to make revisions on your own.

Weight: 40% of final grade (oral presentation 20%, final paper 20%)

Deadlines: Oral presentation Sessions 23–25; final paper Session 26

Directions:

  1. Identify a narrow policy issue of your choice (take a look at the materialsprovided for various case studies on the course website if you are having troublepicking a topic);
  2. Present an analysis of the policy issue;
  3. Identify alternative policies;
  4. Evaluate and analyze the policy you are studying using cost-benefit analysis,stake holder analysis, data analysis, and / or analysis of inputs, outputs, andoutcomes;
  5. Apply the correct type(s) of policy analysis to the alternatives;
  6. Present the results of your analysis and the give the best option based on your criteria; and
  7. Make suggestions for implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the policy.

Total paper length: 12–15 pages (1.15-, 1.25-, or 1.5-spaced)

Suggested outline (if you need it):

  1. Introduction / Background (including explicit problem statement / thesis at thebeginning or end of this section)
  2. Specific policy being analyzed
  3. Methodology
  4. Results / Analysis
  5. Discussion / Conclusion / Recommendations

Students should consult sources of information discussed in class including academic articles, government data, interviews with public administrators, and / or public hearings and meetings.

For the case study presentation, on the assigned date, each student will make a formal presentation of their analysis and findings to the entire class. Presentations will occur over the course of three classes. The presentation should include a thorough analysis of the case study, complete with findings and recommendations. Students should generate output, charts, and other relevant graphical displays. The quality of the presentation will also count, such as team coordination, speaking ability, use of audiovisual or other presentation materials, ability to answer questions, and materials provided to the rest of the class.

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