Evidence-Based Practice and the Use of Information in State Agency Decision-Making

The contemporary policy environment makes persistent demands on agency officials to use the best information available when making decisions about policies, programs, and practices. State and federal legislation calls on agencies to incorporate evidence-based practices in their programs. Using data from a 2008 survey of state agency administrators, we examine the extent to which state government agencies draw upon various sources of information to guide their decisions about programmatic operations. Our findings reveal the extent to which agencies rely on, or weight, scientific studies and formal evaluations compared to other sources. The paper offers new insights into the use of information, particularly scientific evidence, in state agency decision-making, offering the first systematic look at how widely such information is used.