What type of work is involved?

Policy research comes in a wide variety of forms. It could be for an organisation dealing with a particular group or issue. For example, for a homelessness charity researching the major issues faced by the homeless, and seeking to advise and influence the government's policy. Or it could be for  a think tank such as the IPPR developing innovative potential policy solutions on areas such as education or health, aiming to get these discussed and debated publicly and in government circles.

Policy research provides different kinds of information that utilise a range of different skills, knowledge and techniques. It might be concerned with answering the 'What is happening?' questions. For example who are the homeless or how many children are being born outside marriages? Often this involves working with statistical data that help establish patterns and trends in society.  Secondly policy researchers try and understanding why these patterns occur - for example, why the percentage of people from specific groups who are homeless is increasing. Finally there are the 'what should we do?' questions. Research here might involve evaluation studies. For example assessing the effectiveness programmes that move claimants from benefits to work or programmes to reduce teenage pregnancy

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