To Bridge the Divide between Evidence and Policy: Reduce Ambiguity as Much as Uncertainty

Abstract

Policy makers cannot consider all evidence relevant to policy. They use two shortcuts—emotions and beliefsto understand problems and “rational” ways of establishing the best evidence on solutions—to act quickly in complex,multilevel policy-making environments. Many studies only address one part of this problem. Improving the supply ofevidence helps reduce scientific and policy maker uncertainty. However, policy makers also combine their beliefs withlimited evidence to reduce ambiguity in order to choose one of several possible ways to understand and solve a problem.We use this insight to consider solutions designed to “close the evidence–policy gap.