For BYU political science professor Darren Hawkins, Ph.D., government policies too often lack data on the issues they seek to address.
“There is a large gap between good quality evidence and good public policy,” Hawkins explains. “Many public policies ignore the evidence scholars have gathered. This database is dedicated to bridging that gap.”
Hawkins is the creator of Impactevidence.org, a platform dedicated to academic studies on global development issues. With the support of the Ballard Center, he employs BYU students to read, summarize, and graph the data.
Hawkins said there are numerous instances where poor policies were made despite existing scientific evidence.
“Take smoking cessation policies, for example,” he says. “Science has long shown smoking is terrible for our health, but it took decades for the data to inform better policy-making. Think of all the lives we could have saved if policy makers had listened to the science.”
Through Impactevidence.org, Hawkins and his students aim to bring development data closer to policymakers as legislation is written.
The web site includes over 1,500 high-quality academic studies divided into categories such has health, education, business, agriculture and environment, population and disasters, infrastructure, and conflict.
Hawkins said a lot of good science is behind paywalls—or are only available for purchase. His aim is to move this data so it is accessible to every policy maker.
“I’m embarking on a tour of Central America this summer to quickly introduce this database to those shaping their country’s development policies,” Hawkins shares. “My goal is for these people to use the data as soon as possible.”