Understanding political debate and policy decisions using big data

This project aims to empirically test a novel framework for analysing the relationship between political debates and policy decisions.

Understanding political debate and policy decisions using big data


Overview

This project aims to empirically test a novel framework for analysing the relationship between political debates and policy decisions. Using digital sources and computational modelling approaches, it will investigate three specific issues to test this framework. These issues, all drawn from different policy sectors, will be examined as a series of debates linked to specific decisions, over the last two decades. The expected outcomes will provide insights into links between political debates and policy decisions with potential benefits for politics and policy-making.

Outcomes / activities

The project team has presented at a number of public policy, public management and media and communications conferences, and is now working on a series of publications related to this project.

Impact

This project will:

  • empirically test a theoretical framework that links political debates with policy decisions, at numerous points over time
  • use computational analysis to examine data text from numerous sources of information on issue debates, and analyse these in relation to particular issues
  • draw conclusions about how debate shapes decision in regard to each of the three issues studied, and examine whether more general conclusions about this link can be made
  • analyse how the link between debates and decisions can help in understanding policy change