Article Review One – Date of Submission
For PAD 3003 Introduction to Public Administration
Benjamin I. Page, previously connected with the University of Chicago, currently teaches as a professor at Northwestern University, where he holds the Gordon S. Fulcher Professor of Decision Making title and Faculty Associate of the university’s Institute for Policy Research position. He earned his PhD at Stanford University and JD at Harvard Law School.
Robert Y. Shapiro teaches as a professor at Columbia University. He served as the former chair of the university’s Department of Political Science. He held the National Opinion Research Center Study Director position of the University of Chicago, where he earned his PhD.
Article Summary
The authors tried to address whether public opinion influences public policy in the United States. The issue at hand forms an important part of the public policy literature, for it tackles an influential aspect of making public policies. Fundamentally, public policies support both the rights and responsibilities of subjected people. Hence, influence coming from people’s opinion can inevitably challenge policymakers to make amends to particular policies.
Two variables stand out from the study – public opinion as the independent variable and public policy as the dependent variable. The authors used the covariation research design to test the variables, described as suitable for investigating associations between shifts in public opinion and public policy modifications.
Using the covariation research design, the authors gauged public policy yields made within “two years before the date of the initial opinion survey and ending four years after the final survey” (Page & Shapiro, 1983). Factors examined include several policy indicators and intervals involving the last stage of public opinion modifications and public policy gauging.
(1) Policies general in scope receive heavy public opinion influence, while detailed ones receive less public opinion;
(2) Nonresponsive policies exist;
(3) “responsiveness is not perfect” (Page & Shapiro, 1983)
(4) Their findings are consistent in previous congruence cases
(5) “there could still be major biases in the system” (Page & Shapiro, 1983) of covariation research design
Critical Reflections and Conclusion
The authors investigated an interesting aspect of policymaking, which is the influence of public opinion – one that is prone to outright generalization and deserving of a critical examination. Interestingly, said study could spark better debate if the covariation research design finds application in jurisdictions outside the United States – Third World countries, in particular. Such may generate findings different from the article in review, which could be a starting point for a comparative study identifying different problems concerning said issue. The article imposes a heavy impact due to its concise research design and wide applicability due to rising public opinion in policymaking across the globe, triggered by technological interconnectivity.
