Research for PA 503 Paper Handout

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Research for PA 503 Paper Handout

Fall 2008

From Law to Implementation – Putting a Program into Practice

1.         This paper consists of an analysis of the implementation of a Federal government program.  It should begin with a short description of the legislative history of the public law authorizing that program and the actors and process involved in passing it.

2.         One major purpose of the paper is to familiarize you with the primary documents - reports, regulations, oversight hearings - of the Federal government.  In your paper you must give evidence that primary materials have been used extensively, through secondary literature may supplement the analysis.  A bibliography of sources should be attached to each paper; this should provide precise indication of materials used including relevant pages.  You may use whatever bibliographic system you are familiar with.

3.         Quoted material should be kept to an absolute minimum.  Footnotes should also be kept to a minimum.  Tabular material, organization charts, and other similar material should be placed in an appendix. (Though material in the appendix is not included in the page limit, students are discouraged from writing a long paper via the appendix.)

Program Selection

1. The legislation you select as the topic for your paper must be one that is currently operating. Programs take time to begin operating after the law authorizing them has been passed and funds appropriated by Congress.  Make sure that the program has been operating long enough for you to evaluate whether it can be viewed as a success or failure. Sometimes people hold different views of what constitutes success and so a program may be viewed as both a success and failure.  It typically depends on the values of the evaluator.  If you approve of affirmative action programs, an effective one is viewed as a success.  If you don’t approve, success can be viewed as something the government shouldn’t be doing at all, and perhaps a reason to seek relief from the courts.  In this paper, you should try to evaluate the program on the basis of the specific values embodied in the legislation.   

2. One law may create a number of different programs.  You are advised to pick a program you wish to write your paper on and then determine what law or subsection of a law authorized it.   

3.  How to begin: A very useful source for student projects is the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance  http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html.  This contains a list of funded programs and the addresses of administering agencies. 

4.   By October 2 each student shall submit a typed Topic Paper indicating the program he or she will write their paper on.  This can be no longer than 2 pages. This statement shall include:

 

a. The name of the program and a description of what it does;

b.   The number, full title and the short title of the public law establishing the program;

c.   The date of enactment of the public law and when the program began operation;

d. Evidence (i.e. a list of references) that you have found sufficient materials in the Main Library and on the Web to write the paper. 

It is extremely important that you carefully check to see whether there are sufficient materials to write your paper.  It is not acceptable to say that these materials exist.  You need to list the sources on your Topic Paper.

5.         The paper is due December 2.

Guidance

• The next section of this handout provides general information on the preparation of this paper.  It includes a list of questions to be considered in the preparation of this paper.  You are ill advised to attempt to answer questions in the order presented.  I am far more interested in your ability to critically analyze a complex phenomenon and to clearly present the analysis in writing than I am to impose a particular format on the presentation.  But all areas noted in the guidelines should be addressed at some point.  You should try to incorporate course materials (readings, lectures, etc.) in your arguments.

 

1. Atifa Rawan of the Library staff and her assistants will be your guides to the primary materials you will need to complete the paper.  She will discuss the way to access government documents at the September 11  meeting of the class in  the Main Library, 3rd floor, Room 315 from 11:00 – 12:15 a.m.  Do not miss this session!  There is a revolution going on in government research and she will introduce you to the state of the art in online searching.

 

Writing a Program Analysis

1.   Analysis and description of how the program was created.

a.         This involves a brief consideration of the important actors and the process by which the law was enacted.  Each paper should begin with a short legislative history of how the program you have chosen was enacted into law.

b.         In your analysis, identify the principal actors (e.g. president, key senators or representatives, cabinet secretary, interest groups) who were instrumental in getting the law creating your program enacted.  To whom was this legislation important? Why?  Is there any involvement of state or local government officials in the development of the program? 

2.         Analysis of the Program

a.  What does the program attempt to do?  What is the “causal theory” in the program?  The statement, “If we limit access to junk food in school we will improve the health and nutrition of children” is an example of a causal theory.  Be aware that programs may have more than one causal theory.  A causal theory does not have to be true; in fact it can be demonstrably false.

b. Are goals/objectives clearly specified in the legislation, or are they left to the administrator to develop?  Does the legislation provide substantial discretionary authority to administrators, or is it highly directive?  You need to consider explicitly the nature of discretion granted to program administrators. 

c. Which government agency (or agencies) administers the program and at which levels of government?  For example, the Medicaid program is a joint federal state program that is somewhat different in every state.  Are nonprofit agencies or private firms involved in the administration of the program?

d. Does the program appear to have sufficient resources to have a reasonable chance of achieving its goals?

e. Have court rulings played any role in shaping the implementation of the program?  Groups who lose in the legislative process will sometimes try to get the courts to do what the legislature would not.

f. How successful does the program appear to be?  Are there reports or studies that attempt to determine the degree to which the program has met its goals?  Success can have two meanings.  It can mean that the program was successfully implemented according to the goals of the program and its causal theory.  It can also mean that the program had a positive impact on the problem it was created to address.

 

Sources of Information

1.         A list of student programs will be compiled and distributed, so that document use can be coordinated.

2.         While you must use primary materials for most of your paper, useful background information can be found in the secondary material like Congressional Quarterly Almanac,  CQ Weekly Report and The National Journal.  Also see the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, and Christian Science Monitor. 

3.         Texts of laws can be found in the Statutes at Large.  This publication also frequently has a brief legislative history at the end of the text indicating the numbers of House and Senate reports, dates of passage of the bill by both Houses and the date of enactment. 

5.         Public Hearings by the House and Senate are important sources of information.

6.         Congressional Reports issued by the committees of the House and Senate accompany specific pieces of legislation.  These reports are invaluable for indicating major issues with which the Congress had to contend in the case of a particular bill.

Criteria for Grade

1.         Well-documented.

2.         Analysis sharp, dispassionate and to the point.

3.         Well written.

4.         Integration of material from the course as it is relevant to the implementation of a program.

5.         10 pages Maximum,  double-spaced.

6.         Uses an appendix to clarify any points raised but not explained in the body of the paper.  (This is only necessary if you have raised points that you don’t have the space to clearly explain.)