Advocacy and Influence
Sequence, 7 sessions, one week
In this sequence of sessions, you deepen students’ understanding of the factors that influence decision-makers to make change, and of the circumstances in which research can contribute towards change. Consider a broad range of ‘decision-makers’, including politicians, health-service managers, senior faculty, directors of research institutions, and community leaders.
In particular, students:
- Describe the advocacy process and ways of influencing decision-makers.
- Identify the factors that influence decision-makers and decision-making processes.
- Identify key advocacy strategies that are used to influence social change.
- Explain how to use evidence to influence decision-making on policy and practice through what is known as ‘knowledge translation’.
- Identify opportunities to influence decision-makers, as well as the mechanisms that may be appropriate to each opportunity.
- Develop their capacity and skills in communicating research findings to maximise uptake and impact.
By the end of these sessions, each student produces a policy or knowledge brief from components of their PhD work.
Download the curriculum for this sequence.
Steps
Timetable
Use or adapt this timetable to hold these integrated sessions over one week.
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Present the benefits of work–life balance | Facilitator |
| As needed | 2. Identify the signs of imbalance | Plenary |
| As needed | 3. Design strategies for well-being | Individuals, groups |
| As needed | 4. Handle stress differently | Plenary |
Session 1. Stakeholder Analysis | 2–4 hours
To whom should a researcher direct their advocacy efforts? A process called stakeholder analysis, enables researchers to identify those to target in order to influence relevant policy and practice.
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students can:
- Identify potential stakeholders to be targeted for influencing policy relating to doctoral research findings.
- Develop a stakeholder analysis relevant to findings from their doctoral research.
Preparation
As facilitator
Create or source a presentation to define policy and advocacy.
Print copies or share links:
- Schemeer, K. (2000). Stakeholder analysis guidelines. Policy Toolkit for strengthening health. Partnership for Health Reform, Abt Associates Inc, 2000.
- Hutahaean, M.(2016). The importance of stakeholders approach in public policy making. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 2016, 84: 462-466.
Students
Read the two key texts
Assessment
Groupwork presentations and feedback from peers and facilitators.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Define ‘policy’ and ‘advocacy’ | Facilitator |
| As needed | 2. Develop a stakeholder analysis | Individuals |
| As needed | 3. Discuss challenges of stakeholder analyses | Plenary |
Step 1. Define ‘policy’ and ‘advocacy’
As needed
Give a short explanation of the meaning of these two terms. Explain stakeholder analysis as the essential first step in developing an advocacy strategy: identifying those with the interest and influence to use these particular research findings to make change.
Step 2. Develop individual professional development plans
As needed
As guided by the key reading – (Schemeer, 2000) – each student develops a stakeholder analysis relevant to findings from their doctoral research.
Step 3. Discuss processes and challenges of stakeholder analyses
As needed
In plenary, students reflect on the steps involved in stakeholder analysis and any challenges they encountered, with input from you and any co-facilitators.
Session 2. How Research Can Influence Change | 2-4 hours
In this session, case studies demonstrate how research findings can inform new policies or improve the effectiveness of existing programs. Students learn about effective influence strategies in practice, along with policies that incentivise the collection of data and use of evidence. These approaches have primarily been applied to social and human-services programs, but a wide variety of government programs could benefit from building and using evidence.
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students can:
- Explain, step by step, how to use research to influence policy.
- Identify the diverse forms that knowledge brokers use to translate findings for decision-makers or the public.
Preparation
Read and share with students:
- Lavis, et al. (2009). SUPPORT tools for evidence-informed health policymaking (STP) 14: Organising and using policy dialogues to support evidence-informed policymaking, Health Research Policy and Systems, 2009, 7 (Suppl 1): S14. doi:10.1186/1478-4505-7-S1-S14.
- Hofman, K., and Tollman, S. (2013). Population health in South Africa: A view from the salt mines. www.thelancet.com/lancetgh Vol 1 August 2013: e66-e67 4.
Create or source a presentation to summarise the steps involved in using research to influence policy. (Step 1).
Source three suitable case studies. (Step 2).
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Explain how to use research to influence policy | Facilitator, students |
| As needed | 2. Identify different means to influence policy | Pairs |
Step 1. Explain how to use research to influence policy
As needed
Give your presentation: the steps involved in using research to influence policy and then involve students in discussion.
Step 2. Identify different means to influence policy
As needed
In pairs, students analyse one of three case studies.
Case study 1: The use of research findings to develop a drama to engage a local community to take up an issue.
Case study 2: Policy dialogue and ongoing engagement in Hofman, K., and Tollman, S. (2013).
Case study 3: Community members make a presentation to parliament or city council or health service managers, using findings from community monitoring.
Back in the plenary, each pair describes what they learned from the case study. Summarise the means that the pairs identify.
Session 3. Knowledge Translation and Transfere | 2-4 hours
Participants draw on the case studies in Session 2 and ask themselves:
How could my research influence various, relevant stakeholders?
And how best could I translate my evidence to reach and influence them?
Students examine current evidence around implementation strategies – the ‘translation’ of evidence into programs, policy, and practice. They deepen their understanding of:
- Knowledge translation and knowledge transfer.
- Assessing public-health evidence and its application.
- Engaging with multidisciplinary teams, stakeholders and citizens/the public to influence change.
- Implementing evidence in practice to improve safety, quality, and practice.
Outcomes
After this session, students can:
- Evaluate knowledge transfer models and frameworks.
- Identify the effectiveness of knowledge transfer strategies.
- Explain knowledge transfer and evidence-based practice.
- Identify which of the vehicles used by knowledge brokers to translate and transfer knowledge to decision-makers, or the public, may be most appropriate for their own research findings.
Preparation
As facilitator
Create or source an introductory presentation on knowledge transfer models and frameworks. (Session 1).
Create or source a presentation to explain knowledge transfer in relation to evidence-based practice. (Session 3).
Students
Read the resource articles
- Sudsawad, P. (2007). Knowledge translation: Introduction to models, strategies, and measures. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research.
- Strauss, S., Tetroe, J., Graham, I. (2009). Knowledge Translation in Health Care: Moving from Evidence to Practice. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Grimshaw, J.M. et al. Knowledge translation of research findings. Implementation Science. 2012, 7:50 Implementation Science.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Present knowledge transfer frameworks | Facilitator |
| As needed | 2. Discuss the effectiveness of the models | Plenary |
| As needed | 3. Discuss knowledge transfer | Facilitator, plenary |
| As needed | 4. Compare vehicles for knowledge transfer | Groups, plenary |
Step 1. Present knowledge transfer frameworks
As needed
Give your presentation to explain knowledge transfer models and frameworks, including definitions of knowledge translation and knowledge transfer.
Step 2. Discuss the effectiveness of the models
As needed
Invite students to identify knowledge transfer strategies and discuss their effectiveness, with reference to their reading of Sudsawad (2007).
Step 3. Discuss knowledge transfer
As needed
Briefly introduce and explain knowledge transfer in relation to evidence-based practice, and invite participants to discuss their own experiences, and their responses to reading Strauss et al (2009).
Step 4. Compare vehicles for knowledge transfer
As needed
In small groups of four or five, with one as rapporteur, students identify and compare the vehicles that knowledge brokers use for knowledge translation to decision-makers. Each student thinks about which ‘vehicle/s’ may be most suitable to transfer the knowledge that will emerge from their own research study.
Session 4. Cases of Evidence Influencing Policy | 2-4 hours
Students deepen their understanding of knowledge translation by learning from the experience of advocates who have used research in different contexts to enable different kinds of change.
Outcomes
After this session, students can:
- Discuss how other researchers have used evidence to influence social change.
- Apply policy evidence approaches to their own PhD research.
- Analyse the complexity of policy change on diverse issues in diverse contexts, the potential roles of research in influencing policy or services or public perspectives, and the related challenges that arise.
Preparation
As facilitator
Create or source presentations to introduce:
- Case studies of policy-evidence strategies. (Step 1).
- The complexity of policy change and the roles and challenges of evidence to influence policy. (Step 3).
Students
Read the resource article:
Oliver, K., & Cairney, P. (2019). The dos and don’ts of influencing policy: a systematic review of advice to academics. Palgrave Communications, 5(1), 1-11.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Discuss policy-evidence case studies | Facilitator, groups, plenary |
| As needed | 2. Apply policy-evidence approaches | Individuals |
| As needed | 2. Apply policy-evidence approaches | Facilitator, plenary |
Step 1. Discuss policy-evidence case studies
As needed
Give your presentation to introduce case studies of researchers who have used evidence to influence social change.
In small groups, students discuss the case studies. Each group focuses on a different case study and then groups take turns to summarise their case study in plenary.
Step 2. Apply policy-evidence approaches
As needed
In this practical exercise, individuals draw on the case study examples to outline an advocacy strategy to use the (potential) findings of their PhD study to influence policy.
Step 3. Analyse the complexity of policy change
As needed
Introduce:
- The complexity of policy change on diverse issues in diverse contexts.
- The potential roles of research in influencing policy, or services, or public perspectives.
- Related challenges that may arise.
In their groups and giving examples, students analyse the complexity and challenges of the policy–research nexus.
In plenary, groups present their conclusions. Peers and, finally, you and co-facilitators give feedback on the presentations.
Session 5. Policy Briefing Documents | 2-4 hours
Orient participants to policy briefs:
- What they are.
- How to create them.
- How effective they can be as a mechanism for facilitating knowledge transfer.
Students develop an understanding of how researchers and advocacy groups distil research findings into core evidence and arguments that are clear and brief enough to capture the attention of the targeted decision-makers.
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students can:
- Describe the key components of a policy brief.
- Explain the purpose of a policy brief for a particular context.
- Critique policy briefs.
Preparation
As facilitator
Create or source a presentation to introduce components and types of policy briefs.
Check equipment including sound if you are going to screen videos.
Prepare to screen the video ‘Dandora E case’ or share the link with students.
Identify and engage a guest to present their experience and example of translating research into a policy brief. Make sure that they are familiar with the session objectives as well as the participatory CARTA approach.
Source helpful how-to videos on developing policy briefs to screen or share.
Students
Read the resource articles:
- Oliver, K., & Cairney, P. (2019). The dos and don’ts of influencing policy: a systematic review of advice to academics. Palgrave Communications, 5(1), 1-11.
- Oliver, K., Innvar, S., Lorenc, T., Woodman, J., & Thomas, J. (2014). A systematic review of barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence by policymakers. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 2.
- Lavis, J., N., Permanand G., Oxman, A. D., Lewin, S., & Fretheim, A. (2009). SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 13: Preparing and using policy briefs to support evidence-informed policymaking. Health Research Policy and Systems 2009, 7(Suppl 1):S13.
Assessment
Assign and assess an essay on the use of policy briefs to influence the tobacco industry. (Individuals).
Assess infographics. (Groups).
Assess contributions to and conclusions of group reflections on the Dandora case study.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Describe types and components of policy briefs | Facilitator |
| As needed | 2. Explain contextual policy-brief strategies | Video, guest, groups |
| As needed | 3. Critique policy briefs | Groups |
Step 1. Describe types and components of policy briefs
As needed
Give your presentation on the components of a policy brief and examples of the different types of policy brief.
Step 2. Explain contextual policy-brief strategies
As needed
Screen the video of the Dandora case or share the link.
Introduce a guest to describe (briefly) their experience of translating research into a policy brief.
Refer to examples from the video, the guest’s experience, and the reading in order to explain how to develop a policy brief for the particular context. Include factors such as:
- The problem that the research addresses.
- The goals and interests of the relevant decision-makers.
- The interests and potential influence of groups and allies who could play an intermediary role in advocating change.
In groups and in relation to their own research or one of the cases, students work together to create an infographic for a policy brief.
Step 3. Critique policy briefs
As needed
With reference to Lavis (2009) and other resources, students work in groups to critique range of policy briefs.
In plenary, each group presents their critique.
Session 6. ‘The Elevator Pitch’ | 2-4 hours
To communicate research findings succinctly (in four to six short sentences) is a critical skill for capturing busy people’s interest. In this session, students experiment in creating an ‘elevator pitch’ – a brief, persuasive speech to spark the busy listener’s interest in one’s research, project, idea, or product – or in oneself.
A good elevator pitch – or ‘soundbite’ – should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds, hence the name. It should be interesting, memorable, and succinct. Each student must therefore convey what makes their research unique.
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students can:
- Provide a short, precise, verbal profile of their research.
- Summarise the key components of their research work in less than three minutes.
Preparation
Check equipment including sound if you are going to screen videos.
Prepare to screen the video ‘The Elevator Pitch’ or share the link with students.
Create or source a short introduction to the value of communicating an issue succinctly. See the detail in Step 1.
Students
Read the resources:
- Uyen. (2013). Elevator Pitches for Scientists: What, When, Where and How.
- Sumner, A., et al. (2011). What shapes research impact on policy? Understanding research uptake in sexual and reproductive health policy processes in resource poor contexts. Health Research Policy and Systems, 2011, 9 (Suppl1) S3. Section on Policy Ideas / Narratives pages 6–7.
Assessment
Peer and facilitator critique of one-minute elevator pitches.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Write a summary of one’s research profile | Facilitator, individuals |
| As needed | 2. Present and review elevator pitches | Groups |
Step 1. Write a summary of one’s research profile
As needed
Show the video and give your short introduction to the value of communicating an issue succinctly, with examples of effective, brief communication for change.
Before you underline the need to be succinct, emphasise the importance of appropriate framing of the message to match the analysis of the interests of decision-makers in this specific context and moment in time. The narrative must address the current policy agendas of decision-makers.
The writer must be clear:
Who is my target audience?
What is the entry point to capture that audience’s interest?
Students work individually to write 150 words – to take less than a minute to deliver – to summarise their research study (research profile), using this format:
What problem does my research address? (from the entry point of the audience’s
understanding of the problem).
What do my research findings indicate in relation to the problem?
Why are these findings credible? (quality/scope of research).
What recommendations emerge from my findings? (that your audience could act upon).
The most important difference this change will make is … (define).
Step 2. Present and review elevator pitches
As needed
Divide the students into groups of five each and ensure that each student has seven minutes: one minute to present their message and six minutes for peers to give feedback and constructive critique.
Session 7. Develop a Policy Brief | 2-4 hours
Each student develops a policy brief on their own research findings. They identify their target audience: the decision-makers whom they aim to influence.
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students can:
- Identify key evidence and messages from their research that they should disseminate to relevant stakeholders to promote progressive social change.
- Draft a policy brief for relevant decision-makers.
- Identify key components and effectiveness of a policy brief.
Preparation
Draw on the resources to create two short introductions:
- To this session as a whole.
- To the essential components of an effective policy brief.
Check equipment including sound if you are going to screen videos.
Prepare to screen the video How to Make a Concept Map or share the link with students.
Prepare a wall or space for participants to display their briefs OR share the briefs in emails, OR organise a virtual space for sharing briefs.
Students
Read the resources
- Wiki: Make a Concept Map.
- DeMarco, R., & Tufts, A. K. (2014). The mechanics of writing a policy brief. Nurse Outloook 62: 21-224.
Peer assessment
All submit their policy briefs.
Each participant critiques the policy briefs of three peers.
As the facilitator, review and give feedback on the briefs.
Steps
| Time | Step | Who |
|---|---|---|
| As needed | 1. Identify key evidence and messages | Facilitator, individuals |
| As needed | 2. Target the specific audience | Individuals |
| As needed | 3. Identify components of an effective policy brief | Facilitator, individuals |
| Afterwards | 4. Critique three peers’ briefs | Individuals |
Step 1. Identify key evidence and messages
As needed
This is the first step in developing a policy brief for each student’s own research findings. Introduce the session and the process of generating a conceptual map.
After any necessary clarifications, students work on their own to create an infographic for the policy brief from their own research findings, drawing on the resources.
Step 2. Target the specific audience
As needed
Students draft a policy brief from their own findings, tailored to the specific audience they have identified.
Step 3. Identify components of an effective policy brief
As needed
Give your presentation, revisiting the components of an effective policy brief.
Students work individually, each developing a policy brief from their own research findings. When they are done, they print a copy or share by email, or on an online platform.
Step 4. Critique three peers’ briefs
As needed
Each student now reviews the briefs produced by three peers. They share their critiques in person, or on the wall or on an online platform.
