Affordable Care Act Policy Analysis
III. Social Analysis
- Problem description
- How complete is our knowledge of the problem?
- Are our efforts to deal with the problem in accord with research findings?
- What population is affected by the problem?
- Size
- Defining characteristics
- Distribution
- What theory or theories of human behavior are explicit or, more likely, implicit in the policy?
- What are the major social values related to the problem and what value conflicts exist?
- What are the goals of the policy under analysis?
- Manifest (stated) goals
- Latent (unstated) goals
- Degree of consensus regarding goals
- What are the hypotheses implicit or explicit in the statement of the problem and goals?
Political Analysis Outline
- Choice analysis (i.e., what is the design of programs created by a policy, and what are the alternatives to this design?)
Paper Instructions
Purpose To synthesize and demonstrate a policy analysis related to a policy topic. This assignment will develop skills in research, writing and policy analysis. Since this project is rather large, this will be a group assignment and done as a brochure instead of a paper…I know, I know. You will be working in groups and with people in social work and this group project will take this large assignment and make it more manageable for all students. You will also have the opportunity to give input on your group member’s grades if there are group issues, so those who slack will lose points. This is also a way to get to know other students in this class and the program.
Groups Groups and policy topics will be assigned by the instructor and posted on noodle after exam 1 and after you have read the first few chapters of the policy book. Each group will have access to a group email in moodle to discuss topics. The instructor will monitor the progress. You may use google hangout or other chat rooms to do your work. There will be 3-5 members in each group. The Brochure This brochure is like a policy analysis paper and will take several weeks to research, write and analyze. It is not a paper to be done in a day. It will be overwhelming. Each group will prepare an analysis of a national, state or local policy regarding a social problem assigned by the instructor. This will be a law or policy or one in the proposal stages. This policy is one that has a direct impact on the health and social services in the US. This brochure should be of professional quality that the group could distribute to policymakers.
Use the outline in the Popple & Leighninger book on pages 31-33. (this is also a great idea for work division). Analyze the policy giving an overview of the policy, a historical analysis, social analysis, economic analysis and political analysis (read the following chapters to understand the content of these areas). You need to discuss each section addressing each point in the outline. IF your policy does have some of this information, explain that in your paper; do not skip a section. The brochure should be 10 pages MAX. The last page of your brochure will include your references with a minimum of 8-10 academic references in APA format.