The White House released a report in May to aid federal decision-makers to incorporate insights from social and behavioral science for improved policy and program design and delivery. The Blueprint for the Use of Social and Behavioral Science to Advance Evidence-Based Policymaking takes a “whole-of-government" approach, outlining a comprehensive framework for, and future directions of, the integration of social and behavioral science research and evidence-based policymaking. Subject matter experts in the National Science and Technology Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Subcommittee on Social and Behavioral Sciences contributed to this report.
The executive summary states, “Successfully leveraging social and behavioral science allows the federal government to produce more efficient and effective efforts with more positive, meaningful, and equitable outcomes for all individuals. The failure to understand and address the social and behavioral dimensions of issues reduces effectiveness of policies, programs, and outcomes for the American public and risks unintended consequences.” Fundamental human processes regularly influence decision-making and outcomes of federal policy initiatives and understanding human behavior through contributions of social and behavioral science is essential to understanding how to combat national and global issues. Evidence-based policy making that considers key insights of social and behavioral science informs federal interventions, programming, and policymaking addressing pressing national issues from conceptualization to evaluation.
The National Science and Technology Council leads executive science and technology policymaking across federal research and development entities and established the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 1976 to provide expertise and advice. The Subcommittee on Social and Behavioral Sciences was rechartered specifically to prioritize and expand social and behavioral science evidence-based policymaking following the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018; the January 20, 2021, Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support of Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government; and the January 27, 2021, Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.
The blueprint assists federal policymakers by defining social and behavioral science and its tools; identifying the fields’ value in advancing national priorities; providing a framework for incorporating social and behavioral scientific evidence into policymaking and implementation recommendations; and highlighting pathways for success. The recommendations stated in the report are as follows:
- Identify policy areas that would benefit from a better understanding and application of human behavior and outcomes;
- Consider potential social and behavioral science insights that affect relevant policy outcomes while identifying the consequences of these insights for policy and program conceptualization, design, and implementation;
- Synthesize available knowledge to identify promising practices with a strong body of evidence for effectiveness;
- Identify the most appropriate ways to translate these insights into action given available policy tools;
- Implement and disseminate policy and program information informed by social and behavioral science-informed approaches; and
- Evaluate efforts through rigorous evaluation using the most appropriate social and behavioral science methods and available data.
Furthermore, the report recommends that federal decision-makers take several immediate actions to support the implementation of these recommendations:
- Invest in the continued building and strengthening of dynamic and durable evidence ecosystems to support evidence-based policymaking;
- Promote meaningful engagement and partnership by strengthening connections between the federal government, the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and communities;
- Reduce barriers by increasing buy-in for social and behavioral science from senior leadership across the federal government, reducing administrative burdens for social and behavioral science evidence generation, and improving data equity and access;
- Increase capacity for social and behavioral science through increased investment in a social and behavioral science-trained workforce and increased support for interagency efforts dependent on social and behavioral science expertise;
- Mandate social and behavioral science-informed strategies through federal funding practices that prioritize proposals that include evidence-based social and behavioral science strategies, support the generation of new evidence to help fill knowledge gaps, and institute rigorous evaluation requirements.
These experts claim that integrating their report’s recommended framework for implementing social and behavioral science will lead to more effective and equitable policymaking. The blueprint’s framework includes six components: identifying opportunity areas; considering social and behavioral science insights; synthesizing evidence and highlighting best practices; identifying actionable steps and policy mechanisms; implementing and disseminating; and reflecting and revising. As policymakers navigate this framework, social and behavioral science can be leveraged to understand cause and effect, evaluate effectiveness, drive innovation, scale solutions, and promote equity.
The blueprint also outlines strategies to support this framework. Collaboration with non-government evidence-producing and translation entities for rapid and responsive evidence building will support efficient and effective evidence-based decision-making. Promoting meaningful engagement and support for social and behavioral scientists will diversify the sources and content of evidence informing policymaking. Reducing both structural barriers to (e.g., restrictive funding) and dismissive beliefs and attitudes regarding the value of social and behavioral scientific evidence-based policymaking and investing in diverse staff and leadership with high competency in social and behavioral science evidence-based policymaking were also named as essential to its success. Finally, it is also suggested to prioritize and/or mandate inclusion of social and behavioral science evidence in program, policy, and spending proposals.
A technical companion to the blueprint provides further guidance, highlighting examples where social and behavioral science is already being used in evidence-based federal policymaking, and outlines current barriers and opportunities. This technical companion details a small subset of contributions from social and behavioral science advancing national priorities. These include issues of public safety, environmental and climate innovation, economics and the workforce, health outcomes and disparities, infrastructure, and national defense and international security.
The report concludes with a series of appendices providing strategies to incentivize evidence-based federal spending; using social and behavioral scientific evidence to prevent recidivism, provide more equitable pathways to good jobs, communicate hazard information, and increase inclusivity in digital community engagement and broadband availability; and a detailed list of all contributors.
This blueprint was produced in line with the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences and the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research definitions of social and behavioral science. Those are “[the focus on] human behavior and social organizations and how social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental forces affect the lives of people from birth to old age and how people in turn shape those forces” and “[the systematic study of] interactions between and among individuals, and of the characteristics, structures, and functions of social groups and institutions, such as families, communities, schools, and workplaces, as well as the physical, economic, cultural, and policy environments in which social and behavioral phenomena occur... [and] observable actions of individuals or groups and of mental phenomena such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, motivations, perceptions, cognitions, and emotions,” respectively.