Eightfold Path Process

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When analyzing a government policy paper for validity, several factors should be taken into consideration. First, I will start by searching for the main problem. Moreover, I will be using Bardach’s approach to an effective problem solving which he calls The Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path consists of the following steps: defining the problem, assembling some evidence, constructing the alternatives, selecting the criteria, projecting the outcomes, confronting the trade-offs, deciding, and finally telling the story. The steps mentioned above are helpful in terms of determining the validity of a certain document. Yet, they are not exclusively important in every problem. According to Bardach, these steps are not necessarily taken in precisely …show more content…

A strong evidence is mostly an evidence that is derived from a scientific/scholarly based research. A well-researched paper allows legislators to better inform their decisions. Furthermore, the evidence provided should consult both documents and people as well. Consulting people leads to documents and vice versa. Indeed, a wide range of information can be gathered from people and documents to enrich the contents of the policy paper.

Statistics can be manipulated in various ways. However, a careful reader should be able to detect the manipulations and think beyond them. One can read beyond statistical manipulation through well-researching the author’s previous publications. Reading the past publications for an author allows the reader to determine whether the writer is supporting his/her agenda by manipulating the statistics.
According to Bardach, data include all sorts of statistics but go well beyond statistics, too. Data also include, for instance, facts about an agency manager’s ability to deal constructively with the press (Bardach, 11). Therefore, one can search for a credible source of data as a way of looking beyond statistical manipulation. However, statistical manipulations can strengthen a writer’s agenda through capturing the validity of generalizations or normalizing

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